East Aurora Advertiser

Board Keeps Public Hearings Open to Seek Further Comments



A series of public hearings have been kept open by the East Aurora Village Board to seek additional public comments. 

This includes two requests for Airbnb units in the village, and a request to change a development plan for The Bank at 649 Main St. 

The hearings were held during the April 20 board meeting, which was live-streamed. The public could watch it, but could not attend due to the ongoing health crisis. Each board member was also kept in a different location and called in for the video chat meeting. The board had originally opened the hearings at the April 6 meeting but thought they would give additional time even at that point for people to comment as they could not attend the meeting in person. 

East Aurora Village Board Zoom Meeting from April 20, 2020

Village Trustee Marcia Kimmel-Hurt suggested they prepare so that during the next meeting people would be able to call in during the session and voice their thoughts on the matters. 

With The Bank, owner Todd Stine has been seeking changes that would allow him to continue construction without adding an elevator. Most of the board had accepted his motion a few months back when he said he was seeking an exemption due to the cost of installing one compared to the rest of the project. The Americans with Disability Act has a measure within the law that allows for such an exemption. The village’s ADA compliance officer said he reviewed the case, which also had another engineer not associated with Stine provide costs analysis for an elevator. The estimate along with the compliance officer’s comments said an exemption appeared to fit in this case. 

Trustee Paul Porter III has opposed the exemption request. He uses a wheelchair and has talked about how not having an elevator would be a limit for many people who wish to attend the facility, which is to be an event center in the future. Stine has said he wanted to include one, but the cost was too high to make the rest of the project feasible. 

The village has had about three people respond that they are not in favor of the project if it is not going to have an elevator, and want the board to require it from the developer. 

The other public hearings include Airbnb requests. One is for 64 South Willow Street, another is for 263 Olean Road and the other is at 522 South Street. 

Code Enforcement Officer William Kramer said those requests on South Willow and Olean are both existing doubles, meaning they can have rental units in them. He said they are owner-occupied, meaning the owner of the property lives on site. That is a requirement for someone who wants an Airbnb unit. He said the owners of these lots thought they would have greater success with people renting on a short term basis versus the long term. 

For South Street, it is owner-occupied, too, but the rental unit is for a single room in the home. 

The next village meeting is May 4 at 7 p.m. It will likely be live-streamed as the last few have been. 

Also, the board approved a chicken barbecue to take place at Sammy’s Car Wash, located at 170 Grey St. This will be May 1 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and will be a drive-thru service. The goal is to act as a benefit for the East Aurora Little Loop group. 

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