Site Shift?

(Photograph from WNY Heritage Press)

This should make Esmonde and Tielman and the others pleased, right?

The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. is willing to move the proposed Bass Pro Outdoor World store off the historic Central Wharf portion of Buffalo’s redeveloped waterfront, a location that had provoked opposition from preservationists.

In a meeting with several elected officials and community leaders in the last two weeks, representatives of the planning panel have offered a revised site plan that shifts the store less than 100 yards, to the southeast corner of the parcel. The move would leave 95 percent of the original wharf site as an open plaza.

More than a half-acre of the latest proposed location lies outside the 12- acre Erie Canal Harbor site, which would place most of the Bass Pro structure outside the historic district.

Well, this is what they’ve been asking for, right? The ECHDC is being responsive to “concerns”, right?

“This is just pandering,” said Timothy A. Tielman of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo. “As long as that big box store and the rest of the mall they are planning are within the boundaries of the Erie Canal Harbor historic site, it is not acceptable.”

Ah, “big box store”. When compromise is on the table, zealots trot out intransigence and absolutism.

“We are currently in the process of revising our plan to incorporate some of the great feedback we have received from community leaders, community groups and individuals, alike,” Stefanie Zakowicz, agency spokeswoman, said in a written statement.

“We are not prepared to share any of the details of the plan until such time as we have the approval of all the stakeholders in the project,” she continued.

Seriously, Bass Pro has probably never, ever had such a hard time opening a store, anywhere.

Relocating the Bass Pro store to the southeast corner of the site — bounded by the Buffalo River, lower Main Street and a reopened section of Perry Street — would involve dropping plans to dredge the area to create a marina. Planners now propose installing floating docks to accommodate visiting boaters and on-water displays of Bass Pro boats.

The 100,000-square-foot, three-level store still would be built in the style of an original Central Wharf structure and

Here comes the rebuttal to “ruins public access to the waterfront” allegations:

would offer a public boardwalk along its waterside perimeter as originally proposed.

Other changes also seem interesting:

Additional revisions in the site plan by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects of New York, the project’s designer, include canals cutting across the sites of the idle Memorial Auditorium and Donovan State Office Building. The canals would open up views through the now-filled-in blocks between Washington and Commercial streets.

In addition to the partnership, Quinn and other harbor panel representatives have conducted project update briefings with the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier; Mayor Byron W. Brown; Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra; Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo; Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo; and several others.

Rudnick said efforts to reposition the store and other changes demonstrate that the overall Canal Side blueprint is a “work in progress” and will continue to be modified as it undergoes environmental review and the quest for approvals.

“While they are ultimately looking for support, that wasn’t their objective in showing us this latest iteration. I think they are genuine in their request for feedback and additional ideas,” he said.

This exchange is typical:

Tielman, whose group has threatened a lawsuit to stop the project, said he recently met with Jordan Levy, the newly appointed chairman of the harbor panel, but his organization was not offered a firsthand look at the revised plan.

“I’ve heard about it from other people, but they didn’t show it to me,” he said. “I think that says a lot about the process.”

I, me, mine. I, me, mine. I, me, mine.

The process isn’t over yet. It’s a work in progress. What’s quite significant here is not only that input has been made and considered, but that changes have been considered. I don’t care where they put Bass Pro, as long as the deal isn’t killed. There will be further input. There will be public comment. The ECHDC has always said that its original proposal was not a fait accompli, and now we have proof. Everything ECHDC has said has been proven true, yet Tielman – as spokesman for the world – remains unhappy and hurls verbal bombs because he hasn’t gotten everything he wants. Part of a good settlement is both parties walking away unhappy.

I think a killing of this deal would be very sad indeed. In my personal opinion, a “festival space” or park or plaza or other open green space on the wharf site is redundant and wasteful. There is loads of greenspace on the waterfront. What we need there is business. We need a reason for people to actually come there. Elmwood is not the blueprint. South Street Seaport is not the blueprint. The practically empty Distillery District is not the blueprint. Faneuil Hall is not the blueprint. Fells’ Point is not the blueprint.

The Erie Canal Harbor terminus, such as it is, is the blueprint.

Do people want it to look like it did in 1868? No green space here on the central wharf site. Here’s the foot of Main Street showing the “1,000 foot long Central Wharf”.

That makes me LOL at all the “1/4 mile to walk to the water around Bass Pro” b.s., and also underscores that there was no (or scant) public access to the waterfront when the canal district was a bona fide canal district.

I’d rather leave the process up to people who are willing to compromise than rely on people who aren’t.