LET HISTORY BE OUR JUDGE

Preservationist groups zero in on Buffalo’s waterfront assets

This week Buffalo’s historical preservationist community, so often vilified as obstructionist, was backed up by external voices focused on threats to the city’s endangered waterfront history. The endangered elements are small (the CPO Club) and large (the Columbus Park and Prospect Hill neighborhood as well as Front Park).

First the small:

■ The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) declared that the Chief Petty Officer’s Club, at the foot of Porter Avenue, is eligible for listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. This is a reversal from an earlier position laid out by SHPO Director Ruth Pierpont in a letter to the New York State Office of General Services, which wants to evict the CPO Club and demolish the building that houses it. In the letter Pierpont said, “it is the SHPO’s opinion that your project will have No Effect upon cultural resources in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.”

The New York State Office of General Services has leased it to the Chief Petty Officers Club since the 1970s, and its intention to demolish the structure drew howls of protest from the neighborhood and many of those who cherish its lakeside bar and picnic tables.

In April, State Assemblyman Sam Hoyt asked SHPO to make a site visit and review its position. Based on that visit, SHPO found that the building “retained much of its historical integrity and with some rehabilitation could be restored to reflect its past grandeur,” according to a press release issued by Hoyt’s office.

It remains to be seen whether the CPO Club will be the entity to effect that restoration. The state has found the club’s members to be less-than-stellar tenants, who have allowed the building to fall into disrepair and out of code compliance. The club—famous for its view of the lake, its fish fries, and its cheap beer—stopped serving alcohol last month because it had allowed even its liquor license to expire. One gets the sense that its members had come to take their club for granted, in an age when the state seems in the business of revoking entitlements.

Possibly, however, this episode will have scared straight the membership of the CPO Club. Hoyt says he is seeking a means to help the club afford the repairs the building needs.

Now the large:

■ The National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed the Columbus Park and Prospect Hill neighborhoods, along with the Front—the Frederick Law Olmsted Park those neighborhoods border—on its list of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. This annual list, according to the Trust’s press release, “highlights important examples of the nation’s architectural, cultural and natural heritage that are at risk for destruction or irreparable damage.”

In this case, the damage arises in the Peace Bridge expansion project, and specifically the proposal for a new plaza that threatens the seizure through eminent domain and destruction of at least 80 homes, maybe more—that statistic keeps shifting.

The National Trust lays outs its position of the Public Bridge Authority’s expansion plan thusly:

In order to increase the existing bridge plaza footprint from 14 to 38 acres and to accommodate a Duty Free shop, visitor’s center and extensive network of new ramps and roadways, the plan calls for the demolition of more than 90 homes, including at least 9 National Register eligible properties; the elimination of streets; the clear cutting of trees; and, the permanent alteration of scenic lake views. Hundreds of residents would be displaced, several businesses would be relocated and dozens of historic buildings would be adversely affected through the loss of context and profound visual alterations.

In 2007, the Department of Homeland Security suspended negotiations on a Shared Border Management agreement with Canada, which would have allowed for most of the plaza expansion to occur with far less impact on the Canadian side of the bridge. Instead, the current plan was presented as the sole alternative even though other options exist for configuring and locating the added span and border entry plaza in less sensitive areas, including in the nearby International Railroad Corridor or in other industrial sections of the river. Despite mounting criticism that PBA has not met their legal obligation to consider other viable solutions, it is poised to begin using its eminent domain capabilities this year.

The National Trust is holding a press conference today (Thursday, May 22) at noon in Front Park, with regional director Wendy Nicholas and the Baird Foundation’s executive director, Catherine Schweitzer, who also serves on the National Trust’s advisory board. They’ll be joined by the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, Preservation Coalition of Erie County, Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier, and neighborhood groups.

The National Trust’s designation is significant: The Peace Bridge plan fall under the purview of the Federal Highway Administration, which must make sure the proposal complies with the National Historic Preservation Act.

The PBA’s Ron Rienas began firing back at once, telling Jerry Zremski of the Buffalo News that the PBA’s plans would improve Front Park and that the authority, as part of its plan, had pledged $1.5 million to relocate and restore a historic chapel. “I don’t see the National Trust putting up any dollars,” he told Zremski. “It’s very easy to be obstructionist.”

In an email exchange with Artvoice a couple weeks back, Rienas wrote, “The fact is the worst thing that could happen to Front Park is that the Peace Bridge project does not proceed.” He added that the project “will enhance the Park—not as much as you and others would like. But the reality is the existing plaza is not going anywhere, nor is the 190, nor are the buildings south of the 190 that obstruct the views of the lake.”

Usually Rienas spars with locals, like Kathy Mecca of the Columbus Park Homeowners Association or Tim Tielman of the Campaign for a Greater Buffalo. Now he has a national adversary:

“If the current proposal for the Peace Bridge project is approved, it will gut the character, history, stability, value, and vibrancy of these residential neighborhoods and forever change the larger community,” said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “We must find a way to develop this transportation corridor without compromising the historic fabric of the community, especially when other alternatives have not been completely explored or evaluated.”

—geoff kelly