It's going to be discussed, on Sept. 9, whether Erie County's Beeman Creek Park site should be sold or given to the Town of Clarence to develop as a town park.
The land was acquired 30 years ago and land-banked for future use as a county park, to be developed in the year 2002.
With 400 acres, Beeman Creek could be a tremendous regional asset. However, the Town of Clarence, with six town parks, has a policy of excluding non-residents. Those who don't live in Clarence aren't supposed to go in their town parks. If Clarence acquired the Beeman site and developed it into a town park, would it be available for the entire county?
A deed restriction could solve the problem easily. To wit: The County of Erie deeds to the Town of Clarence Beeman Park on the condition that it always remains a park open to all residents of the county and their invitees, and it shall not be subdivided or any portion of the property sold.
With that proviso, as a taxpayer in Clarence, I would welcome the
acquisition of Beeman Creek Park by the town, especially if it meant that it would open this long-closed park site to the public quicker than the county will.
One can argue that 400 acres is unusually large for a town park. But much of the land can, and should, remain undeveloped -- as forest.
In regard to my own offer for a Clarence Town Park on Tonawanda Creek -- an offer that's been rejected twice and appears to be heading toward rejection a third time -- I'd like to respectfully ask the Town Council to reconsider buying the parcel.
It's not a massive 400-acre site, like Beeman Creek, which could
accommodate thousands, but a small, 23-acre park, about as big as the Buffalo Zoo. Its chief distinguishing feature is its access to the largest creek in Clarence -- Tonawanda Creek. What's particularly unique about this property is that, for its size, it has an enormous amount of creek frontage -- almost 3,000 feet. This is because the creek makes a reverse "L" bend and bounds the property on two sides.
There is a two-mile hiking and jogging trail, one that loops around the waterfront, through mature black walnut forest and open meadows and alongside the creek under a canopy of maple, ash and linden.
The property would require practically no development, unlike the huge Beeman site. A deed restriction I will place in my deed will ensure that it will not be overdeveloped: The old forest area will be forever protected.
The town would be buying, principally, access to the creek.
The two properties -- Beeman Creek and Canoe Point -- are not mutually exclusive. They're complementary.
The Beeman site provides a large, beautiful, all-purpose, recreational area. Nearby Canoe Point's 23 acres on the Tonawanda Creek offer one thing that the Beeman site cannot: waterfront recreation for serious canoeists and kayakers.
If not now, at some date in the future the Town of Clarence will realize that it should own, for permanent public access, some frontage on Tonawanda Creek.

FRANK PARLATO JR.
Tonawanda