PANEL TO PICK FINAL DESIGN OF PEACE BRIDGE

[CITY Edition]

Buffalo News

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Print Media Edition: Financial edition

Buffalo, N.Y.

Oct 14, 1999

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Authors: PATRICK LAKAMP

Pagination: A1

Personal Names: LaFalce, John J

Abstract:

In a breakthrough agreement, the Peace Bridge Authority said Wednesday

that it will accept the recommendation of an independent binational

review

panel that will look at alternative bridge designs.

The panel -- comprised of U.S. and Canadian engineers -- also will

consider

the authority's plan to build a three-lane companion span next to the

Peace

Bridge.

Likewise, Mayor Masiello and County Executive Gorski said they will

abide

by whatever recommendation comes out of a binational review panel, even

if the recommendation turns out to be the authority's favored twin-span

design.

Full Text:

An end to the long-running Peace Bridge dispute may be near now that

key

officials agree on how to decide what kind of bridge to build.

In a breakthrough agreement, the Peace Bridge Authority said Wednesday

that it will accept the recommendation of an independent binational

review

panel that will look at alternative bridge designs.

The panel -- comprised of U.S. and Canadian engineers -- also will

consider

the authority's plan to build a three-lane companion span next to the

Peace

Bridge.

Likewise, Mayor Masiello and County Executive Gorski said they will

abide

by whatever recommendation comes out of a binational review panel, even

if the recommendation turns out to be the authority's favored twin-span

design.

The binational review team will be created as soon as Monday, and

Masiello

said that its recommendation on what kind of bridge should link Buffalo

and Fort Erie, Ont., will come by January.

Masiello said the agreement followed a month and a half of behind-

the-scenes

talks, and the mayor called it "a triumph for the public consensus

process."

It also came just days before State Supreme Court Justice Eugene M.

Fahey

is expected to rule on lawsuits involving the bridge authority and the

city over a new bridge.

"To me, this is a strong, strong signal that we have matured as a

community

and as a region," Masiello said of the agreement.

Representatives from the authority and city have asked Fahey to delay

ruling

on the lawsuits as the two sides renew efforts to resolve on their own

the dispute over what kind of bridge to build.

Masiello's remark about "community maturity" echoed Fahey's words

during

a court hearing in August, when the judge urged the sides to settle

lawsuits

on their own or risk more delays before a second bridge can be built.

At that time, Fahey said, "Some community maturity is needed at this

point."

Officials from the authority and the city recognize that "lawsuits

aren't

the real way to resolve the issue," said Peace Bridge Authority

Chairman

John A. Lopinski of Port Colborne, Ont.

Community leaders on this side of the border hailed the agreement.

"We couldn't be more happy with the decision, which the Peace Bridge

Authority

made itself, to join in this process," said Richard M. Tobe,

commissioner

of the Erie County Department of Environment and Planning. "It's a

comment

to all those who believe that our important public decisions should be

made by the public -- certainly not by the judges -- and should be made

with community-wide involvement."

Gorski said a lot more work remains to be done.

"We can now all work together to achieve what is best for both sides of

the border," Gorski said.

Some public officials, however, viewed Wednesday's development more

cautiously.

"Whether or not the process will prove to be a binding process, I'm not

so sure about that," said Buffalo Common Council President James W.

Pitts,

who did not sign the agreement.

Pitts said he and the Super Span Signature Bridge Task Force --

comprised

of Buffalo-area leaders he appointed to review proposals for a

signature

bridge -- reserve the right to review the agreed- upon process.

Pitts was among the first political leaders to suggest a lawsuit

against

the bridge authority, saying back in March that it could be the only

way

to block the bridge authority's momentum to building a twin span.

For more than a year, the Peace Bridge Authority refused to accept any

bridge plan other than its twin-span design.

The authority shunned public hearings held by the Public Consensus

Review

Panel into alternative bridge designs, but it did cooperate with the

review

panel by turning over engineering information and answering questions

about

the Peace Bridge and the twin-span design.

In the end, it was the authority that initiated the talks that led to

the

agreement, Lopinski said.

