By Gina Castellani
NIAGARA FALLS — The Niagara Falls City Council has declined, for now, to give the city another year before its ban on student rentals in DeVeaux’s single-family neighborhoods takes effect, telling planners it wants to see construction on Main Street first.
The city’s Department of Planning had asked the council to push the effective date of the zoning amendment from June 1, 2027, to June 1, 2028, the Niagara Gazette reported. Planners blamed “delays in a development project that will provide affected students with an alternative location to reside together in a commercial area of Main Street,” according to the Gazette.
At the council’s Oct. 21 meeting, members instead held the request for reconsideration once substantial construction is visible on the Main Street project, Niagara Express reported. The Express reported the vote as 3-1, with Councilmember Vincent Cauley opposed and Councilmember Jim Perry excused.
That leaves the June 2027 date in place, at least until the council revisits it.
“Moving the goalposts again”
Council Chair Brian Archie said the neighborhood has waited long enough.
“The council has taken note that this has been going on for four years and we’re moving the goalposts again,” Mr. Archie said, according to the Gazette. “It’s time to find someone new to really start this (Main Street student housing) project.”
He left room to revisit the date. “We’re gonna wait on this resolution (to extend the zoning code amendment effective date) until we see some shovels in the ground,” Mr. Archie said. “Hopefully that will be in the first or second quarter of 2027 and then will still have time to extend (the effective date).”
DeVeaux residents had urged the council not to grant any more delays. Supporters of the restrictions argue that student rentals in residential blocks drive bloc-buying of homes, push up rents and bring noisy behavior to the neighborhood around Niagara University.
“I’ve seen too many NU students move into single-family homes because NU won’t modernize their dorms or build new student housing,” DeVeaux resident Sharon Bailey said, according to the Gazette. “Residents and homeowners shouldn’t be asked to endure another year of (bad) behavior by NU students. We shouldn’t have to bear the burden while Main Street redevelopment gets worked out.”
What the ordinance does
The amendments, modeled on rules adopted in Binghamton to manage friction around Binghamton University, tighten the zoning code’s definitions of “family,” “group living” and “Duplex/Semi Detached,” and bar student housing in the R1 and R2 residential districts. Group homes, rectories and specially permitted bed-and-breakfasts would still be allowed, the Gazette reported.
A Niagara University representative told the council the school supports the Main Street housing plan, according to the Express.
The Main Street project
The alternative the planners were waiting on was formally unveiled a day after the vote. Developer Abe Bose announced plans to invest $25 million in the long-vacant buildings at 2010 and 2018 Main St., turning them into about 100 units of Niagara University student housing with ground-floor commercial space, WKBW reported. The station said the building had been boarded up since at least 2007.
“It’s not just about replacing blighted structures with modern, premium student housing and ground-floor retail. It’s about creating an economic engine that brings foot traffic and daily activity back to this block,” Mr. Bose said, according to WKBW.
The project is part of the city’s effort to resell 38 Main Street properties between Ontario and Michigan avenues that it acquired from absentee landlords. Mayor Robert Restaino said the city has made deals for a little less than half of them.
“Collectively, there’s in excess of $50 million of private investment here,” Mr. Restaino said, according to WKBW. He called the student housing “the initial, I would say, linchpin or centerpiece of what we hope to do on Main Street.”
The timing problem
The schedule explains the planners’ request. Mr. Restaino told WKBW he hopes the Niagara University housing will open in late 2028, more than a year after the DeVeaux restrictions are now set to take effect.
If the council holds to June 1, 2027, students now renting houses in R1 and R2 blocks of DeVeaux could face a gap before the Main Street units are ready. Mr. Archie’s comments suggest the council could still extend the date if construction is underway by mid-2027.
The Buffalo Chronicle has asked the city and Niagara University for comment on how they plan to handle that gap.
Leave a Reply