[Federal Register: April 17, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 74)]
[Notices]
[Page 19070]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17ap03-145]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Erie
Canal Harbor Project (Formerly the Inner Harbor Development Project)
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a Supplemental Draft Environmental
Impact Statement.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Niagara
Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) intend to prepare a
Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the Erie
Canal Harbor Project (formerly referred to as the Inner Harbor
Development Project), in accordance with the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA). The original Notice of Intent to prepare a DEIS for
the Project was issued on November 10, 1997; the final EIS (FEIS) was
issued in February 1999; and FTA issued the Record of Decision (ROD) on
June 22, 1999. The project is being administered by the New York State
Urban Development Corporation doing business as the Empire State
Development Corporation (ESDC).
The participation of the general public, interested parties, and
agencies is encouraged and will be solicited. A Public Scoping Meeting
will be held to discuss the information to be included in the SDEIS, as
outlined below.
DATES: Comment Due Date: Written comments on the scope of alternatives
and impacts to be considered should be sent to Mr. Thomas Blanchard,
Director of Planning and Development, Empire State Development--Western
New York by May 28, 2003. Scoping Meeting: A public scoping meeting
will be held on Tuesday, May 13, 2003, at 6 p.m. at the address
identified below.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on the project scope should be sent to Mr.
Blanchard at 420 Main Street, Suite 717, Buffalo, New York 14202. The
scoping meeting will be held at the Buffalo Historical Society
Auditorium, 25 Nottingham Court, Buffalo, NY 14216.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Danzig, Community Planner, FTA
Region II. Telephone (212) 668-2180.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Project's 1999 Final EIS evaluated a
Proposed Action involving the reconfiguration of a portion of the
Buffalo River bulkhead and redevelopment of a site within the City's
Waterfront Development Project Urban Renewal Area into a new harbor
with intermodal transportation components at the foot of Main Street.
In addition, the Proposed Action involves the construction of a series
of landside improvements to facilitate and enhance public access to the
waterfront, connect existing pedestrian and bicycle path systems, and
provide opportunities for private development.
In this SDEIS, ESDC will evaluate alternatives for revisions to a
portion of the Proposed Action to better interpret archaeological
resources encountered on the Project site related to the site's
location at the historic terminus of the Erie Canal at the Commercial
Slip. Planned construction at the western portion of the Project site
as included in the Proposed Action, entailing completion of the naval
basin and relocation of the three naval vessels, are currently under
construction and anticipated to be completed in the fall of 2003.
Alternatives for revisions to the Proposed Action will be
formulated in conjunction with a series of public design workshops and
meetings with heritage interpretation groups to be held in the summer
of 2003. Although still to be formulated, the alternatives will include
consideration of realignment or reconfiguration of the Hamburg Drain to
allow for a rewatering of the Commercial Slip along its historic right-
of-way; methods to interpret the former location of the Central Wharf;
reuse or interpretation of former streets that crossed the Project
site; revised methods of using building foundations of former
structures on the site as interpretive elements; and redesign and/or
reprogramming of the Naval and Military Park's museum building and
associated refinements to the configuration of future development
parcels associated with these other site elements. All alternatives to
be considered will meet the intermodal objectives and include
programmatic components of the Proposed Action in the Project's 1999
Final EIS.
The SDEIS will present the benefits and costs, environmental
impacts, and proposed mitigation measures associated with the
alternatives for revisions to the Proposed Action. Following completion
and public review of the SDEIS, anticipated in early 2004, a Final EIS
would be prepared.
Issued on: April 11, 2003.
Letitia Thompson,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 03-9499 Filed 4-16-03; 8:45 am]
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