East Aurora Advertiser

Kornerstone Seeks to Expand; Businessman Questions Village Process



With the loss of a business in an Elm Street building, a neighboring proprietor is looking to expand the features of her shop into the vacant space. 

But the process for how the East Aurora Village Board will review this request is being questioned by another business owner on the street. 

Kornerstone Cafe & Juice Bar, located at 33 Elm St., is looking to take over the space once occupied by Yoshi in the same building. The expansion would add seating for Kornerstone customers and additional kitchen space for the staff of the cafe. The request is before the board and a public hearing on the matter is scheduled for Jan. 6 at 7 p.m.

A concern has been raised about the application process and the potential impact of traffic and parking should the approval go through without further review. Jay DePerno, owner of Elm Street Bakery, said the village needs to do more to make the applicant go through a process similar to what he did when opening the bakery.  

He has said several times his complaint is not with the people of Kornerstone and their work. “It’s not the competition,” DePerno told the board at an October meeting. “I am pro competition. It’s better for all of us. More bakeries, more restaurants, more everything…it helps the community at large.”

But he thought the expansion would continue to cause traffic problems for the area, especially related to parking. He said when he was getting his bakery started in 2011, he had to show how he would add parking for customers and staff. He added that as the years went on and the corridor became more popular, he has had to pay to rent parking for his staff. He said he has spent about $180,000 to create a parking infrastructure for his business, to rent out other locations and cover the cost of plowing snow from those spots. The process was required because it was a change in use for the building as it was not a restaurant before he took it over.  

He noted that he has also had to contend with patrons of other establishments using the parking he created for his staff. He said he would like to see additional cooperation between businesses in the region to share in finding solutions against the “clog of traffic.”

Kornerstone is located at the former site of the Ice House bar. When the building was purchased in a foreclosure a few years ago, three new businesses went into it. Two were restaurants – Yoshi and Kornerstone – and the other was a fitness center. The proposal by Kornerstone would see just one restaurant and a fitness center in the structure. 

Code Enforcement Officer William Kramer said the department considers the use of the building when determining what other criteria is needed in an application. Most of the time, if one business closes and a similar entity moves in within a year, extra requirements are not needed as the “use” of the facility would remain the same. 

“Historically, [33 Elm St.] has been a restaurant since the 40s and 50s, and it’s been in continual use, and that’s how we look at it, when considering use. It’s changed hands, but not use,” Kramer said. 

DePerno argued that it had changed because it went from a place that had one business to one with three and no additional parking.  

The application from Jamie Dinero of Kornerstone notes that they are “required to have eight parking spots.” There are six available to the immediate south of the building and two more would be created between the building and what was redFISH Art Gallery.

The application notes that Yoshi had seating for 46 people. If approved, little would change in the current layout, but seating in the new section would be down to 40 people, including the outdoor patio on the southern portion. Adding that with the current space there are plans for 61 seats.

Kornerstone has two full time staff and 13 part time employees. The change would see an extra two full time and two part time staff hired.

Elm Street bakery has parking around the back of the structure, and DePerno has rented space for his employees at the business located to his north. 

The Village Board recently agreed to a temporary lease agreement to have public parking between the former Niagara Lumber and the Red Caboose ice cream stand. This was in regards to the Oakwood Avenue reconstruction and is not expected to be a long term plan. 

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