September 21, 2000

Meeting Minutes

Jeff Albert, Foit-Albert Architects

Martin Bakowski, Home Performance Professionals

Jean Brun, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo

Jay Burney, Greenwatch

John Cinquino, HSBC

Lorraine Clemente, Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation

Donna Davis, Common Council Chief of Staff

Drew Eszak, Erie County Environment & Planning

Bonnie Foit-Albert, Foit-Albert Architects

Paul Fuhrmann, Ecology & Environment

Joe Gardella, SUNYAB Environment & Society Institute

Jon Gardner, Kavinoky & Cook Law Firm

Kevin Georger, M&T Bank

Peter Gorton, PanAmerican

Dick Grainger, Conserval Systems

Beverly Gray, Councilmember-at-Large

Phil Haberstro, Wellness Institute

Margaret Hammersly, Buffalo News

Fred Heinle, City of Buffalo, Office of Strategic Planning

Bruce Kohrn, SBK Environmental Research

Randi Mail, Green Gold Development Corporation

Mark Mitskovski, Erie County Environment & Planning

Bill Nowak, Council Legislative Staff Manager

Terry Paquin, ECIDA

Robert E. Pfeil, Howden Buffalo

James W. Pitts, Common Council President

Laura Roberts, Buffalo Niagara Partnership

Gary Robinson, URS Greiner

R. Schuessler, Howden Fan

Dave Seng-busch, OSP

Jim Smith, Buffalo Environmental Management Commission

Rich Stanton, City of Buffalo Assistant Corporate Council

Chuck Thomas, City of Buffalo, Division of Strategic Planning

Darlene Vogel, Urban Resources Partnership

Phil Wilcox, WNY AFLCIO EDG

Len Wrona, Hatch Associates

Louis Zicari, SUNYAB Center for Integrated Waste

Management

Ed Zielinski, www.environment-buffalo.org

Eco-Industrial Park (EIP) Proposal

Bill Nowak walked through a well-organized and informative presentation outlining the benefits EIP’s offer and several examples in progress across the country. Efforts to build an Eco-Industrial Park in Buffalo are focused on the old Buffalo Forge site. Buffalo Forge, clearly fits the EPA’s definition of a brownfield, as an "abandoned, idled or under-used industrial and commercial facility where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination."

Beginning in 1879, Buffalo Forge manufactured heavy-duty industrial "air-moving" equipment in addition to involvement with intensive steel applications. Before going public, Buffalo Forge was owned by the environmentally sensitive Wendt family. As Mr. Schussler, from Howden Fan affirmed, the Wendt’s would have been happy to see this project unfolding. However, several environmental concerns need to be resolved before restoration and construction can start.

Bonnie Foit-Albert spoke of the feasible interest to reuse part of the existing facility as office components of the EIP design. As part of the proposal offered by Foit-Albert Architects, the building’s two main towers would be restored for shared conference space and a marketing center. Meanwhile, the middle section would be "scooped out" and transformed into an atrium. Other amenities in the preliminary EIP concept include a resource center/library, a laboratory, business incubator space, a recycling center, a composting center, a manufacturing building, and a visitor’s center, among others. Bonnie showed several slides of examples where old buildings were rescued from demolition and given a modern facelift for reuse. The idea of reusing some of the Buffalo Forge building works well with environmental and architectural interests. For example, by making use of the existing building the embodied energy will have a second life. Furthermore, by restoring a significant portion of Buffalo Forge, the neighborhood will retain an important element of its history by integrating the abandoned facility as a revived asset. However, before settling environmental concerns, several legal issues need reconciliation.

Mr. Pitts was proud to announce that the ECIDA has agreed to play a major role in the EIP project. Their involvement will greatly facilitate the process of acquiring the property as well as funding. Mark Mitskovsky suggested that additional space be considered as future expansion for the EIP to accommodate businesses that outgrow the incubators and need to relocate. Land to the west of the site, towards Jefferson, might be a possibility for future growth and/or development for an initiative led by Matt Brown.

Frank Kennedy, from the Niagara Regional Group introduced what he calls, the finest insulated wall system in the world. With a unique design, his insulated cinder blocks promise to lower construction costs, reduce noise, and decrease purchase and maintenance costs of heating and cooling equipment while reducing energy bills. Each unit has three distinct parts: a concrete inner face, expanded polystyrene pieces as the insulator and a concrete outer face. All materials are completely recyclable and environmentally-safe, containing no CFC’s or HCFC’s.

To read more about this insulate concrete masonry wall material, check out www.nrgwall.com

Bruce Kohrn from SBK Environmental Research, invited all Green Gold members to participate in a demonstration of a group exercise called the Transformation Management Learning Tool sometime in October. Developed by Reinvesting in Tomorrow, the exercise helps business managers, environmentalists, and government officials develop analytic and collaborative skills to effectively deal with situations that need to meet economic, environmental, and political concerns.

As described by Susan Svoba, an environmental strategy expert that developed the exercise, "Transformation is not a "feel good" session; nor is it a crisis-oriented call to arms. It is a reality-based, team-building exercise which helps participants understand how to translate the concepts of sustainability into tangible action." If interested contact Bruce Kohrn @ 564-3579.

Jay Burney from Greenwatch, presented the inception of the 2000-2001 Inaugural Season of the Western New York Environmental Roundtable. Jay stressed the importance to develop an educated constituency that is well-versed in environmental issues. The roundtable will bring national, international, and local experts together to discuss:

• Global Warming and its Potential Consequences on WNY in October
• Gulls, Ecotourism, and Niagara in December
• Toxics Remediation in Lake Erie and the Niagara and Buffalo Rivers in February
• Politics, Politicians, Government, and Environment in April
• Economics, Sustainability, and Environment in May
• Coordinated Bioregional Environmental Planning Strategies in June

For more information on the roundtable, contact Jay Burney at jburney@gateway.net