A proposal to buy a waterfall, parking space and access to 21 acres of riverbank property along 18-Mile Creek goes before the Hamburg Planning Board Wednesday.
But the offer may seem too good to be true, according to one longtime green-space advocate.
"Somebody is going to complain about buying that parcel from Frank Parlato," said Donald "Duke" Spittler, chairman of the town's Conservation Advisory Board.
Spittler has been crusading against rampant development along 18-Mile Creek since he served on the town Planning Board in the 1970s.
He is in favor of the purchase, as are several Planning Board members, although Town Councilman Mark Cavalcoli, who serves as liaison to the Planning and Conservation boards, says he does have one concern about how the parcel would be sold or transferred to the town.
"But Parlato is developing a nice subdivision here, and he seems to care about the environment, judging from his projects in other communities," Cavalcoli said.
Parlato is now selling the last lots at Hidden Hollow, off McKinley Parkway.
He acquired this as a 50-lot subdivision, but chose to develop just 23 lots while preserving a tract of woods where he built a nature trail. The remaining lots have sold well, commanding higher prices than they would have under the original scheme.
Parlato proposes to sell to the town an acre of parking across North Creek Road and a parcel containing Buttermilk Falls, so that 21 acres of town-owned land along the banks of 18-Mile Creek can be more easily used as a nature area.
He will suggest Wednesday that three independent appraisers set the price for the parcel.
Parlato owns about nine acres, from the falls to Southwestern Boulevard, including the former Cliffside Inn, a restaurant that he acquired from developer Joseph Cellura.
"I split off the house across from the falls and one acre and sold that," Parlato said, "but I kept the waterfalls and one acre that I'd like to sell to the town."
Parlato has taken town planners and recreation people for tours of the trail, shown reporters the creek, and speaks of "not wanting to cut another tree," claiming a love for woods and open spaces. "I'm very concerned about forest land right now," he says. "We are not preserving enough of it. My guess is we are losing 10,000 acres of trees around Buffalo each year."
The tract along 18-Mile Creek could have gone that way, too, for it has had some rather interesting twists in recent years.
Cellura bought the Cliffside tract, plus another 20 acres across the road and won rezoning for a proposal that would have included 120 condominium units, a tennis club, a swimming club and a restaurant on 29.5 acres of land -- built right to the lip of the gorge.
Under the original "neighborhood commercial" zoning, he could have opted to build five houses to the acre there -- possibly 100 homes.
But, for more than 20 years, Hamburg has had a subdivision requirement that makes a developer deed one-tenth of his subdivision to the town for open space -- or pay a fee, currently $600 per lot, into the town's recreation fund.
"We wanted a strip along Hemlock Creek, which feeds Buttermilk Falls, to be left for public access," said Spittler, "a sort of strip park. But Cellura wouldn't hear of that. Didn't want the public to come traipsing around his town houses."
When Parlato acquired the two smaller parcels, he quickly suggested a parking lot to open up the creek below them for public access.
He might someday acquire the larger tract, too. It is coming up for a foreclosure sale.
If he does, Parlato admits that those lots, across from a nice park and with easy pedestrian access to 18-Mile Creek, would be worth more money. And he figures that, if the parkland gets used a lot, the Cliffside could be re-established as a profitable restaurant.
Hamburg has declared 18-Mile Creek a "sensitive environmental area." But on the Evans side of the stream, nothing has been done, even though some 20 acres of parkland has been donated across the creek from the tract Hamburg bought in the 1970s.
"The thing is, this has been used by locals for as long as I can remember," Spittler said. "And if we could get just a couple more pieces on our side, we could open it up from Route 20 to the Conrail Bridge -- a couple of miles that could be used for nature trails, family picnics and fishing. Right now it is being
used by fishermen -- especially now that the salmon run is on -- but that's all.
Recently some new upstream access sites have been donated to the town and a two-lot subdivision downstream from the Cliffside gave its flood plain to the town for open space.
In time, the whole creek could be accessible, Spittler believes.
And Hamburg, whose 200-square-mile area is only half built up, "has a commitment to keep space open, despite tremendous pressure from developers" says Cavalcoli.
The Presbyterian Church this year held a "march for parks," there is a special"Trust and Agency Account" that can accept gifts of land or cash, and the town has a track record of picking up green space and leaving it that way.
Spittler has been campaigning in Eden and Evans to get them to adopt green space planning so the creek can be kept relatively pristine.
The old Versailles Plank Road gives access to both sides of the creek near the area in question; and even though it is officially closed in Hamburg, the bridge is still up and usable for foot traffic between Hamburg and Evans.
Parlato's proposal looks like a fair deal, Spittler says.
"But the minute anyone suggests anything like this, people ask about liability, maintenance -- and always about parking," said Spittler. "Well, Parlato has the parking."