NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The Niagara Falls City Council voted down a proposal to give landmark status to The Turtle on Wednesday night.
After a very long city council meeting, three council members voted against giving The Turtle historic status, one voted for it, and one abstained.
Wednesday night's decision to reject historic status for the iconic Turtle in Niagara Falls came after a very long meeting where the majority of the public speakers were in favor of granting historic status.
Michael Martin is the executive director of Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara counties. He says as a group, they're disappointed.
"People who love the turtle love the building, love Niagara Falls, and want to continue to see it be an asset as part of the fabric of downtown of Niagara Falls, and we're committed to doing everything we can until that building's no longer standing and that possibility stops," Martin said. "I think we're even more committed to see what we can do to make a viable project."
The majority of the speakers want to see The Turtle transformed into a cultural center or museum.
But at the meeting, the city attorney said historic status would not have meant the current owner has to do anything to turn it into a museum or cultural center, but it would add another layer of approvals needed from the preservation board for any proposed changes to the building.
The building is owned by Niagara Falls Redevelopment, and the company did not respond to our request for an interview before our deadline Thursday afternoon.
But Monday, the company issued a statement saying, "If a building so wrong in so many ways is landmarked for such wrong reasons, it is the taxpayers of Niagara Falls who will ultimately suffer."
"Our organization actually toured the building in 2016. At that time, we didn't know what it looked like inside or what condition it was in. That was our first foray into it. We weren't able to get an asking price at that point," Martin said. "It's a matter of putting together and getting more formal cost estimates. We do believe we'd get a lot of support financially for a project, but obviously it starts with the acquisition cost."
The city attorney said Wednesday night that he thinks granting historic status wouldn't have taken away the possibility of the building being demolished in the future. He also said the way he interprets the law, this vote is final and can't come up again.