Grand Island: Referendum critics speak out

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

Several speakers at Monday’s Grand Island Town Board meeting criticized the upcoming referendum that asks voters to decide if the town should buy the current Niagara Hyundai site at 1910 Alvin Road to be repurposed as the town community center. The dealership will be moving to Niagara Falls once a new facility is built there.

If approved, the purchase of Hyundai’s sales building and 75 acres would be bonded at $10 million over a period of 15 years. The cost to build new is estimated by the town’s consultants at $20 million.

Town Board members reminded those who spoke out against the purchase that it is the people who get to decide if it passes. They said that’s why they put it up for referendum.

The residents who spoke up said there are better ways to spend taxpayers’ money than on a community center.

There will be an informational presentation and Q&A session on the referendum from 7-8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, at the Golden Age Center, 3278 Whitehaven Road. The proposition will be on the ballot for Election Day, Nov. 4.

Town Supervisor Peter Marston has said he is neutral on the issue and wants the public to make the decision.

He also said the expenditure for the community center is not instead of funding infrastructure maintenance and upgrades. It’s in addition to the town’s already budgeted revenue streams that have been meeting infrastructure needs all along, and will continue to do so, he said.

Resident Paula Sciuk had her own ideas on what the town needs.

“Here is the hard truth: The town does not need to waste our money on this nonsense. If some people think it’s great idea, form a corporation and buy it yourself,” she said.

“We have plenty of basketball courts and meeting space on the Island. Unfortunately, they are in the schools. The school district thinks these facilities belong to them, not the taxpayers. When the taxpayers approved of building the high school, it was promised that the community would have use of it (when) it was not being used for school purposes. The promises vaporized.”

Sciuk brought up a concern in her Staley Road neighborhood that she thinks should be funded – making the road safe.

“Staley is an issue the town should address,” she said. “Unfortunately, the town paid a consultant to do a recreation plan when these resources could have been used to evaluate infrastructure adequacy and carrying capacity for current and future development. While the town has issues with the adequacy of roads, sewer, water and drainage, I see no effort to assess and plan to identify and fund improvements. Capital improvement plans are necessary.”

Sciuk said her road would be negatively affected if the referendum passes.

Resident Chris Buszka said he agreed with Sciuk. He said he disagrees with the idea of taking commercial property off the tax rolls.

“What are we going to replace this with on the tax rolls? Absolutely nothing,” he said.

Buszka said that, in addition to school facilities that could be used for recreation, “We also have a multiple of parks and playgrounds for kids to use. So, who is this targeted for? That's my question. This shouldn't be brought up to taxpayers ever. And not only that, we had a recent assessment. Whether you fought it and got it down a little bit, it still went up.”

He also asked, “So, what are we doing with this extra money? Is this where this $10 million is coming from?”

Council member Dan Kilmer said in a guest editorial in the Oct. 17 edition of the Tribune/Sentinel • Island Dispatch, “I voted to put this referendum on the ballot, but I strongly oppose the project. Why? To let you, the voters to decide and send a clear signal that our taxes are too high for luxuries when critical infrastructure needs are ignored.”

The impact of the land purchase for the average homeowner would be about $10 per month, Marston said. He added that a project like this should attract additional grant funding due to its cultural and recreational benefits to the community.

Marston says buying the site – its existing office building and 75 acres of land – at $10 million, reduces by half the cost of building new. Meanwhile, Hyundai’s decision to move from the Island takes $8,187 off the town tax rolls per year.

“So, we’re going to save $10 million by buying that. It would take us 1,221 years to break even on that,” Marston said. In other words, the gains outweigh the costs for a duration of more than 1,200 years.

“What we did with the referendum is we did not touch our budget. We still left everything going where it’s going,” Marston said. “This is completely outside of everything.”

He said that people are already taking care of the infrastructure costs through the taxes they are already paying.

Marston said it boils down to: “If you want this much more for your community, here’s what it costs.”

In other news, the Town Board:

•Adopted a resolution in support of U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy’s Energy Choice Act, which opposes government-mandated natural gas bans. Langworthy’s legislation, if passed, would “ensure that state and local governments cannot restrict consumer access to natural gas and other affordable energy sources, thereby protecting freedom of choice for New Yorkers and all Americans.”

•Established a town naming policy for Grand Island parks, recreational areas, greenways, spaces and facilities. It sets standard procedures and guidelines for naming and renaming these facilities. It also is designed to ensure that parks and recreational areas are easily identified and located. One of the objectives of the naming policy is to “enhance a sense of community within the town.”

Town officials honor Grand Island High School student Sophie Myers, center, one of two winners in the Traffic Box Art Contest sponsored by the town's Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB). Sophie's design is on the traffic box at the southwest corner of Whitehaven Road and Grand Island Boulevard. Kim Norman, not shown, painted her artwork on the traffic box at the northwest corner of Whitehaven and Baseline roads. From left in the photo: Council member Chris Bahleda; EDAB member Jennifer Pusatier; Sophie's father, Jason Myers; Council member Thomas Digati; Sophie; Council member Jose Garcia; Town Supervisor Peter Marston; and Council member Dan Kilmer. (Photo by Karen Carr Keefe)