Led by Planning and Development Director Vince DeJoy, city officials hope to grab state grant money for a water park near the Clarion Hotel on Lake Shore Drive.

However, Fiore Conti and his wife, Cindy, showed up at City Hall Wednesday to complain about their treatment by city officials ever since the mid-1980s. Fiore Conti owned most of the land that the water park is slated for.

DeJoy didn’t even get a chance to describe the water park proposal, instead mostly listening to the Contis for about 20 minutes before the hearing broke off.

On Thursday, DeJoy provided information about the proposal.

An artist’s concept of what a proposed water park on Lake Shore Drive in Dunkirk could look like. Submitted photo

He said it’s a Restore NY Round 7 project application, eligible for up to $5 million in funding.

The water park would be 25,000-30,000 square feet and be attached to the Clarion Hotel. The hotel owners, and Steelbound, the brewpub that opened a space in the hotel last year, would be in on the project.

DeJoy said the proposal “would also include space within the hotel for food concessions and additional game space, retail space, and other amenities that would enhance the water park. The water park would be a very family friendly atmosphere that would provide fun for all ages with a variety of features such as a wave pool and big slides and tubes.”

He asserted that the water park idea “received, by far, the most positive feedback of any of the development projects proposed” when city planners held community input meetings last summer for the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative program.

DeJoy added that the water park is expected to “significantly increase the occupancy of the Clarion Hotel and would foster further investment in the property.”

While DeJoy looked to the future, on the day before, he was forced to address the past.

Wednesday’s hearing on the water park featured no other public speakers except Fiore and Cindy Conti, who lectured DeJoy and Mayor Wilfred Rosas — who joined city government long after their land was taken — about their situation.

“No one from the city is still there, but we’re still here,” Cindy Conti said.

Fiore Conti owned 66, 68 and 70 Lake Shore Drive, which included an auto parts store at 70. He said they received compensation when the city took over the land for future development in the late 1980s, but he didn’t feel it was fair.

Fiore Conti handed a letter to DeJoy about the affair and provided the OBSERVER with a copy.

“The city… was to maintain ownership as any property acquired through eminent domain was to be for public use, not a private business,” he wrote. “Now the Clarion sits on a parcel no longer owned by the city. The Clarion is not a public use. It is a private business. Several businesses were put ‘out of business’ so that a hotel and other buildings could be constructed for new businesses. The other parcels sit vacant 30+ years later, as the city has not been able to secure a developer.”

Fiore Conti added the city couldn’t sell or develop the parcels “because of the cloud of eminent domain.”

He wrote that securing government funding to help private enterprise was not fair to business owners driven out by government and court proceedings.

“Personally, I acquired my parcels between 1972-78 and it included several businesses that served the community, including a two-family residence, a lawn mower repair shop, an auto parts store and machine shop, and The Covered Wagon hot dog stand,” he stated.

A bar, liquor store and other residences were also on “the vacant/surplus parcels that are now considered condemned, although they were all successful businesses at the time of the proceedings. These small business owners did a much better job of keeping the business district prospering for many years.”