Town leaders:
Paul Road complex not a done deal
Board members want to know what
Supervisor Tracy Logel's position
is.
By ERIC WALTER / Messenger Post
Staff
(April 13, 2006) There may be
serious money behind it, but don't
assume a 52-acre retail complex on
Paul Road is a lock, say several
Chili Town Board members.
"I get a little upset that people in
town think that this is all being
done behind closed doors, and that
this is a done deal," said
Councilwoman Mary Sperr. "I'm here
to tell you it is not."
Sperr spoke at last week's Town
Board meeting, following a proposal
by Jeff Pape, director of
development at North American
Properties. North American wants to
build 345,000 square feet of retail
complex adjacent to Wegmans. The
project would include two
big-box-style outlets, two medium
outlets and a variety of smaller
shops, restaurants or banks.
In order to proceed, they need the
town to rezone the land to general
business. Most of it is currently
zoned planned neighborhood overlay.
Fearing major increases in crime,
sprawl, flooding and traffic, the
project has inspired strong
hostility from many of the residents
around it.
Though the Town Board has ultimate
authority over rezonings, they
customarily ask the Planning Board
to issue a recommendation first. The
Planning Board voted in December to
hold off on a decision, pending
findings from the town's
Comprehensive Land Use Plan Update
Committee.
The committee is updating the town's
blueprint for long-term growth, and
is scheduled to wrap work later this
summer.
Pape said the presentation was
simply an attempt to give Town Board
members the same consideration North
American already gave residents when
it hosted a public information
session last month.
Board member Mike Slattery said he
appreciated their gesture, but that
having a Town Board session now was
premature. Because town officials
have no way of knowing what
recommendations the Comprehensive
Land Use Committee has in store for
the area, he told Pape, "you may be
doing this again at a later date."
He also pointed out that it was
Supervisor Tracy Logel who put the
presentation on the meeting agenda,
not the rest of the board.
Both he and Sperr repeatedly asked
Logel to state her position on the
proposed complex - something the
supervisor refused to do.
"Nobody should be taking a position
on this one way or the other at this
point in time," Logel said
afterward.
Still, she added, that land will be
developed, rezoning or no rezoning.
Board members need to start thinking
about what is in the interests of a
majority of town residents, she
said; "some potentially high density
apartments or condominiums ... or do
we want a state-of-the-art
development that generates tax
revenue?" .
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