Tonight's Planning Board meeting should be very interesting. There are 3 new items on the agenda and my guess is that they all should be controversial.

I expect Ralph Lorigo will be the lawyer representing at least 2 and possibly all 3.

The first is a request by Wallace Grieser to set up a real estate office in a home at 860 Union Road south of Cazenovia Creek. This is significant because the Town Comprehensive Plan forbids businesses on Union south of Cazenovia Creek. An interesting fact is that Mr. Grieser is married to Ralph Lorigo's sister.

If this business is approved, it will open the door for commercial development from the Orchard Park line to Cazenovia Creek. Businesses will Article 78 against the town to allow their businesses to be put up once the commercial door is opened up. The town will lose every case. Here is the possible MO: It will be approved as an owner occupied business, the owner will move out and suddenly it will just be a business office.

If you look at the area South of Michael, you are seeing which way the commercial property is heading. Union Road, West Seneca is in the developers cross hairs.

Take a look at the front yard of 860 Union. It is already paved as a parking lot. This is against the town zoning code. Who approved that?

Lorigo owns the Planning Board and not the Zoning Board. That is why these items are in front of the Planning Board and not the Zoning Board. Lorigo only owns 2 members of the Zoning Board (Hughes and Harmon).

The second item is the $9 million SPCA building on Harlem Road. This will be a nuisance business from the get go. Since the SPCA is a non-profit, it will pay no taxes to the town yet will be provided town services. Town residents will be subsidizing the SPCA by having to pay their taxes.

Secondly the noise and smell from this facility will affect the residents of Winchester and Harlem-Seneca depending on which way the wind is blowing. This is a bad fit for the neighborhood. This facility belongs on a large plot away from residential neighborhoods. Lorigo will try to dump this project on the people of West Seneca.

The third item is another Carl Paladino hotel on Slade. The horse is already out of the barn on this one. I'm sure it will be built. This may trigger more development on the Seneca Mall site. The property is too well located not to be developed. The remaining residents on Slade may be forced to sell at a premium.

It should be an interesting meeting.