BUFFALO (WBEN) - "Even though they're on sovereign land, I think there should be some consideration made as to how things being built in their area and how it fits with the community surrounding it."
Buffalo Planning Board Chairman James Morrell said he can see the brand new, 80-foot billboard that was built at the Seneca One Stop development at the corner of Michigan and Perry from his window.
If you've driven south on the I-190 recently, you may have noticed the new billboard, and because the land is sovereign and owned by the Senecas, they did not need to go through the city for approval.
"It doesn't fit with our normal standards for placing billboards along right-of- ways in the City of Buffalo," said Morrell. "There was a reason that the green code went through an extensive process to go through the standard for placing billboards along right-of-ways - so they don't obstruct buildings or so they don't obstruct traffic.
"That is sovereign land, and there are agreements in place, and I don't think the City Planning Board has a determination as to what goes on their sovereign land," he continued. "However, in keeping with our processes that have been put in place by the green code, there should be some understanding that the placement of buildings and how they fit within the surrounding area should be kept."
This may seem like a trivial issue to many, but it's no doubt exacerbated by the fact that New York State and the Senecas don't exactly have the greatest relationship at the moment, and there's a lot of controversy over whether the Seneca's development projects over the last 15 years have actually been a positive asset to the corridor.
Earlier this year, a federal appeals court ruled that the Seneca Nation must pay over $400 million to state and local governments as part of an agreement that gave the Seneca Nation exclusive rights to run casinos in Western New York.
"I believe the money is owed to the state and owed to local governments in Western New York including the city of Buffalo," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown back in February. "In my budgets the last few years, I have put that money and that anticipated revenue very conservatively in that City budget because I believe that ultimately the Seneca nation will pay that casino revenue that is owed."
