Demler opposes location of home for disabled women
Facility planned near Wheatfield church
WHEATFIELD — A group home for developmentally disabled women, proposed for a campus where an existing town home project faced strong opposition, should be put elsewhere, Supervisor Timothy E. Demler has told The Buffalo News.
Demler prefaced his comments by saying that he has no problems with group homes in general and that he lives “right next door to one.” He said he was talking specifically about a proposal from Heritage Christian Services, a Rochester-based nonprofit.
The organization has proposed building a six-resident facility near the Town Homes at Shawnee Landing — off Shawnee Road near Niagara Falls Boulevard—and the planned Church at Shawnee Landing.
But the town’s top official is questioning the location.
“I think that we have addressed all the concerns of the neighbors with the project that’s there now,” Demler said. “And, with the church being built, I don’t think there’s a need for a group home there.”
So what should Heritage Christian Services do instead?
“I recommend that the people sponsoring the group home should move that further up the street or somewhere else,” Demler said, “only because it’s going to require a site plan change on the church property and I don’t know if that would be met with opposition or not by the Planning Board.”
But an official from Heritage Christian Services said the organization has already received preliminary approvals from the town for that site, adding that he thought any concerns had already been “worked through.”
Demler has been “very gracious” in previous discussions, said Ron Little, vice president of finance and agency advancement for the organization, which runs more than 50 homes in Western New York, primarily in Erie, Niagara and Orleans counties. The organization opened a training center on Cayuga Drive in Wheatfield earlier this year.
The planned group home has been held up because of funding issues, Little said.
Heritage Christian Services was granted its primary funding for the project through the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, with approvals made in 2007 and 2008, he said.
Additional capital funding was
made available through the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal in the form of tax credits, he added. Though the funding has been approved, it has yet to be released.
Representatives from the organization plan to meet with state officials this month to further discuss funding.
This project would help meet a need that exists in New York, Little said.
Across the state, there is a waiting list of about 6,000 people for group home slots. Heritage Christian Services has its own waiting list of about 400 people, he said.
The home planned for the Shawnee Landing campus would have no live-in staff, but staff would rotate through on three shifts so the facility would be staffed around the clock.
Little said the organization is committed to meeting the town’s standards for building on that land.
The former Payne Avenue Christian Church in North Tonawanda, along with Belmont Shelter Corp. and businessman Paul Granville, began construction nearby on 64 units of the Town Homes at Shawnee Landing in 2006. Construction began even though some neighbors stood up against the proposed residences, which were targeted for seniors and low-income families.
The church congregation is currently planning a multipurpose building, as well as a worship center.
Heritage Christian Services already has a few group homes near churches, an aspect that helps its residents, Little said.
“We look forward to a great partnership with the church,” he said.
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