[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 74 (Thursday, April 17, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 19070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-9499]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Erie 
Canal Harbor Project (Formerly the Inner Harbor Development Project)

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a Supplemental Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Niagara 
Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) intend to prepare a 
Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the Erie 
Canal Harbor Project (formerly referred to as the Inner Harbor 
Development Project), in accordance with the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA). The original Notice of Intent to prepare a DEIS for 
the Project was issued on November 10, 1997; the final EIS (FEIS) was 
issued in February 1999; and FTA issued the Record of Decision (ROD) on 
June 22, 1999. The project is being administered by the New York State 
Urban Development Corporation doing business as the Empire State 
Development Corporation (ESDC).
    The participation of the general public, interested parties, and 
agencies is encouraged and will be solicited. A Public Scoping Meeting 
will be held to discuss the information to be included in the SDEIS, as 
outlined below.

DATES: Comment Due Date: Written comments on the scope of alternatives 
and impacts to be considered should be sent to Mr. Thomas Blanchard, 
Director of Planning and Development, Empire State Development--Western 
New York by May 28, 2003. Scoping Meeting: A public scoping meeting 
will be held on Tuesday, May 13, 2003, at 6 p.m. at the address 
identified below.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the project scope should be sent to Mr. 
Blanchard at 420 Main Street, Suite 717, Buffalo, New York 14202. The 
scoping meeting will be held at the Buffalo Historical Society 
Auditorium, 25 Nottingham Court, Buffalo, NY 14216.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Danzig, Community Planner, FTA 
Region II. Telephone (212) 668-2180.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Project's 1999 Final EIS evaluated a 
Proposed Action involving the reconfiguration of a portion of the 
Buffalo River bulkhead and redevelopment of a site within the City's 
Waterfront Development Project Urban Renewal Area into a new harbor 
with intermodal transportation components at the foot of Main Street. 
In addition, the Proposed Action involves the construction of a series 
of landside improvements to facilitate and enhance public access to the 
waterfront, connect existing pedestrian and bicycle path systems, and 
provide opportunities for private development.
    In this SDEIS, ESDC will evaluate alternatives for revisions to a 
portion of the Proposed Action to better interpret archaeological 
resources encountered on the Project site related to the site's 
location at the historic terminus of the Erie Canal at the Commercial 
Slip. Planned construction at the western portion of the Project site 
as included in the Proposed Action, entailing completion of the naval 
basin and relocation of the three naval vessels, are currently under 
construction and anticipated to be completed in the fall of 2003.
    Alternatives for revisions to the Proposed Action will be 
formulated in conjunction with a series of public design workshops and 
meetings with heritage interpretation groups to be held in the summer 
of 2003. Although still to be formulated, the alternatives will include 
consideration of realignment or reconfiguration of the Hamburg Drain to 
allow for a rewatering of the Commercial Slip along its historic right-
of-way; methods to interpret the former location of the Central Wharf; 
reuse or interpretation of former streets that crossed the Project 
site; revised methods of using building foundations of former 
structures on the site as interpretive elements; and redesign and/or 
reprogramming of the Naval and Military Park's museum building and 
associated refinements to the configuration of future development 
parcels associated with these other site elements. All alternatives to 
be considered will meet the intermodal objectives and include 
programmatic components of the Proposed Action in the Project's 1999 
Final EIS.
    The SDEIS will present the benefits and costs, environmental 
impacts, and proposed mitigation measures associated with the 
alternatives for revisions to the Proposed Action. Following completion 
and public review of the SDEIS, anticipated in early 2004, a Final EIS 
would be prepared.

    Issued on: April 11, 2003.
Letitia Thompson,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 03-9499 Filed 4-16-03; 8:45 am]
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