NIAGARA COUNTY: NT fire training tower future in limbo

Local News

October 29, 2007

Staff Reports The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Mon Oct 29, 2007, 01:14 PM EDT

Niagara County won’t pay to demolish a fire training tower in North Tonawanda, but the property still has not been transferred to the city.

The county canceled plans to pay $13,000 to demolish the structure, which sits on county land.

The property was to be transferred to the city for use by city fire crews for training, but that hasn’t happened yet because North Tonawanda Mayor Lawrence Soos doesn’t want the fire tower unless the city can have it without any strings attached.

“We’ve got people looking at that island,” Soos said, referring to developers. “Why don’t they just give it back to us for a buck?”

The land, on Tonawanda Island, belonged to the city and was transferred to the county years ago for the purpose of building a training tower.

In approving the sale, the county Legislature said if the city sells the property in the next 20 years, the county would reap the sale’s profits. Legislator Peter Smolinski, R-North Tonawanda, is working on a deal with a city to reduce the reimbursement period from 20 years to five years.

A proposal for a compromise could be in front of county lawmakers at their next meeting.

Legislator Harry Apolito, D-Lockport, objected to the $1 transfer from the county to the city, thinking the city would sell the property for a hefty profit.

“It’s hard for me to give up any land,” Apolito said.

The fire tower in question is old and is of no use to the county, but the city said it could use it for certain training activities.

The county is paying to have fire towers in Lockport and Niagara Falls demolished. Public Works Commissioner Kevin O’Brien said his department needed to know if the demolition crews should go to North Tonawanda as well.

The Legislature’s Public Works Committee last week decided not to use county funds to pay for the demolition.

If the county had successfully transferred the land earlier, O’Brien wouldn’t need to consider demolishing the building, he said.

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