The ice boom has found a new home. The New York State Power Authority (NYPA) bought a 10.3 acre site at 41 Hamburg Street along on the Buffalo River yesterday as a new off-season storage location for the ice boom. NYPA paid $1,025,000 for the property owned by Killian Black Trucking.
Consisting of steel pontoons linked together and anchored to the river bottom at Lake Erie's outlet to the Niagara River, the 8,800 foot long ice boom prevents the buildup of ice, yet allows water to continue flowing downstream to the power projects.
Under its 2007 relicensing agreement, the Power Authority agreed to move the ice boom off of a 13-acre site on the outer harbor. The outer harbor Power Authority site will be handed over to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC) for reuse. ECHDC is a subsidiary of Empire State Development and was created to spearhead the city of Buffalo's waterfront redevelopment effort.
The outer harbor Power Authority property is next to a seven acre site the ECHDC purchased from Cargill, Inc. last year. ECHDC is also in negotiations with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority over the acquisition of additional outer harbor parcels. A study looking at outer harbor reuse options and development opportunities is currently underway.
Since they have to install it on the lake every year, I suppose they need waterfront access, but it still seems like a low-grade, potentially uglifying use of prime riverfront land.