May 5—The Falls City Council pulled from its agenda Wednesday night proposals that would have granted an operating permit for the city’s first authorized bitcoin mining facility and approved the construction of a new heliport and tourism center for a long-timer air tour provider.
The council “pulled” the permit application of Northeast Data, doing business as BlockFusion, a cryptocurrency mining operator, to receive the first high-energy use operating permit in the Falls. The Falls Planning Board had unanimously recommended that the council approve the permit.
The Planning Board held a special meeting April 25 to enable the permit application to be placed on the council’s agenda for its Wednesday night meeting. Attorneys for BlockFusion had asked the Planning Board to expedite the application for council approval.
Planning Board Chairman Tony Palmer had noted the company’s 233-page application submission was “exhaustive” in outlining how the company would comply with the city’s recently revised Zoning Code which places new restrictions on high energy use industries such as crypto-mining, data centers and cannabis cultivation.
BlockFusion attorneys told the board that their application meets “all the qualifications” for a high-energy use operating permit. They said the board should “take our voluminous submission as a wish to comply with the new regulations.”
Council members said city officials had asked for a delay in considering the permit to resolve an undisclosed issue with the application.
BlockFusion had been operating a crypto-mining facility on Frontier Avenue, but shut down operations in November after the city notified the company that it was in violation of the new high-energy use industry Zoning Code amendments. Officials said BlockFusion immediately filed its application for an operating permit and made changes to comply with the new regulations.
The city also sought a preliminary injunction to block the continued operation of two other cryptocurrency mining facilities in the Falls. One of those facilities is no longer operating because of a power generation issue.
The other is reportedly preparing a permit application as part of a legal settlement with the city.
The council members also pulled a resolution to rezone a property on Acheson Drive off Buffalo Avenue to allow for the construction of a new heliport and tourism center for Rainbow Air.
At its special meeting April 25, the Planning Board gave its unanimous approval to both the rezoning recommendation and a site plan that would allow Rainbow Air to move its operations to a property adjacent to the former Carborundum Center on Buffalo Avenue. In addition to constructing a new helipad, the company will also expand its operations by building a 30,000-square-foot tourism center.
Rainbow said the $10 million project is designed to allow them to become a year-round tourist destination.
The project architect, Aaron Faegre, told the board members that the company hoped to start construction this summer on the heliport facility.” Company officials say they’re hopeful that they could begin operations at the new site by 2024.
Faegre said he wanted to “get steel in the ground” by May.
The request was tabled by the City Council to allow for a further review by members.
Council Member Kenny Tompkins said council members did not have enough information on the company’s projected new flight path.
Faegre previously told Planning Board members that the new location was chosen to allow the company’s helicopters “a quick departure to the south, over the Niagara River” which will allow the aircraft to “climb to altitude quickly and minimize noise.” The flight path of the helicopters in and around the Falls is tightly controlled by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Air Transport Canada.
Rainbow Air officials have also said that they conducted studies that show that the noise from departing helicopters at the new site is no greater than the noise of trucks operating on Buffalo Avenue.
On Thursday, Tompkins said council members had received additional information from the company and that the recommendation could be back on the council’s agenda later this month.