The Town of Batavia engineer says he has cleared up miscommunication with the Lewiston Road businessman who has been speaking out against the proposed construction of a pair of restaurants with drive-thru lanes on the south side of the former Kmart parking lot near Park Road.
Steve Mountain today addressed comments made by pizzeria owner Jerry Arena earlier in the week. Appearing at the Batavia Town Board meeting, Arena said that it was his impression that the town was requesting Benderson Development Corp. to resubmit its plans.
Arena has charged Benderson with submitting what he calls a “falsified application,” primarily referring to the company checking boxes on its documentation that there are adequate bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways along the Lewiston Road corridor extending to Veterans Memorial Drive.
During the meeting, Arena said that Mountain indicated, in a phone call to him, that the town was looking for a revised application from Benderson. Town Supervisor Gregory Post responded by saying that he wasn’t aware of that.
“… the town engineer told me that Benderson was going to have to resubmit their application. And I was going to ask you guys about starting that process all over again,” Arena said.
He went on to say that he was very disappointed that town officials don't grasp that traffic is going to be much worse.
“I'm kind of in shock here. I was really happy that maybe …you're coming to a realization that it's a safety issue – a severe safety issue,” Arena said, reiterating that he continues to consider filing a temporary injunction to block the proposed development.
Contacted today, Mountain said he told Arena that Benderson needs to submit its engineering plans to him.
“The Town Planning Board approves the project contingent on my final review and approval, which is typical for every project,” Mountain said. “We'll go back and forth with the plans – review them and have some minor comments. All that engineering stuff – water and sewer and all those things.”
But as far as Benderson having to submit a new project application, Mountain said that is not the case.
He said he spoke with Arena a couple days ago and “better explained to him” that no new application was coming – just a revision of the engineering comments on the plans.
When asked if he thought there was a safety issue with the traffic in that area, Mountain said a traffic study consultant and state Department of Transportation officials had no concerns.
“We did note, in my comments back to them, however, that we need to look at – with the DOT – the southbound lane on Lewiston, where there’s only left turn arrows to the old Kmart,” he said. “We feel that should be left and right turn arrows, similar to what is near Tim Hortons and Tops. That’s the only thing, traffic-wise, that we’re looking at.”
Mountain said that the Park Road Reconstruction Project has resulted in more vehicle congestion, but he sees traffic flowing better once that is completed.
“The DOT will be going around the county, updating things, but we feel the Lewiston Road/Route 5 section is still acceptable,” he said.
He did mention that the town’s future projections include a new road from Lewiston Road to West Main Street Road (Route 5), north of the current intersection.
“That’s in our Comprehensive Master Plan,” Mountain said.
