Stephanie Logue

Staff Writer

Scott Enterprises wants to add a new zipline to its Harbor Place property on the city’s East Bayfront, which would traverse East Front Street and provide riders with lofty vistas of Presque Isle Bay. One of two main new features planned for the Harbor Place property, which includes the Hampton Inn & Suites at 130 E. Front St., is the Soaring Eagle Zipline, which would fall from a 130-foot tower along the Bayfront Parkway. On the northern end of the Harbor Place property, the business wants to build a new manicured miniature golf course as part of a $150 million multi-year development.

“We’re working closely with the city on this,” said Nick Scott Jr., Scott Enterprises’ Vice President. “These are family-friendly things that we think would be a good addition to the waterfront and would be additional attractions down there.”

The Soaring Eagle Zipline, which launched in 2017 at another Scott Enterprises-owned business, Peek’n Peak Resort & Spa in Clymer, NY would be nearly identical. However, the actual position of the zipline on the Harbor Place property may shift significantly, according to Scott. Riders are fastened by a belt and sit side-by-side in a chair that resembles a ski lift. At Peek’n Peak, riders are dragged backwards up a 700-foot incline at around 30 miles per hour, and after they reach a peak height of about 130 feet, the zip line pauses briefly before riders tumble down at about 40 miles per hour.

Zipline riders are stopped at the bottom by a brake. The Harbor Place zipline would work in a similar way, according to Scott. Soaring Eagle rides at Peek’n Peak cost $10 per person and are available to people of all ages. Riders in groups of 15 or more pay $9 per person. The Harbor Place zipline is likely to be similar in price. “Anyone from 5 years old to 95 years old can ride it,” Scott said.

Both renovations, along with a new stage covering at Harbor Place’s Oliver’s Beer Garden and a new independent outdoor bathroom facility, are expected to cost around $850,000, according to Scott. Scott Enterprises aims to finish the projects and open them to the public by late May, he added. According to previously stated plans, the Harbor Place project will comprise more than 40 residences, a hotel, a waterfront restaurant, a family leisure center, 30,000 square feet of retail space, and a parking garage.

Officials from Scott Enterprises have stated that expanding the city’s Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program in Erie would aid in the sale of the townhomes. The enlarged LERTA, which took effect in 2019, provides 10-year property tax discounts for new residential and commercial construction/improvements throughout the city, including the Bayfront. On March 15, the city’s Design Review Committee and Planning Commission received plans for the zipline and golf course. Both committees recommended them, but only under certain conditions. The zipline would cross Front Street and Scott Enterprises; these will need to seek an aerial easement from the city. 

In addition, because the zipline tower would be around 130 feet tall, a height variance would be necessary under local zoning restrictions. Commercial and hotel structures are limited to 50 feet in height along the bayfront, while multifamily residential units are limited to 100 feet. The Design Assess Committee and Planning Commission are required by local zoning rules to review proposals in the city’s Waterfront Commercial District and submit recommendations to the Erie City Council, which will hold two public hearings on the projects.

On April 6, at 9:30 a.m., the council will hold a public hearing on the proposed miniature golf course. The zipline will be the subject of a public hearing on April 20 at 8 p.m. Both public hearings will take place during normal City Council meetings in the Bagnoni Council Chambers at City Hall, 626 State Street. Both projects would then need to be approved by the council in separate votes before they could move forward. The projects were presented before the Design Review Committee/Planning Commission on March 15 by Scott and Mike Sanford, President and owner of Sanford Surveying & Engineering in Erie.

Sanford, who is assisting Scott Enterprises in the development of both projects, said the 500-foot bayfront zipline would load riders from a 25-foot platform outside Oliver’s Beer Garden and “pull backwards up to the high point, then release them and come back down,” according to preliminary drawings. “It’s similar to a ski lift,” Sanford said.  “You’re in a seated position, pulled backwards.” 

A ticket booth would be built in addition to the loading platform, and new landscaping would be installed in the area, according to Sanford. The 130-foot-high zipline tower will be built at the southern end of the Harbor Place property, next to the Blasco Library and near the 200-foot chimney, which was previously part of a coal-burning Penelec facility and was established in 1917. The miniature golf course would have a “nautical theme” and be heavily manicured, with a new ticket booth/clubhouse near the water’s edge. Sanford said nearby surface parking spaces would be extended to suit both projects.

Nick Scott Jr. said Scott Enterprises explored a miniature golf facility years before Harbor View Miniature Golf Course closed across the street from the Hampton Inn & Suites on lower State Street. “I can’t tell you we would have still gone forward if they were still there,” Nick Scott Jr said, “but it was always one of the things we were considering down there.”

The Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, which leased the golf course property to Tom and Teresa Stankiewicz, terminated that lease in June 2021 because Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority leased the golf course to Tom and Teresa Stankiewicz. This was due to the construction of the West Front Street connecszl414tor, which will extend from State Street to the Sassafras Street Extension.

City Council President Liz Allen said the zipline/golf course projects at Harbor Place “sound cool” and could attract additional visitors and tourists to the waterfront. “We need more stuff to do in that immediate area,” Allen said. “But we also need to follow the process and see what the public has to say about this. That’s why we have the public hearings.”