Niagara County unveils online park reservations

System expands flexibility and ease-of-access for visitors

Niagara County is rolling out a new, online parks reservation system to allow the public to reserve park shelters from home or their Internet-enabled mobile phone, the head of the Niagara County Legislature's public works panel announced.

The new online reservation system will be available at the county's parks Web portal, www.niagaracounty.com/parks. It goes active March 3.

"We wanted to provide flexibility for the public in making reservations, while increasing overall efficiency," said Legislator John Syracuse, R-Newfane, who chairs the Legislature's public works committee. "Our new reservation system will be user-friendly and available to anyone with Internet access on their computer, tablet or mobile phone. We will also continue taking reservations at our parks office and by phone."

Syracuse noted this was the first of several planned announcements about upgrades to the county's website designed to both increase public access and ease interactions with government agencies.

"Our goal is to make park reservations simple and user friendly," he said. "Our new online system does just that. It makes it possible to do same-day reservations from a park, or anyplace you might be carrying an Internet-enabled device."

The parks currently available for online reservations are:

• Oppenheim Park, Wheatfield
• West Canal Marina, North Tonawanda
• The Royalton Ravine, Gasport
• Krull Park, Olcott

The county's parks system includes both large and small shelters, as well as the extra-large Lions shelter at Krull Park. Daily shelter rates are:

• Small shelter (seats up to 35 people) $35
• Large shelter (seats up to 75 people) $50
• Lions shelter (No. 20 Krull Park only) $75

A $2.50 convenience fee will also be added for credit card transactions.

Reservations can also be made in the parks office, located at 59 Park Ave., 2^nd floor, Lockport, with cash, money order, or credit card payment required at time of reservation. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Reservations can also be made by telephone at 716-439-7951 during office hours. Telephone reservations are by credit card only.