Deal with town in good faith, Demler says

by Larry Austin
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, February 22, 2006

Town of Wheatfield government officials are irked that an organization called Housing Opportunities Made Equal has stuck its nose into the rhubarb over the Shawnee Landing development, especially now that they claim an officer with HOME works for the Shawnee Landing developer, Belmont Shelter Corp. Town Supervisor Timothy Demler said Friday at a press conference in town hall that he thought a clear conflict exists, after he learned from Town Attorney Robert O’Toole that Michael D. Riegel, president of Belmont Shelter, is listed as a treasurer of HOME on the organization’s Web site. HOME is a civil rights organization that seeks to improve fair and equal access to housing. “Wheatfield is not discriminating,” Demler said. “I worry about an organization that would bring a charge like that to the town and town officials when the officer of that group stands to benefit by the construction of these homes. I think that’s a big issue.” Demler described HOME as “a flaky” group. Meanwhile, Demler said the town will make sure its concerns with traffic and drainage are addressed. They insist that the original plan put forth by Belmont and its sponsor, the Church at Shawnee Landing, called for two access roads. The original site plan in 2001 called for two senior complexes, but has since evolved, Demler said. Low-income housing may be an issue with a few town residents, Demler added, but not their town government.

Wheatfield Supervisor Timothy Demler points to the site plan for the Shawnee Landing development during the press conference. (photo by Chuck and Donna Cederman)

“Our issue has been, if you’re going to deal with the town, deal with us in good faith,” Demler said.

Access on smaller town roads worries the town board, Demler said.

“When we met with Belmont and the church on these very issues, they concurred that there we access issues” for residents, Demler said.

“They claimed that the town was beating them up unnecessarily because they didn’t have access to their site,” Demler said. “And that’s totally not true. We’ve asked them to uphold their site plan.”

The town is asking the developers to abide by two access roads, with the main access off Shawnee Road.

“They agreed to look at that and to work with us on that, but instead, after our meeting right here in our office, they chose instead to go complain about us to HOME,” Demler said.

Demler’s Remarks at the Friday Press Conference follow:

“I called this press conference to hopefully clear the air on a lot of the misinformation surrounding the project known as Shawnee Landing.

“First and foremost, this whole development has become quite a media event. And this, like so many other projects that have come into town, has spun almost as much untrue information as it has accurate information.

The first thing I want to stress is that the Town of Wheatfield has not now or ever tried to stop the actual building of the Shawnee Landing project. We have never interfered with their construction and we have not attempted to hamper them in any way! The truth is that the church that has proposed this project has not lived up to their site plan agreement, as you can see by the approved site plan that is to my right.

I think it’s important to note that the final approved site plan that is here, and the sponsor is the Church at Shawnee Landing, got a clear approval based on an ingress and egress from Shawnee Road and promised, as a condition of this final site plan approval, that both the church and the main access road from Shawnee and the apartments be built concurrently.

Even the traffic study that was submitted to the town was predicated on two access roads, with this one off Shawnee Road supposed to be built upon construction.

My concern, and the town board’s concern, has always been the access on Klemer and Demler roads, two very narrow town roads that cannot and should not handle either the construction traffic or the regular increase in traffic from any development on Shawnee Road. There are minimum of upwards of eight-minute waits and people trying to turn left onto the Boulevard at peak hours from Demler or Klemer roads, and this would only be complicated by additional coming from any development coming from Shawnee Road.

“We consider the access on Demler and Klemer roads a public safety hazard to both the current residents of the area and potential new residents who would use it. The proposed density of the Belmont project would permit easier and safer access to Shawnee Road – and then from Shawnee Road on to Niagara Falls Boulevard.

“We did not ask the developer to redirect access to his site off of Demler and Klemer roads until after the temporary road from Shawnee Road was installed.

“I should note that although the church is supposed to install the road, (and when I say the road, I mean the main entrance road here off Shawnee Road) the church that is the sponsor of this project would only issue a temporary use permit for the Belmont Corp. to access their site via that road until March 29. The town did not limit the access to the Belmont site.

“It appears, however, that the church has, and my question would be why?

“Why after what I would call a good faith meeting, right here in this office, with the people of Belmont Shelter about the permanent access road being Shawnee Road, would they instead, meaning the representatives of Belmont, go to the city of Niagara Falls equal Human Rights Commission to complain about the actions of the Town of Wheatfield?

“Was the church and Belmont simply using good faith effort by the town as a delay tactic to try and embarrass the town of Wheatfield by filing a complaint with HOME, the Housing Opportunities Made Equal Commission, on totally unfounded allegations to the Department of Housing and Urban Development? I should note at this time, what we did not know until the town attorney discovered today, that one of the board of directors of HOME, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, is none other than the president of Belmont Shelters himself, Michael Riegel. He is the treasurer of HOME, and I have to ask: Did Mr. Riegel, in his capacity as an officer of HOME, actually use this organization potentially to promote his own business interests in Belmont here in Wheatfield.

“Was the church and Belmont simply using good faith as this tactic? I have to ask now more than ever, with Mike Riegel being an officer of HOME, if there is a conflict of interest between the two organizations.

“We as a town have fielded all necessary comments during the comment period for HUD, and we have stressed during the comment period that we had two very specific concerns, primarily traffic and drainage and we then asked HUD to delay the funding until those concerns were addressed.

“To have a flaky group like HOME attack the town of Wheatfield is irresponsible, and I have asked the town attorney yesterday to look into possible legal action the town could take against them, especially based on the new information we have received today.

“The truth is we not only allowed construction of this project to move forward unabated, we also allowed them to access the site from Klemer Road until the Shawnee Road access was installed.

“We never required the developer to bond the use of the town roads, i.e. Demler and Klemer roads, as we would have any other contractor in town. We now know, however, that the roads that I mentioned before have in fact been damaged with the Belmont truck traffic.

“We’ve had several meetings with Belmont to address many of these concerns. We have always attempted to work with them to make sure everything in the site plan and the project itself was done properly.

“The town has attempted to work with the developer since 2001 -- when they proposed this a senior complex with a church. Almost all of the promises made by the church, the sponsor, have not been fulfilled and we are greatly concerned about their failure to keep their word or uphold the site plan that you see that was approved by the planning board.

“I should reiterate that the commitment made by the sponsor of Belmont, the church, promised to give a permanent easement for access from Shawnee Road and construct the church and the apartments and the road concurrent with each other. I should also note that the town has inspected some of the drainage hook-ups; we signed off all the utility easements and right of ways. And for Belmont now to claim that we have hampered them is totally untrue. We even upgraded our sewer pump station in the area for $440,000 to help accommodate any increase in flow.

“The Town of Wheatfield is not against affordable housing, and for them or anyone else to use the race card in any of these discussions is ludicrous. My administration has been one of the most proactive in welcoming all people of all incomes, colors and culture to our town. To use a human rights issue to try and circumvent the approved site plan is not just wrong, but it’s unethical and it certainly will not be tolerated.

“The town will continue to work with all of the residents of the area and the developer to make sure all people and all their rights are represented and protected, and we will continue to monitor the situation to uphold this site plan as it was approved and proposed.”