LOCKPORT – Only four property owners will be asked to give up land for the reconstruction of Lincoln Avenue, Niagara County legislators were told Tuesday.
The state Department of Transportation sent out letters earlier this month to property owners along that Lockport street, making prominent mention of eminent-domain seizures to accommodate the $6 million project.
However, Richard W. Eakin, deputy public works commissioner for engineering, told the County Legislature’s Administration Committee that in most instances, the requests made of property owners will only be for temporary or permanent easements, allowing the county to use their land for installation and maintenance of storm drains.
Eakin said that there will be 69 easement requests and only four takings of property: three commercial and one noncommercial.
The takings will be near the intersections of Lincoln Avenue with Davison Road and Beattie Avenue, where left-turn lanes are to be added for northbound and southbound traffic.
“The state sent out letters that were confusing, and they did alarm some persons,” said Majority Leader Richard E. Updegrove, R-Lockport.
Eakin said property owners will be paid for easements, based on appraisals of the property where use is needed. A typical easement area would be 100 square feet, he told the committee. He said work is expected to start in 2014. “It will go to bid, if we have all the rights of way in place, in December 2013," he said, adding that the project may carry over into 2015.
The plan is to use asphalt to replace the 167 concrete slabs comprising the street between Beattie Avenue and Akron Road, improving drainage along the way.
The $6 million construction estimate doesn’t include the state’s cost estimate of $570,000 to acquire rights of way – Eakin said he thinks that figure is overstated – and a nearly $700,000 consulting contract for Bergmann Associates. The state and federal governments are paying 95 percent of the project’s costs, although the county has to pay the state’s share upfront and be reimbursed later.

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