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Old Posted Sep 26, 2006, 8:59 PM
thestip thestip is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 34
Planning Board Meeting

So I had to be at City Hall today for a meeting with one of the city's 3 community planners and decided that I would go early and sit through the Planning Board meeting. WestCoastPerspective asked if I would check out two of the items on the agenda and get some pics, for which I obliged.

Item #1: Ellicott Development's Waterfront Village Project

Presented today was preliminary site plans for 15 townhomes as part of the Waterfront Village project that Ellicott has prefered developer status for next to Admirals Walk. The townhomes are of a similar design to the Rivermist Townhomes across Ojibwa Dr. from the Ellicott development. They are a little more pedestrian friendly than Rivermist. The Ellicott reps I talked to stated that development has to begin by the end of the year or they lose prefered developer status from BURA. They will start with 4 units, after those are sold, will buildt the next four, to make a continuous 8, when those are sold will build the last 7 all at once. The townhomes are to be between 2200 and 2700 sq. ft. and have either 2 or 3 bedrooms. Each unit will have a small patio which will overlook a small park behind the townhomes. Maintenance on the park will be paid for by the homeowners association. The preliminary plot plans were approved. The condo tower is still being tweaked but they have to present the plans for that to BURA by the end of October, but they probably won't go before the Planning Board until after the 1st of the year.

Item #2: Colvin/Starin Subdivision in North Buffalo

The second item that WC wanted me to look at was the proposed subdivision between Colvin and Starin along the old Rail ROW in North Buffalo. There are 134 proposed lots, although several prospective buyers have indicated they wanted to buy double lots, so there will not be 134 homes built. The NFTA has required that there be a 30' ROW maintained on the north side of the property to allow for the construction of a bikeway and/or future rail extension. The city department of public works is requiring there to be a 66' wide right of way for the street and adjacent sidewalks, which leaves a 79' to 89' lot depth. The typical lot will be 55' wide with the four corner lots being 70' wide. At both ends of the new street low entrance walls are proposed making this a true 'subdivision'. The developer did not have architectural renderings available for the houses, but I would suspect that they will be of a suburban style considering the lot width and depth. I am going to talk to him on Thursday about some more renderings, so I will probably enquire as to the house designs and see if I could at least encourage him to have the garages set back from the front of the houses. I think this one is going to happen considering that the Planning Board approved the preliminary design as well as the fact that I think the site is properly zoned so unless the North Buffalo people that were opposed to the Natale proposal come out in force to oppose this, I think it will go through.

Some pics from both proposals:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thestip...7594301041189/

Both developments will be presented at a public hearing in front of the Planning Board on October 10th.
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