Skip Navigation

  1. City Departments
  2. City Services
  3. Our City
    1. Accomodations
    2. Architecture
    3. Arts and Culture
    4. All America City
    5. Buffalo My City
    6. Buffalo Niagara Convention Center
    7. Visit Buffalo Niagara
    8. Buffalo Sports & Outdoor Recreation
    9. Education
    10. Buffalo Ambassadors
    11. 1 more items...
  4. Online Payments
  5. My Profile
    1. New User Registration
    2. Existing User Login
    3. Schedule Payment Instructions

Home > Leadership > Mayor > Archive Press Releases > 2008 Archives > February 2008 > Brown Administration Cites Property Owner and Vessel for Violations of City

Brown Administration Cites Property Owner and Vessel for Violations of City Code


Source/Contact
Office of the Mayor
Peter K. Cutler
Director of Communications
716-851-4841

South End Marina Corp. and Specialty Restaurants Required to Provide Confirmation of Structural Integrity of Docking System and Remove Lake Barge
 
BUFFALO – Mayor Byron W. Brown’s Administration today formally cited South End Marina Corp. and Specialty Restaurants for several violations of the Code of the City of Buffalo for the docking of the former lake barge Lansdowne along the city’s waterfront near Gallagher Beach.
 
On Friday, February 1, 2008, Mayor Brown and Congressman Brian Higgins went to the site of a docked former lake barge known as the Lansdowne, which is located within the Buffalo Coastal Special Review District. The decrepit vessel was docked without any prior city review or approval. At the time of the Mayor’s visit, city Building Inspection and Public Works officials conducted an inspection of the vessel and the docking area. 
 
“I stated last Friday and repeated yesterday that Buffalo’s waterfront is not a dumping ground and we will not tolerate this type of irresponsibility by either a property owner or anyone owning any type of vessel,” said Mayor Brown. “Our position is firm and we will not accept any excuse other than complete compliance with laws of our city.”
 
In a letter dated today, addressed to South End Marina Corporation and signed by Acting Commissioner of Public Works Steve Stepniak and Chief Building Inspector Lou Petrucci, the city informed the property and vessel owners of “…several violations of Chapter 495 of the City Code pertaining to the vessel proper and the proper maintenance code [pertaining] to the docking facility.” The letter was hand delivered and sent also via U.S. Mail.
 
The violations include: a broken mooring cable at the rear of the vessel; evidence of “spalling” (broken) concrete on the docking system, exposing re-bars; large amounts of debris between the vessel and the dock wall; no evidence of appropriate lighting on the vessel.
 
The property owner was directed to provide a structural engineer’s report regarding the structural integrity of the dock’s mooring system by March 1, 2008 and the vessel owner has been instructed to remove the former lake barge by May 1, 2008. Failure to address the code violations and meet the deadlines could result in, according to the letter, “…a penalty of up to $1,000.00 per incident while the potential penalty for a violation of the maintenance code is up $1500 and/or 15 days in jail per violation per day.”