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Neighbors take on big development
By ERIC WALTER / Messenger Post Staff
Anti-Chili
Commons group to fight a 52-acre retail complex on a number of issues
(April 6, 2006)
Westway resident Robert
Mulcahy envisions a sea of red and white signs along Archer and Paul roads. On
each will be four words: "No Mall on Paul."
"Most people (in Chili) don't
want the mall," he said. "It's just too much, too soon."
Signs will be one way Mulcahy
and about 30 other Chili neighbors plan to fight a 52-acre retail complex on the
grassroots level. Among other issues, they object to the traffic, crime,
commercial sprawl and drainage and flooding issues they see such a large project
bringing.
North American Properties
wants to build the Chili Commons development with 345,000 square feet of retail
space. It would include two big-box style outlets, two medium outlets, three
out-parcel buildings suitable for banks, restaurants or the like, and two rows
of smaller shops.
Members of the resident group
plan to circulate petitions, launch a Web site and start a letter-writing
campaign to the Army Corps of Engineers, which has oversight over the project.
They also collected enough
money to print 250 anti-mall lawn signs as well as smaller signs suitable to
display on vehicles. The group met last Thursday in the back of the Village Pub
and plan to continue doing so until their concerns are resolved.
"I think it would make the
town of Chili really cheap and commercial," said Carol Confer, one of the
organizers behind the NAP resistance. Confer is also a Westway resident. "People
bought houses here thinking they were moving into a nice residential area."
About 15 acres of Chili
Commons is mostly wetlands and ponds and would be left undeveloped, aside from
walking trails and the like, company officials say.
To move forward with the
project, NAP needs the town to rezone the proposed site from mixed use to
general business. Chili's Planning Board voted to hold off on making a decision
on that matter last December pending findings from the town's Comprehensive Land
Use Plan Update Committee.
Eric Walter can be reached
at (585) 247-9200, Ext. 301, or at
ewalter@mpnewspapers.com .
· The anti-Chili Commons
group will meet at 6:30 p.m., every Thursday in the back room of the Village
Pub, 3240 Chili Ave. All members of the public are welcome.
·
To find out more, visit
www.nomallonpaul.com
(The Gates-Chili Post is a great source of information on this
project and other local news. Webmaster)
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