Work on Lundy's Lane continues By TONY RICCIUTO / Niagara Falls Review Updated 8 hours ago
The holes are dug. The hydro poles are on location. And, on Tuesday morning, work crews continued to put them into the ground, regardless of the objection raised by some of the local businesses along Lundy's Lane.
A number of those business owners appeared before council Monday night hoping
to put a temporary hold on that project until some of their concerns could be addressed.
After some discussion, council passed a resolution, on a recorded vote of 6-3, requesting the Regional Municipality of Niagara and Niagara Peninsula Energy "temporarily put on hold" the installation of the new electrical distribution poles. And, to convene a public information meeting with the Lundy's Lane property owners to outline the scope of the project, explain their tree preservation plan and allay any concerns the property owners might have.
Councillors Wayne Thomson, Carolynn Ioannoni and Joyce Morocco were opposed.
City clerk Dean Iorfida said the resolution was a request, and it's up to the authority to determine whether they will consider the request, and whether they take it seriously or not.
"Hopefully, the council's position in the community has some sway for those bodies to consider the resolution," said Iorfida. "Do they legally have to consider the resolution? No, but it's obviously council's wish that they would consider it."
Photographer Charles Vandersluys and Navin Shahani, chair of the Lundy's Lane Business Improvement Association, said they should have received more information about the scope of this project long before now. They don't like the look of the new poles and are concerned about the possible drop in property values. They would have preferred to have the system installed underground, but the utility company said the cost of this project would have been four or five times more.
"What is the sanity of putting huge poles on Lundy's Lane?" Vandersluys asked council on Monday night. "It will be a concrete jungle. They will become the eyesore of Niagara Falls."
Coun. Wayne Gates questioned why the community wasn't notified before the decision was made.
"They're doing it because it's cheaper. That's the reality. Is it really worth it to destroy a main tourist area because it's cheaper? It's about dollars and cents. As a council, we have to decide, is Lundy's Lane as important as Fallsview, as important as the downtown?"
On Tuesday morning, while workers from Ground Aerial Maintenance Services continued to install the poles, some business owners parked their cars near the holes that had been dug hoping to slow the work down.
Larry Vaughan, one of the owners of the company, said he had received no instruction to temporarily stop the work that was taking place.
"We're just trying to do our job. That's the best I can tell you," Tom Sielicki, vice-president of engineering for Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc., told the Review on Tuesday.
"We have a liability issue here. We have holes in the ground. We've spoken with the Region, who is the road authority, and they've said we have the authority to continue with our work. We just want to make the site safe. If we get those poles up, the issue of liability is gone."
Sielicki said it's his understanding the resolution that was passed by council is only a recommendation.
"Based on our capital program and approval from our board of directors and approval of the road authority, we have work that we have to complete within this calendar year," he said. "To the best of our knowledge, we have all the authorization required to work within the regional municipality right-of-way to install our equipment."
Sielicki said an agreement was made with the contractor to get this equipment up quickly to minimize any impact on the businesses. The workers were on site ready to go and they hoped to have most of it in place before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
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