By JAMES FINK
Business First

Defending the proposal to construct a multilevel parking ramp within the Canal Side footprint in downtown Buffalo has come with a price tag.

Representatives for the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. said the tug-of-war over the proposed ramp - which would service the proposed Canal Side Bass Pro store and would also address parking concerns for the Marine Drive Apartment residents - was one of three key factors that saw $100,000 in billings added to the agency's legal bill with Phillips Lytle LLP.

Bass Pro is slated to be the anchor retail tenant of the $315 million lower-Main-Street development.

"Quite frankly, I think the (parking-ramp) issue was a contrived one from the beginning," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. "It was political game-playing from the beginning. It is shocking to me that it is costing the taxpayers this much extra money."

Besides the ongoing parking-ramp debate involving a group of Marine Drive Apartment residents, other factors behind the larger-than-expected legal bill included the need to respond to more than 736 comments made during the mandated environmental-impact review and the need to separate the environmental reviews from a general project plan for Canal Side.

"The comments were overwhelming and unprecedented," said Adam Walters, a Phillips Lytle partner and Canal Side's counsel.

As a result, the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. board of directors unanimously agreed to increase its 2010 allotment for legal fees by $350,000. Phillips Lytle, since being retained two years ago, has billed ECHDC $850,000 - including this year's allocation.

Agency officials say it is money well spent.

Despite the deep pool of comments, Walters is confident that the mandated environmental review process will be completed this spring and that work on the project will begin by early summer. The 130,000-square-foot Bass Pro store is slated to be open by late 2011.

Walters admitted that addressing the concerns of some Marine Drive Apartment residents has forced him, ECHDC directors and others "to spend a lot of time" on the issue.

"I wouldn't say the issue is behind us," Walters said. "But we are moving forward in a productive way. And we are working hard to make sure all the issues are addressed."

A small number of Marine Drive Apartment residents feel the multilevel ramp will impose on their existing surface parking and destroy their view of downtown Buffalo.

The Canal Side plans call for dedicated parking spaces for the Marine Drive Apartment residents, with most of the spaces under cover.

Representatives from the Harbor Development board will meet Feb. 25 with officials from the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, which owns and operates the Marine Drive Apartments, to work out any final issues concerning the parking ramp.

"This parking ramp is a critical component of the project," said Jordan Levy, ECHDC chairman. "We are going to build this ramp."

Walters said besides wrapping up the final environmental reviews, his firm will be handling various legal issues this year for the harbor corporation, including some property-transfer matters, reviewing leases and negotiating development agreements.

The ECHDC directors also approved amending the organization's architectural design and strategic-planning services contract with the New York firm of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn by another $1.03 million. The amendment covers technical services needed as Canal Side moves forward.

To date, the architecture firm has been paid $5.1 million.

"We are very comfortable with what has transpired to date," Levy said.