City Hall will hire a firm to study the west wall of the Genesee River. The wall needs repairs and officials want to know if the wall can be lowered. A shorter wall would improve the view and encourage development, officials say. PHOTO BY MATT DETURCK
The wall on the west side of the Genesee River is not in good shape, city officials say, and they're going to hire a firm to evaluate the condition of the wall from roughly the Ford Street bridge to the Douglass-Anthony bridge.
Some residents in the Corn Hill area now have to buy flood insurance because of the condition of the west wall, says Paul Holahan commissioner of the city's Department of Environmental Services. Those neighborhoods are lower than the river, Holahan says, and they're considered by federal officials to be located in a flood plain.
"That's an important issue," he says, "but we're also concerned about the appearance of it; it's a gateway into the city."
The east wall appears to be in good shape, Holahan says, and doesn't need attention at this time.
City Hall will hire a firm probably later this year to do an evaluation of the wall, he says.
Officials also want to know if the wall could be lowered to improve vistas and maybe help spur development along the west side of the river.
Comments for "City worries about condition of river wall " (1)
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John E. Curran said on Sep. 02, 2010 at 11:15am
Address the restoration of the southwest river wall as a comprehensive active transportation corridor for walking, jogging, cycling, fishing and bird-watching from Elmwood Avenue to the Court Street bridge. This links the waterway system involving the Genesee River with its Erie Canal Junction. The City's Riverway bicycle path, adjacent to the concrete river wall, proceeds southward along the Genesee Valley Greenway to Pennsylvania. Enhancing the riparian buffer along the west river wall with managed natural habitat improves the environment, filters contaminants from the Vacuum Oil brownfield and raises the soil level sustainably.
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