Silo caboose process frustrating developers, Planning Board

by Joshua Maloni
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, June 13, 2009

Richard and Alan Hastings seek to renovate the Ted Mars caboose and turn it into
an ice cream stand adjacent to The Silo Restaurant on Water Street in Lewiston.

Generally speaking, when the Village of Lewiston Planning Board approves a developer's plan, that person can freely move forward with whatever the project entails. That hasn't been the case with Richard Hastings, his son, Alan, and their proposal to add a caboose to The Silo Restaurant on Water Street.

Since the Planning Board approved their design on April 13, both father and son have been accosted by concerned neighbors. More than that, the Village Board of Trustees, which almost always rubber-stamps projects approved by the Planning Board, unofficially rejected the plan.

So, on Monday, Alan Hastings presented a new caboose design, one he said was in keeping with the Village Board's wishes. The result was a dissatisfied Planning Board, whose members still prefer the original plan.

"I don't know where to go with this," a clearly frustrated Alan Hastings told the Planning Board.

The original caboose idea called for the addition of a rail car to the north of the restaurant. The 36-feet-long, 8-feet-high and 9-feet-wide caboose would sit two feet into the ground, and be held by a deck. Customers would enter at ground level, and purchase ice cream.

Neighbors, who said their view of the Niagara River would be compromised, contested that plan. The Village Board, for its part, agreed the view would be diminished, and said such action would violate the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.

At the end of May, a potential new location for the caboose was staked out. This time, the rail car was south of the building, though essentially right in front of the restaurant.

This week, caboose design No. 3 showed the addition much closer to the Water Street Road. If one were sitting in The Silo, he'd see the front lawn, followed by river rock, the caboose, a Hollandstone walkway and then the existing parking spaces.

The caboose would sit three feet into the ground, thus maintaining a ground-level entrance.

Alan Hastings said moving the rail car away from the restaurant would cost an extra $25,000. But, "this is what the (Village Board) proposed," he said. After a long pause, he added, "It's good," but later said, "I didn't like (this plan) as much."

Planning Board Chairman Vic Eydt said, "To me, you got the same situation."

"There's no way," Richard Hastings replied.

"I got a problem digging in here," Eydt said, adding, "I thought it would be closer (to the restaurant)."

His board colleague, Pat McCue, said, "It pretty much divorces itself from The Silo."

Hastings said this wasn't his preferred spot but, again, he was trying to appease the Village Board, whose members have the final say on the project.

"I don't know how much more of this I can do," Alan Hastings said. "This is costing a lot of money. It's really silly."

"I want to accommodate people who have concerns, (but) I've looked at this from every aspect," he said.

Planning Board member David Giusiana said the downriver view was still in jeopardy.

"I don't know if this solution did anything to change it," he said, suggesting the caboose be situated in the north corner, parallel with the restaurant, where trees currently mask the view of the water.

Lowell Colvin, who lives across the street from The Silo, asked the Planning Board if any addition, regardless of location, would violate the LWRP.

"Conceptually, do we want to impair that vision?" he asked. "Do we want to add another building?"

Giusiana said, "I'm not opposed to adding another building down there," and noted the Planning Board had already voted in favor of the caboose addition. He said his board considered the project to be in keeping with the LWRP.

His colleagues agreed, when asked by Colvin.

Eydt said both boards need to physically get together at The Silo and come to some sort of working agreement.

"I don't want to throw anything away," he said, stating enough time and money had been spent in creating and discussing potential caboose locations. 

"We had our thoughts ... then it went to the board, and they had their thoughts," Eydt said.

A tentative meeting has been set. Both boards are expected to convene at The Silo following the Monday, June 15, Village Board session.

Whatever decision is reached, Alan Hastings said construction would have to wait until October.

For more on this subject, visit www.wnypapers.com.

Parking Wars

Ed Finkbeiner, who owns and operates the First Street Barton Hill Hotel with his wife, Diane, asked the Planning Board for permission to rope off the parking spaces of the hotel's kitty-corner spa. He said four cars had recently been towed from the lot that abuts the Moose Lodge, which is shared by the hotel and Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours/Water Street Landing.

"I can't have my guests towed at 3 in the morning," Finkbeiner said. "It's just an inconvenience to guests."

The board joked he and WJBT proprietor Jon Kinney need to play nicely together in the sandbox.   

"I'm delineating the sandbox," Finkbeiner said.

His request was approved, and his parking spaces will be roped off with a valet chain.