Grand Island: 'Big pharma' urged to repave Staley Road

Residents call for financial aid from Thermo Fisher

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

Thermo Fisher Scientific came to the Town Board on Tuesday night seeking site plan approval for a heat pump recovery plant. It got the OK. But company representatives also got an earful from Staley Road residents who blame company workers for trashing their road.

In a meeting that also saw the long-awaited approval of a law restricting the size of new buildings to 350,000 square feet, Thermo Fisher, which occupies 310,000 square feet at 3175 Staley Road, was the next target of ire. The pharmaceutical company’s building is the largest on Grand Island. Fresenius Kabi, at 3159 Staley Road, is the other big pharmaceutical company.

Paula Sciuk turned from the mic during public comment to face three Thermo Fisher representatives in the audience.

“Thermo Fisher – I’m glad you’re here. Your building really is too big. Do you really care what you’ve done to our street? It’s a mess. Between your employees, the speeding, the trash, the dead animals, the litter – it’s disgusting. It’s not safe to walk on my street. You guys need to pony up and do something about this because it’s your employees every day that come by on five different shifts,” Sciuk said. “Think about the community and what you’re doing.”

Staley Road resident Alice Carlson said she learned that her postal carrier no longer wants to drive on her street to deliver mail because of the condition of the road.

“He asked for a transfer, and now it has to go out for bidding,” she said. “I really feel that Thermo Fisher and the other pharmaceutical on Grand Island need to feel some responsibility for that condition.”

Sherry Kern said she doesn’t blame Staley Road’s deterioration on the three Thermo Fisher employees who attended Tuesday night’s meeting. But she urged them to go back to company officials and tell them about the residents’ concerns.

For more than three years, Staley Road residents have pleaded for repaving and repairs to narrow, crumbling shoulders of the road. They have also pushed for a solution to drainage problems, and for safe crossovers.

Earlier, during discussion of the Thermo Fisher site approval request, Council member Dan Kilmer suggested jokingly that the company send along a check “for improving Staley Road.”

Supervisor Peter Marston has previously estimated that it would take $2.5 million to repair Staley Road. The town has applied for a federal grant toward that work.

In January, Marston posted a letter online to town residents about the two-lane, town-maintained road: “As many are aware, Staley Road is our busiest road that travels East/West. There are approximately 6,000 vehicle trips on this road daily. Through our research, we have attributed most of the traffic to the pharmaceutical businesses that are located on the western end of this road near West River.”

In that same message, Marston wrote, “the Supervisor’s office began facilitating a meeting consisting of town representation, business representation, and many county and state elected officials to "brainstorm financial solutions" to this growing issue. Our first meeting was in August 2024 to present our findings and discuss funding opportunities. We made it clear that we were very happy to have the pharmaceutical companies here. They are a great economic driver and employer for many Islanders. Clean industry, with good-paying positions are difficult to attract, we are very fortunate in that regard.”

‘Warehouse law’ is OK’d

 It took more than a year-and-a-half, but the Grand Island Town Board, by a vote of 4 to 1, finally OK’d a law that restricts the size of new buildings in its commercial districts.

The so-called “warehouse law” amends town zoning code to limit the size of buildings to 350,000 square feet in M-1 and M-2 districts – and requires special use permits to allow them at all. Distribution centers aren’t allowed anywhere in the town.

Marston was the lone “nay” vote. He expressed the opinion that any square-footage limit should be applied for all zones on Grand Island, not just for the M-1 and M-2 commercial districts.

“Any limitations placed should be townwide,” he said.

Marston said the current limit of 350,000 is way too big: “Large projects have community impact – period.”

Kilmer introduced the proposed law at Tuesday’s meeting.

He replied to Marston, “The things you said make sense. There’s nothing saying we can’t amend this law in the future, but we have had this in our hands before I was even elected. … So, I think we have had every opportunity to change it on the way here; it has gone to public hearing. At that point, if something wasn’t liked, it should have been identified during the public hearing process, not at the minute we’re going to vote on it.”

Council member Tom Digati gave a nod to Marston’s point of view, but asked, “How much longer can we wait?”

He said a town committee has been studying the issue for a year and a half, “and we are no closer to doing anything. … We can’t just sit and wait forever.”

Digati said they started with a smaller size limit, but the county said that figure was too small.

“We can do what we want,” he said. “The county is representing the county. The five of us represent this town. As you started your comments with, we have two-lane roads, one way on, one way off. We’re not the county. We can’t be Amherst, we can’t be Tonawanda, no matter how much they may want us to be. And we cannot sit around as projects get approved and wait and wait and wait for the next game of Whac-A-Mole.”

Digati said he agrees with Marston that the town needs to take a top-down approach to all of the zoning classifications to make sure that the current and future boards have adequate control to bring appropriate development to Grand Island .

The warehouse issue has been a hot one since 2020. That’s when Amazon walked away from its proposal to build a 3.8-million-square-foot warehouse on Grand Island, amid resident criticism over potential traffic jams, environmental impact and perceived threats to the Island’s quality of life.

Once Acquest Development of Amherst proposed a 1.1-million-square-foot facility at the same site, 2780 Long Road, the issue heated up again.

At Town Board meetings, residents have pushed back against mega-warehouses in general and that one in particular. The town has walked a tightrope since 2023, trying to set restrictions that are fair to both developers and residents.

Erie County came out against the previous version of Grand Island’s proposed zoning changes on March 7, 2024.

Unlike residents who said the proposed zoning restrictions didn’t go far enough, the county said the town had gone too far by reducing the allowable maximum square footage.

In doing so, Grand Island risks losing out on attracting and keeping businesses that bring jobs and tax revenue, the county said.

A five-story, 3.1 million-square-foot Amazon distribution center is nearing completion at 8995 Lockport Road in the Town of Niagara. It is expected to bring 1,000 jobs to Niagara County.