"We are pleased that we have been able to work together to create a

process

that has Canadian participation and that will bring a diplomatic

resolution

to this issue," Lopinski said during a joint news conference with

Masiello

at City Hall.

The authority all along has taken the stance that if someone can show a

better plan, "we would be foolish not to look at it and pursue it."

Simply put, Wednesday's agreement increases Canadian involvement in the

independent Public Consensus Review Panel now studying the twin span

and

alternatives.

The review panel was created as part of a process started last April by

Gorski, Masiello and two foundations to reach consensus on the Peace

Bridge

debate.

The county, city and two foundations -- the Margaret L. Wendt

Foundation

and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo -- have put up

$500,000

for independent studies of the twin span and alternatives to the

authority's

plan.

As part of the agreement, the Canadian government will choose Canadian

engineers to join the panel's U.S. engineers, who have already been

working

on the review.

Here are the details:

The binational review team, using information from the authority's

engineering

and planning firms, will compare and evaluate the twin span and the six

bridge alternatives suggested at the Public Consensus Review Panel's

Oct.

6 public presentation. Masiello, Gorski and the two foundations

selected

the two U.S. engineering firms that will be on the binational review

team.

Once the team is formed, it will be given three weeks for the members

reach a common ground of understanding. The agreement says the team

will

depend upon the "significant input and cooperation from the Peace

Bridge

Authority's engineering and planning firms."

The binational review team will issue a final report and recommendation

for the Public Consensus Review Panel by Jan. 10.

The Public Consensus Review Panel's steering committee agrees to

recommend

to the Peace Bridge Authority whatever the binational review team

recommends

as long as the public consensus review panel agrees. The Peace Bridge

Authority

will review the Public Consensus Review Panel's recommendation by Jan.

24.

Once that's done, the Peace Bridge Authority will commit "to pursuing

the

selection" recommended by the review panel, even if it's a dramatic,

six-lane

span.

In return, Masiello commits to using his powers to secure easements for

the bridge project, whether it's the twin span or even a design that

requires

moving the U.S. plaza to another part of the neighborhood.

The agreement was signed by Masiello, Gorski, Gail Johnstone of the

Community

Foundation for Greater Buffalo and Robert Kresse of the Wendt

Foundation.

Also signing were four members of the Peace Bridge Authority: Lopinski,

Vice Chairman Brian J. Lipke, Luiz F. Kahl and Roderick H. McDowell.

McDowell and Lopinski are Canadian members of the authority board.

In a broad sense, the city and the authority have agreed to the marry

the

review panel process with another review process suggested months ago

Rep. John J. LaFalce, D-Town of Tonawanda, and John Maloney, a member

the Canadian Parliament from Fort Erie.

LaFalce said he is "very pleased" with the agreement, and he noted he

proposed

months ago that engineers appointed by Canadian authorities work with

the

Peace Bridge review panel.

"I said from the beginning that we needed a binational process,"

LaFalce

said. "It's significant. Now I hope that the finger pointing will stop

and that we can concentrate on facts."

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., a signature bridge advocate, called

the

agreement "good news" in an interview with The News.

"I believe in a signature bridge," Schumer said. "Now, we will finally

get a good, fair airing for the signature bridge. It'll be seriously

considered,

and the chances of stalemate where nothing is built is greatly

reduced."

The agreement did not include the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy and

the Episcopal Church Home of Western New York, which filed a lawsuit

over

what they claim was an inadequate environment review of the twin span

plan.

The agreement doesn't resolve their part of the litigation.

"I think at some point in time we have to be involved in the process,"

said Guy J. Agostinelli, the lawyer representing the parks conservancy

and Episcopal Church Home. "We are affected by the project."

The New Millennium Group, a group of young professionals that has

pressed

the authority to consider building a signature bridge, called the

agreement

"a turning point."

"We welcome the public Bridge Authority to the table," said Mary

Catherine

Malley, president of the New Millennium Group. "If the PBA, the City of

Buffalo, the county and the public work together, we can achieve a

magnificent

new bridge and USA customs plaza."

News Washington Bureau Chief Douglas Turner also contributed to this

article.

Credit: News Staff Reporter