Copies of previously unreleased surveys show a majority of people who attended a 2022 public hearing at Niagara Falls City Hall were opposed to Mayor Robert Restaino’s plan to borrow federal funds to cover property acquisition costs for his proposed Centennial Park arena and events campus project.
Restaino previously refused, in response to a January 2023 request from the Niagara Gazette, to release copies of the surveys, saying they were not authorized by his administration and should not have been distributed by former Community Development Director Clifford Scott Jr.
Copies of the surveys were included in a batch of documents Restaino’s administration has since released in response to formal requests for public information from Niagara Falls Redevelopment, the private firm that owns 12 acres of land the city is acquiring, using its power of eminent domain, as the preferred location for Centennial Park.
Records show a total of 18 hearing attendees filled out the written surveys on the proposed “substantial amendment” to the city’s 2020-2024 community development budget, with 14 checking a box indicating that they were “against” the amendment and four indicating that they were “in favor.” The majority of respondents left the comments section of the survey blank.
Resident Jarrett Steffan indicated on his survey that he opposed the federal loan plan, writing that the amendment would result in in the loss of nearly $10 million and as much as $19 million in federal funding for the city over a proposed 20-year loan period.
“That should be invested in housing and community amenities for residents,” Steffan wrote.
Former Falls councilman and council candidate Michael S. Gawel wrote in “100%” favor of a “6,000-8,000 seat arena.”
“The City of (Niagara Falls), NFR and the Seneca Nation must work together to make the project successful,” Gawel wrote in the comments section of his survey.
Records show two other individuals — one for and one against the proposed financing plan — submitted opinions via email.
“The council should not fund land acquisition for Centennial Park by borrowing against future funds that our most vulnerable residents need,” former Falls Councilman Ezra Scott Jr. said in a Dec. 22, 2022, email to Clifford Scott. “I oppose the city’s request to fund land acquisition for the project using a Section 108 loan that borrows against services for our most vulnerable residents. I call on the city to explore alternative financing options for land acquisition, such as the private bond market, private investors or (New York state) funding.”
Resident Helen Kress, in an email to Clifford Scott dated Dec. 27, 2022, expressed support for Centennial Park, largely due to “frustration with the decades that the land has been vacant” by its owner, New York City real estate developer, banker and NFR’s top executive Howard Milstein.
“Yes, it is a risk for the city to take on a massive loan in order to develop some of Milstein’s land,” Kress wrote. “However, he isn’t doing anything with it and how can we take the bigger risk of waiting on him to suddenly create a technology center there?”
About 40 people attended the 2022 hearing, with 17 of them signing up to speak. Nearly all of the speakers expressed opposition to the loan proposal, Centennial Park, or both.
Clifford Scott provided hearing attendees with an opportunity to fill out the surveys at the end of the hearing. At the time, he indicated that the results would be considered by city officials as part of the process of amending his department’s four-year spending plan, a necessary step in allowing the city to submit an application for a loan for Centennial Park land acquisition under the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s Section 108 loan program.
On Dec. 28, six days after the hearing, a majority of city lawmakers, including David Zajac, Ken Tompkins and Traci Bax, voted in favor of amending the department’s spending plan.
While the city is required under federal guidelines to hold a public hearing before authorizing a “substantial amendment” to the community development budget, Restaino said at the time that it was not required to obtain resident input through any sort of written survey.
At the time, the mayor also said a formal resident survey was not required under the parameters of the Section 108 loan program, which allows cities like Niagara Falls to borrow against future allotments of Community Development Block Grant funding to support larger-scale projects deemed to be of benefit to the public.
“Ultimately, the decision is final with the council,” Restaino said.
The Section 108 loan was one of several mechanisms Restaino’s administration has considered for financing the purchase of 12 acres of NFR’s land for Centennial Park. He has since said that the proposal, while still technically available as a result of the council’s approval, was no longer under consideration and other financing options were being pursued, including possibly securing funds through private partners or municipal bonds.
The release of the survey results comes as NFR continues its bid to obtain what it maintains are public documents related to Centennial Park’s development.
Records on file with the Niagara County Clerk’s Office show the company filed an “Article 78” in March, challenging the administration’s response to its Feb. 10, 2023 Freedom of Information Law request seeking copies of “all documents and communications” between the city and CJS Architects, the Buffalo firm hired by the city to perform design work related to Centennial Park. Article 78 proceedings are filed in New York state court by parties seeking to challenge decisions made by governmental bodies, public agencies or officers.