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Planning board recommends rezoning of 24.9‑acre Whley Drive site to MFR5 after major scale‑backs and technical reviews
Summary
After neighborhood outreach and multiple revisions reducing height and density, the board recommended that the Town Board approve rezoning of 2190–2200 Whley Drive from office business to MFR5 for a multifamily development; residents raised concerns about water pressure, wetlands and traffic and the applicant pledged further engineering at site‑plan stage.
Sean Hopkins presented a long‑running proposal to rezone roughly 24.9 acres at 2190–2200 Whley Drive from OB to MFR5 for multifamily residential development. He said the project team had dramatically reduced density from earlier concepts, removed four‑story buildings and now proposes primarily two‑story townhome‑style buildings and attached garages, showing about 270 units in the current concept with 44% green space.
Hopkins noted the proposal had previously received a town‑board comprehensive‑plan amendment (Oct. 27) and that multiple informational meetings had yielded changes to the plan: removal of pedestrian connection to a stub street after resident opposition, elimination of taller buildings, and increased landscaping. He said technical studies submitted include a downstream sanitary‑sewer capacity analysis (which showed adequate capacity during wet weather but requires an INI payment), stormwater management designed for a 100‑year event, an updated traffic impact study reviewed by traffic staff, and a wetlands delineation identifying potential regulated adjacent areas (applicant reported 6.31 acres of adjacent‑area impacts; no wetlands impacts asserted). The applicant said a permit application to the state DEC was filed on Jan. 6.
During public comment, nearby residents expressed concerns about existing low water pressure in the high‑elevation zone (one resident cited 38 psi), potential impacts to insurance rates, downstream drainage and wetland impacts, mosquitoes, and cut‑through traffic affecting residential streets. The project engineer, Pat Sheety, described coordination with Erie County Water Authority and preliminary hydraulic modeling indicating negligible pressure differences in the adjacent mains for peak and fire demand, and Hopkins said engineered site plans and additional technical review will occur at the site‑plan stage.
The board recommended the rezoning to the Town Board and added a recommendation not to preclude future controlled connectivity to the adjacent Garfield paper street for emergency access if that becomes acceptable to residents and landowners. The recommendation advances the matter to the Town Board; site‑plan review and additional permitting (wetlands/DEC and sewer INI payment) will be required before construction.
