Lancaster fights Non-for Profit

When a local Church wants to move into Lancaster's Industrial Park - all he!! broke loose!

It seems they don't mind shoving a Non-profit Group into Depew - but when it comes to Lancaster Loosing tax dollars - no way!

Lancaster's Government is full of Hypocrites.

:D

Stanley J. Keysa, consultant to the Lancaster Community Development Corp., reminded board members that the industrial zone was initially created in the late 1970s from bankrupt railroad lands.
Holly Cow ! ! - how many Boards does Stanley J.Keysa sit on ?

Strict zoning laws were adopted to protect the viability of the industrial park as a place that encourages businesses to open and create jobs and taxable real estate.

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Originally Posted by 4248

Holly Cow ! ! - how many Boards does Stanley J.Keysa sit on ?

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It pains me to do so, but I have to admit that you have a good point here.
What's the deal with this guy? For an unelected person, the former supervisor still pulls quite a bit of weight, doesn't he? It seems he's been appointed to every committee out there.
Now he can just sit around and get paid to point out problems he helped create when he was in office...

It's the Village Board that's fighting the Church. Town Board owns the library.

"Stanly Keysa pointed to the master plan for the villages of Lancaster and Depew and the Town of Lancaster, which repeatedly refers to the protection of the industrial park for strict commercial purposes. "

Maybe the Town Board should be included since their Maser Plan has been sited in this debate.

By the way - how come the Village and Town seem to have no problem ignoring/adapting their "Master Plans" when it comes to Developers needs.

Every time they make a change/exception for Developers ,
Supervisor Bob Giza says, "Its only a outline - not carved in stone."

Master Planner Stanley Keysa says , " Its made to be a "Living" document - like our Town - it grows and needs change."

Whats more important - money or Religion ?

:confused:

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Originally Posted by therising

It's the Village Board that's fighting the Church. Town Board owns the library.

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Owns the library? As in personally?

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Originally Posted by 4248

By the way - how come the Village and Town seem to have no problem ignoring/adapting their "Master Plans" when it comes to Developers needs.

?[/CENTER]

:confused:

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Good question.

The hypocrites you speak of are the Lancaster Town Board and Ms. Judith Shanley, Director of Southeast Works. The negotiation process employed by SEW and the town led to the Village of Depew being put into a position as the bad guy in the process.

The town all but set it up for SEW to purchase the library for $400,000 right from the get go. Shanley had balked on the deal for a measly $15,000 – saying the state’s appraisers thought the building and property were worth together only in the low $300’s.

Her demeanor and the way she had someone from the board (gee, who could that be) giving her town inside information and bringing her before the board at work sessions all the time, soured other board members.

They all knew that if the deal didn’t get settled by January 1, 2007, the zoning status would revert to residential – as it did. The town knew the village wanted a commercial enterprise for taxing purposes and showed no concern that the zoning change would occur.

The outcome was that the town lost $400,000 in revenues for the library and that the building is still owned by the town and should they not find a buyer, its use will be determined by the town.

Should they not be able to sell it to some entity that could find a use under the residential zoning restrictions in place, the town may decide to use the building for their own purpose and the neighboring residents could experience a more intrusive result.

Restrictions could have been applied for SEW building use – such as to be used only for administration and/or storage, etc. There could have been a win/win result. The process was flawed from beginning, right to the end - at least that’s the opinion of someone who was present at all the meetings.

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Originally Posted by pudge

The hypocrites you speak of are the Lancaster Town Board and Ms. Judith Shanley, Director of Southeast Works. The negotiation process employed by SEW and the town led to the Village of Depew being put into a position as the bad guy in the process.

The town all but set it up for SEW to purchase the library for $400,000 right from the get go. Shanley had balked on the deal for a measly $15,000 – saying the state’s appraisers thought the building and property were worth together only in the low $300’s.

Her demeanor and the way she had someone from the board (gee, who could that be) giving her town inside information and bringing her before the board at work sessions all the time, soured other board members.

They all knew that if the deal didn’t get settled by January 1, 2007, the zoning status would revert to residential – as it did. The town knew the village wanted a commercial enterprise for taxing purposes and showed no concern that the zoning change would occur.

The outcome was that the town lost $400,000 in revenues for the library and that the building is still owned by the town and should they not find a buyer, its use will be determined by the town.

Should they not be able to sell it to some entity that could find a use under the residential zoning restrictions in place, the town may decide to use the building for their own purpose and the neighboring residents could experience a more intrusive result.

Restrictions could have been applied for SEW building use – such as to be used only for administration and/or storage, etc. There could have been a win/win result. The process was flawed from beginning, right to the end - at least that’s the opinion of someone who was present at all the meetings.

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I followed the same story as you did, came to a different conclusion. I still don't see what the Town did wrong here. How should they have handled it differently?

Any, I think this thread was about the Church that is being blocked by The Village.

Rising wrote:

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I followed the same story as you did, came to a different conclusion. I still don't see what the Town did wrong here. How should they have handled it differently?

Any, I think this thread was about the Church that is being blocked by The Village.

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The sale of the building should have gone to a broker immediately. The town should not have given Shanley an inside track, especially knowing early in 2006 that the zoning would revert to residential by January 2007.

In the meantime, Shanley poisoned the water for others who showed interest in purchasing the building by devaluing its worth.

Bringing the sale of the Lancaster library to the thread is appropriate as this is another example of a zoning code that a special interest wants to breach.

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Originally Posted by pudge

The hypocrites you speak of are the Lancaster Town Board and Ms. Judith Shanley, Director of Southeast Works. The negotiation process employed by SEW and the town led to the Village of Depew being put into a position as the bad guy in the process.

The town all but set it up for SEW to purchase the library for $400,000 right from the get go. Shanley had balked on the deal for a measly $15,000 – saying the state’s appraisers thought the building and property were worth together only in the low $300’s.

Her demeanor and the way she had someone from the board (gee, who could that be) giving her town inside information and bringing her before the board at work sessions all the time, soured other board members.

They all knew that if the deal didn’t get settled by January 1, 2007, the zoning status would revert to residential – as it did. The town knew the village wanted a commercial enterprise for taxing purposes and showed no concern that the zoning change would occur.

The outcome was that the town lost $400,000 in revenues for the library and that the building is still owned by the town and should they not find a buyer, its use will be determined by the town.

Should they not be able to sell it to some entity that could find a use under the residential zoning restrictions in place, the town may decide to use the building for their own purpose and the neighboring residents could experience a more intrusive result.

Restrictions could have been applied for SEW building use – such as to be used only for administration and/or storage, etc. There could have been a win/win result. The process was flawed from beginning, right to the end - at least that’s the opinion of someone who was present at all the meetings.

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this type of stuff should be brought out for public awareness if Giza is to not be re elected......

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Originally Posted by 4248

"Stanly Keysa pointed to the master plan for the villages of Lancaster and Depew and the Town of Lancaster, which repeatedly refers to the protection of the industrial park for strict commercial purposes. "

Maybe the Town Board should be included since their Maser Plan has been sited in this debate.

By the way - how come the Village and Town seem to have no problem ignoring/adapting their "Master Plans" when it comes to Developers needs.

Every time they make a change/exception for Developers ,
Supervisor Bob Giza says, "Its only a outline - not carved in stone."

Master Planner Stanley Keysa says , " Its made to be a "Living" document - like our Town - it grows and needs change."

Whats more important - money or Religion ?

:confused:

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Money fool!! Have you not learned this yet??? It is the New York Way.