Waterford, Greenway plans get initial OK

by Karen Keefe
Grand Island Dispatch, February 9, 2007

Developer Tom Giambra finally got the go-ahead for the preliminary plat for Waterford Park, a 71-home subdivision he plans for a 40-acre parcel near the East River Road S-curve, between Fix Road and Broadway.

Residents living adjacent to the parcel showed up at Monday’s Town Board meeting to express their continued misgivings about traffic safety, drainage and preservation of wetlands and wildlife. Traffic concerns have centered around the congestion anticipated at a new intersection that would be created near the East River Road S-curve north of Fix Road to accommodate access to Waterford Park.

In the end, it was recommendations from town officials that modified the site plan to allow for another exit and entrance to Waterford Park. That will be accomplished by extending Revere Road – which now dead-ends into Riverdale Drive in the Falconwood subdivision – to connect to the new development. Revere, a curved, quiet street, has a 60-foot right-of-way.

The extension of Revere was suggested by the town’s Traffic Safety Advisory Board and by Fire Chief Greg Butcher, among others, to provide better access to the planned Waterford subdivision and to connect neighborhoods.

Giambra’s figuring is that he will lose up to three sites and up to 25 percent of the anticipated profit from the development by having to accommodate the extension of Revere Road. Still, he was satisfied with the compromise. “They’re happy; We’re happy. You have to give and take,” he said after the meeting.

Councilman Dick Crawford is the Town Board’s liaison to the traffic board. “Profits don’t become a part of our decision,” he said. “We’re looking at the health, safety and welfare of the community. And the community-within-the-community is the three neighborhoods that will coexist in there right now.”

Councilwoman Mary Cooke concurred. She said it’s important for pedestrians and bikers to have connectivity between the Riverview, Falconwood and new Waterford subdivisions.

In approving Waterford Park’s preliminary plat, the Town Board determined that there was inadequate area within the subdivision to take land for a public park. So a recreational fee will be assessed per lot.

In other action, the Town Board:

•Approved the draft Niagara River Greenway Plan, a network of interconnected parks, river access points and waterfront trails along the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The plan had received ringing endorsements from the town’s Commission for Conservation of the Environment and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Previously, the Town of Tonawanda, the City of Tonawanda and the City of North Tonawanda also approved the draft. The plan needs the approval of all 13 municipalities within the Niagara River corridor to take effect.

•Authorized Supervisor Peter McMahon to sign collective bargaining unit agreements with CSEA and the Teamsters.