TOWN OF LOCKPORT: Wal-Mart hearing set for Tuesday

Local News

September 29, 2007

By Joyce Miles/milesj@gnnewspaper.com The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sat Sep 29, 2007, 11:44 PM EDT

TOWN OF LOCKPORT — SUPERCENTER: Plan for

mall site being presented again, ahead of expected town voting.

By Joyce M. Miles

milesj@gnnewspaper.com

TOWN OF LOCKPORT — The public is invited to weigh in, again, on the Wal-Mart question Tuesday night.

In a formal public hearing at 7 p.m., the town planning board will re-present Wal-Mart’s proposal to build a supercenter at the Lockport Mall property.

The required hearing was held last year, but after a succeeding, lengthy gap in town-corporate communications, Wal-Mart asked for, and the planning board agreed to host, another one.

“The board thought it made sense because it’s been out of the public eye,” attorney Dan Seaman said. “We’re not looking for repetition, but everybody will be given a chance to speak.”

Wal-Mart appears on the verge of getting the town’s permission to erect a supercenter at the mall site after several years of on-and-off pursuit and protracted public debate. According to town planner Drew Reilly, Wal-Mart representatives will present the company’s proposed site plan, and members of the public will be able to comment again on its effects.

Afterward, it will be up to the planning board whether to approve the site plan, grant a required special use permit and allow subdivision of the mall lot, where current owner General Growth intends to hold on to Bon-Ton and share some of the premises with Wal-Mart. Then the zoning board can go to work deciding whether to grant variances — exceptions to local zoning code — that would allow Wal-Mart to finally build.

The Wal-Mart/General Growth sharing arrangement is what’s generating some of the procedural wrangling faced by the planning and zoning boards, according to Reilly. A longstanding question about exactly how many variances the two property owners will require is still being sorted out.

Wal-Mart attorney Leslie Senglaub did not return a call for comment.

Reilly on Friday reiterated his stance that the project will not require 42 variances as has been reported. Once duplicative elements of business zoning and Commercial Corridor Overlay District codes are narrowed, and if the planning board agrees to waive some stricter requirements of the overlay district, the public will find the number of exceptions being granted is greatly reduced, he said.

“In the end, there really is only a handful of meaningful variances (required),” he said.

Of the variances, about half will be needed by Wal-Mart and half by General Growth because of subdivision. Each business is supposed to have certain setbacks, parking minimums and the like. Bon-Ton and Wal-Mart would be side-by-side, however, and Wal-Mart can’ meet all the requirements and still have its site plan work.

“These are the no-brainer variances,” Reilly said.

More variances can be eliminated if the planning board agrees to waive or modify certain requirements of the overlay district code, which was written to impose some aesthetic order on South Transit Road.

For instance, Reilly said, the overlay district requires a storefront to have 25 percent windows. Wal-Mart argued it can’t install more than 17 percent because of the way the interior is arranged. Another overlay requirement, limiting access to/from the road to one curb cut, should be lifted because a business of Wal-Mart’s size ought to have two. Traffic would be snarled otherwise, he said.

The point of the public hearing is for the planning board to receive public input on the site plan before making a final decision about approving it, the special use permit and the subdivision application.

Planning board action is not likely Tuesday but it is expected within the next 30 days, Seaman said.

The planning board’s next formal meeting is Oct. 16. The Zoning Board of Appeals will meet Oct. 23.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.ᶖ

Text Only

Local News

Reform agenda touted
Empire State Development Corporation executive Sam Hoyt visited Lockport on Wednesday to tout Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s state budget and government reform plans.
Changing the way the state does business will bring fiscal relief to counties, cities and towns, eventually, Hoyt suggested.
It’s too bad the reforms won’t kick in before municipalities like the City of Lockport begin confronting fiscal crises, Mayor Michael Tucker said in response.

February 9, 2012 2 Photos
Tucker: 'Best days lie ahead'
The City of Lockport government is smaller than it was 18 months ago but is in a stronger financial place, Mayor Michael W. Tucker said in his annual State of the City address.

February 8, 2012 1 Photo
Trio of new classes proposed for Newfane
Newfane High School could have three new business courses in the fall, one of which would center on video game design.

February 8, 2012
Municipalities take wait-and-see approach on SPCA funding
The City and Town of Lockport are each withholding payments to the Niagara SPCA, while other Eastern Niagara County towns are taking a wait-and-see approach.

February 7, 2012 1 Photo 2 Stories
Rocky II
Friends of Deputy Craig Beiter of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department plan a benefit on Feb. 26 to raise money to buy and train a new dog for the K-9 Unit.
Beiter’s German shepherd, Deputy Rocky, was killed while on duty in December, and the sheriff’s department is close to getting a replacement.

February 6, 2012 1 Photo 2 Stories
Basket Factory closes
The Basket Factory has gone out of business.
The owners, Julie Thompson Riegle and Dawn Thompson, made the difficult decision last Monday and put the sign on the door Tuesday.

February 6, 2012
No snow is no problem
Unseasonably warm weather didn’t keep Roy-Hart Winterfest from being a fun day for the families who came out to Roy-Hart Elementary School on Saturday.
More than 500 people attended the third annual festivities, which Gasport Lions Club officials said was a big increase from last year. The halls of Roy-Hart Elementary were filled with vendors, programs and movement as excited children rushed from one activity to another.

February 6, 2012
Shovel-ready park has perks
At first glance, the big, orange road sign announcing vacant property on Lockport Road as a “shovel ready certified” building site seems a bit gratuitous.
To companies looking for new places to launch a business, it’s not. The sign in their eyes is a welcome mat, for in three words a community pronounced itself ready, willing and able to make a deal quickly.

February 3, 2012 1 Photo
Roy-Hart to play the big stage
A group of local students will be performing this month at Kleinhans Music Hall just before a BPO concert.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will welcome the Royalton-Hartland High School Mixed Chorus as part of the BPO’s Community Spotlight program on Feb. 19 at Kleinhans in Buffalo. The chorus will perform under the direction of Carolyn Unitas Roos and accompanied by Janice McKinney.

February 3, 2012
Former NFTA cop sentenced
A former Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police officer will spend six years on probation for sending a sexually explicit photo to a teenage girl, a girl he later had a sexual encounter with.
In addition, John W. Ingham will spend 25 weekends in the service of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Work Program. Ingham was sentenced Thursday by State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch, Sr. Ingham will also register as a sex offender.

February 3, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Local News

Search Results

TOWN OF LOCKPORT: Wal-Mart hearing set for Tuesday

Site Map

Contact Us