GREENWAY: Hospital hopes it can access funding through school district.
Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center has asked the city’s school district to sponsor an application for greenway funding to support a $235,000 park improvement project.
School board members were presented with an overview Thursday of the proposal which calls for a portion of the district’s annual allotment of Niagara River Greenway dollars to be used for new lighting, signs, landscaping and other improvements at Schoellkopf Park. Hospital officials are hoping the upgrades will make the park more inviting to residents in the Memorial Park neighborhood and visitors to the Little Italy business district on Pine Avenue.
“We really want it to be part of the fabric of the community,” said Ann Marie Tucker, Memorial’s vice president of foundation and community relations.
Schoellkopf Park is located on Portage Road between Pine and Walnut avenues next to the Schoellkopf Health Center on the Memorial Medical Center campus. It is the city’s first park and was donated as park land to the city in 1913 in memory of Arthur Schoellkopf, a former mayor and son of power pioneer Jacob Schoellkopf. It is currently maintained by the hospital which, in 2006, joined the city, the state and private donors in undertaking a greenspace enhancement project at the site. The latest proposal looks to add to the work that has already been done by adding educational markers and interpretative signs that would provide visitors with information about the park’s history and historic figures like Arthur Schoellkopf, Albert Porter and Helen Gaskill who played roles in the development of the medical center and the region. In addition, hospital officials want to add directional signs that would direct pedestrians to the park, the Aquarium of Niagara and the Little Italy district. The project also calls for new lighting, benches, planters, fencing, trees, shrubs and decorative pavers. The project budget calls for $187,000 in construction, $10,000 in planting and $38,000 for various other items, including signs, benches, planters and Bollard lighting.
Superintendent Cynthia Bianco said the district could use a portion of the revenue it receives each year for greenway projects under the Niagara Power Coalition’s 50-year relicensing agreement with the New York Power Authority. Bianco said the district receives $463,000 for greenway projects each year. So far, it has spent a total of $102,000 from the fund to support the development of a nature trail at Gill Creek Park. Bianco said the district’s greenway account still has roughly $2 million left in it. The school board can ask members of the Niagara River Greenway Commission to consider allowing the district to use $235,000 from its account for Schoellkopf Park improvements.
Board members did not take action on the hospital’s request on Thursday as some members said they would like to see more details, including a breakdown of specific construction costs and information on how the hospital intended to incorporate activities for youth in keeping with district goals. Board members also wanted assurances that the hospital would properly maintain the park after the project was completed, noting that, if approved, the enhancement project would be entirely supported with district Greenway dollars.
“We want to do it right,” said board member Russell Petrozzi. “We want to be sure it is done for 20 years, not 20 minutes. It’s important to us.”
Tucker agreed to return with answers to the board’s questions at the next Thursday’s school board meeting. She said the hospital was hoping to receive approval from the board for its application request so a formal proposal could be made to the greenway commission on Nov. 15. She indicated that it will likely be necessary for the hospital to postpone the request until the commission meets again in January.
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