AMHERST
Opponents of Towne Centre sue to halt project
Opponents of the proposed Amherst Town Centre are suing the town and Benderson Development Co. to halt the $44 million project.
In their suit, nine members of the Fairways Group and a Town Board member contend the board needed a supermajority vote to rezone the site for development, which they also say violates the town’s comprehensive plan.
In addition, they claim problems with the state’s environmental review of the project and violations of the state’s Open Meeting Law.
The town attorney’s office typically defends the board in such cases, but because Council Member Daniel Ward has joined the Fairways Group in suing the town, the board had to vote Monday to set aside $20,000 for an outside lawyer.
Supervisor Satish Mohan said he will ask the town’s Board of Ethics to rule on Ward’s decision to join the Fairways Group suit. He contended that Ward already participated in the democratic process when he cast his vote on rezoning the former Buffalo Shooting Club on Maple Road.
The Town Board had voted 4-3 early last month to approve the mixed-use project.
“Any dissenter in the [board] vote cannot be a dissenter after the vote has been taken,” Mohan said.
Ward responded that he would abide by any ruling by the Board of Ethics but argued that his status as a board member does not void his legal rights as a citizen.
In defending decision to join in the action, he also said he didn’t need to add his name to the suit but “chose to because these are things I believe in. I want a judge to tell us we didn’t do things right.”
Council Members Barry Weinstein and Guy Marlette criticized Ward’s position, saying his participation in the lawsuit is needlessly costing the town and taxpayers money.
“We can’t make a practice of suing each other,” Weinstein said. “It’s not good for the town, it’s not good for the taxpayer, and to be quite honest, it makes the Town Board look foolish.”
Ward also is party to a lawsuit against the town over Ciminelli Development’s 326-acre Muir Woods development in North Amherst. The law firm Hurwitz and Fine is representing the town in that case and will defend the board in the Fairways Group suit.
Ward noted that he and then- Council Member William Kindel had joined a suit against the town claiming breach of contract involving Nature View Park. Their actions helped spur a settlement years later that ultimately led to the Western New York Land Conservancy’s oversight of park management, he said.
