By Daniel Pye<br><a href="mailto:pyed@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Dan</a>
The Tonawanda News
May 06, 2008 12:23 am
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TOWN OF TONAWANDA — The town board is working with Erie County to make the town’s riverfront a more desirable location for businesses.
Riverview Commerce Park, which opened on River Road last year with a 55,000-square-foot building to house three tenants, is already beginning construction of a second facility that will be twice that size. But the park is situated away from the road, and just north of the turn sits the 50-year-old eyesore that is the Riverview Industrial Center.
The facility is abandoned and designated as a brownfield site. That’s not what town officials want potential businesses to see when they’re looking at setting up shop in the town, said Councilman John Bargnesi.
“The place is right next door to the Riverview Commerce Park that Tom Montante has put millions of dollars into,” Bargnesi said. “It’s a key location because it’s right there, the first thing you see, and Tom is trying to draw in national businesses.”
The town board approved the joint grant application with the county and put up $10,000 of the town’s funds to get the evaluation started with more funding on the way from the county. Under the grant guidelines, that money is 90 percent reimbursable, Bargnesi said.
The next step is an environmental review outlining the actions that need to be taken to clean up the land and safely remove at least the first of 12 tanks on the site, which is visible from the street.
“Our goal is to get the tanks down and this gets that process moving,” Bargnesi said.
In other business, Councilman Joseph Emminger addressed a public meeting he attended where the installation of a traffic circle at the intersection of Brighton and Eggert roads was discussed. Although the town board has no say in what final actions are taken, Emminger pledged to stay involved and push for consideration of the town’s needs, Emminger said.
“As someone who lives in that neighborhood today and grew up in that neighborhood, it’s something that I will be keenly watching along with the rest of the town board to make sure what the county does is in the best interest of the residents and businesses of the town,” Emminger said.
Supervisor Anthony Caruana also made some announcements, proclaiming the week of May 11 Safety Week in the town and designating May 16 as the day to celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day in the town.
Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.
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