|
Seneca
Park is a beautiful natural setting located in Rochester,
New York. The Genesee River, which defines the western
edge of the park, empties into Lake Ontario. The
park is situated along the top of the Genesee River
gorge with a riverine marsh lying at the bottom
of the gorge. The park includes an approximately
25-acre site that is being threatened by the expansion
of the neighboring Seneca Park Zoo.
The
Friends and Neighbors of Seneca Park (FNSP) was
founded in 1999. Our slogan is: For Park Land, Public
Heritage, and Quality of Life. We joined together
for the purpose of protecting this remaining intact
piece of Seneca Park, which consists of a picnic
grove, a pond, a swale, and woodland areas that
contain small wetlands, seeps, and intermittent
streams. Under an 80 million dollar plan to expand
the Seneca Park Zoo proposed by Monroe County, the
majority of the 25-acre site would be turned into
a 600-car parking lot extending to the edge of the
Genesee River Gorge.
A
17 ft high plateau of fill will start a few
feet from this area. Credit: Allan Harris |
FNSP
started its opposition to the destruction of the
site with tried and true tactics. Individual members
collected 1,800 petition signatures of citizens
opposed to park destruction; we posted flyers in
neighborhoods around the park with invitations to
informational meetings; we started a newsletter
with an initial mailing of seventy which has grown
to 178; we called and met with County Legislators,
spoke at meetings of the Legislature and wrote letters
to local papers.
We
were lucky to gain essential allies for our project.
The board and staff of the Landmark Society of Western
New York knew they risked the loss of funding; still
they set out to protect the park. The Society convened
meetings that resulted in an alliance (Alliance)
of eight organizations, including FNSP, opposed
to the new plan. This group hired professionals
to initiate a public relations blitz. Most notably,
they recommended a lawn sign campaign, Save Our
Seneca Park (SOS-P!) that was hugely successful.
The Zoo/Park controversy became a high profile public
debate with anti-expansion voices as numerous and
diverse as pro-expansion ones. Eventually even the
City of Rochester, which actually owns the park
land, challenged the county plan.
The
Alliance found a local environmental lawyer who
taught us how to participate in the NY State Environmental
Quality Review (SEQR) process. During this period,
FNSP was most effective as the boots on the ground:
speaking at SEQR meetings, delivering lawn signs,
keeping the issues in the public eye. Working with
the Alliance we organized park events to propose
less drastic solutions for parking. The Landmark
Society handled the bulk of the fundraising. One
of their mass mailings brought support from 400
households. Even our smaller FNSP mailing list raised
$1,775 dollars.
This
area would be raised 17 feet above its current
grade in order to make the parkinglot high enough
to have handicapped access to the Zoo. The shelter
which can just be seen at the top center and
everything in the upper left quadrant next to
it will be razed and buried in fill dirt. Credit:
Allan Harris |
Acting
as lead agency, the Monroe County administration
proceeded with the SEQR process in 2000 and 2001.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
prepared by Monroe County engineers either dismissed
or failed to mention any threats to wetlands involved
in the destruction of the 25-acre site. The DEIS
stated that "there will be no proposed project
impact to the river or adjacent wetlands,"
and that "no significant adverse impacts to
terrestrial and aquatic ecology are anticipated"
for the project as a whole. Monroe County’s finding
in the DEIS that the wetland is below the regulated
threshold was based on two walk-throughs. Other
observers have disagreed with this finding and have
emphasized the wetland’s essential role in controlling
erosion in the adjacent gorge.
FNSP
applied for and received a GLAHNF grant to retain
our own environmental consultants to provide a second
opinion about the project’s impact on aquatic habitats.
The focus of the consultations was: 1) the wetlands
within the proposed project area and, 2) the storm
water management plan proposed in the DEIS, which
will impact the riverine marsh at the bottom of
the gorge, adjacent to the river. Our environmental
consultants’ delineation of the area’s wetlands,
and review of the storm water management raised
very substantial questions about the county’s findings
for the DEIS. The information obtained from our
environmental consultants increased credibility
for our cause, particularly with city decision makers.
In
February 2002 the county administration had announced
that there was not enough money to embark on even
a scaled-down version of the zoo expansion plan.
Nevertheless the county sued the City of Rochester
in State Supreme Court to stop the designation of
the park as a City Landmark. This action was ultimately
unsuccessful, however the judge ruled that the park
had Landmark status but the city could not enforce
Landmark status until 2060, when the park management
agreement between city and county will run out.
The city has appealed this decision in Appellate
Court and the matter is still pending.
This
historical picture shows the steep slopes in
the park and the type of water seeps which were
ignored in the initial review but flagged as
a potential problem by the FNSP wetlands consultant.
Credit: www.vintageviews.org |
That
same spring, the county administration won a vote
in the county legislature to approve a modified
zoo expansion plan as well as to accept the Final
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The Alliance
responded by filing an Article 78 lawsuit to challenge
these actions, particularly the county’s environmental
findings.
The
technical documents resulting from our GLAHNF-funded
environmental consultants’ findings were used in
this court case. The judge eventually ruled against
us but with a judgment so ambiguous-he implied,
for instance, that he did not have much authority
over the SEQR process-that we have hope for a better
decision on appeal. Those papers were sent to the
Appellate Division in late August 2003.
Finally,
after years of work, the Landmark Society gained
additional levels of protection for the park by
insuring its inclusion on the State Register of
Historic Places in June of 2003, and on the National
Register of Historic Places in October of 2003.
The
county’s lack of funding has put our struggle for
Seneca Park in remission. It is unlikely that state
or federal money will ever be available for parking
because of the park’s historic status, but private
donors may still step forward. In addition to the
fact that the zoo has not yet expanded, the positive
side of this struggle has been the publicity given
to Seneca Park and its designer, Frederick Law Olmsted.
Over the course of five years, our community has
learned about the concept of an historic, designed
landscape. This idea is, of course, counter-intuitive
because the beautiful views seem so "natural."
But as the public began to understand what was at
stake, park defenders went from being labeled "a
small but vocal minority" to enjoying broad
based support.
Our
recommendations to grassroots activists are: get
a reliable ally to provide professional and administrative
support, call your legislators, befriend the media,
persevere, avoid whining, and apply for a GLAHNF
grant.
Friends
and Neighbors of Seneca Park
Miriam Ganze, Project Coordinator
11 Covington Rd.
Rochester, NY 14617
(585) 544-7132
Email: jganze@rochester.rr.com
|
