[FALLSVIEW]

DOWNTOWN NEWS.

Council OKs $40K for new market study; Report to convince senior government to share costs to revive downtown

COREY LAROCQUE
Local News - Tuesday, August 22, 2006 @ 02:00

City council will spend about $40,000 on an independent market study to try to convince senior government levels to contribute to a plan to revive downtown by turning it into a retail shopping district.

Council voted 6-2 Monday to get an independent market study and business plan, eight months after first hearing investor Aaron Lichtman's Historic Niagara downtown revitalization plan.

It will provide the kind of information the city will need whether it's Lichtman or some other investor who is going to revive the ailing business area, said Ald. Wayne Campbell. The market study is expected to take three months to complete.

Lichtman, a New York City-based businessman, has said he can bring $100-million in private investment to attract retail chains to spruced-up downtown buildings. But the plan can only work if the city can guarantee about $36 million worth of improvements to the area, including a parking garage and new parks, he has said.

City politicians have said they hope to split the $36-million public portion evenly among the city, province and federal governments.


The downtown issue had been simmering since the spring, but flared up Monday after four council members met last week with Ontario's public infrastructure minister David Caplan.

Ald. Carolynn Ioannoni said she asked Caplan directly whether or not the province would contribute. His comments revealed it's going to be difficult to get the province's - and probably the federal government's - financial support for the plan, she said.

"Let's not dream in Technicolor. We don't have federal and provincial money," Ioannoni said.

When they met Caplan at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario convention last week, he left Ioannoni with the impression Ontario would be more interested in supporting a convention centre here than in backing the downtown project.

Mayor Ted Salci said after the council meeting it was "unfair" to put words in Caplan's mouth.

"It's unfair to suggest the minister, at this point, has said no. I'm not giving up yet," said Salci, who has often talked about splitting the cost of public-area improvements with senior levels of government.

"There's more than one way to skin a cat," the mayor said, adding there are many sources of government assistance available to explore.

To make the Historic Niagara Plan work, Niagara Falls will seek a big contribution from the province. But the concept hadn't been on the radar at Queen's Park.

In an Aug. 8 interview with the Review, Premier Dalton McGuinty said the Niagara Falls' downtown plan had not yet come to his attention. McGuinty said he was "delighted" the community had taken the initiative to develop a plan and he would be "very interested in learning more about the issue."

The study and business plan council voted to get will help convince the province to take part, Salci said.

Lichtman hired American marketing consultant Bob Gibbs to study the market that exists in Niagara Falls for a retail district. Gibbs had been involved in revitalizing Charleston, S.C., a city Lichtman has held up as a model for Niagara Falls.

It has been difficult for city officials to get much specific information from Lichtman about his business plan and investors, Ioannoni said.

"I'm starting to have a real problem with the monies we've spent and are continuing to spend, absent of any real information," she said. Ioannoni told council members she will make a motion at the Sept. 11 meeting that would limit the city's financial commitment to the downtown project to $12 million, even if the other government's won't contribute to it.

Campbell, who has consistently voted for the Historic Niagara plan, accused Ioannoni of taking a "disgruntled-employee approach" toward the project.

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