EAST AURORA
Compromise appears near on modifying Main St. plan
A debate over the state’s plan to reconfigure a one-block stretch of Main Street in East Aurora might be coming to an end.
Modifications are in the works to possibly widen the block between Walnut and South Grove streets to better accommodate fire and emergency response equipment — along with other tweaks that would likely leave the core of the state’s plan intact.
Talks involving state Transportation Department officials, village leaders and the Fire Department might lead to a resolution that some village officials hope will not require a new vote by the Village Board.
East Aurora Fire Chief Roger Le- Blanc, who, with his department colleagues, had pushed for changes, said the department will work within the modifications offered by the state.
“I think [the battle] is over,” Le- Blanc said last week, adding: We raised the issue of life safety, and I’m proud of the Fire Department for what we did. I think our efforts raised some good issues.”
Mayor Clark Crook said he, too, hoped for a resolution. The chances of new board vote on the plan appear dead since Trustee Kevin Biggs, who would be expected to cast the decisive vote, confirmed he would abstain.
Biggs said he opposes a new vote because a previous Village Board had approved the plan.
Changing it now, he said, raises the risk of setting a precedent, prompting the board to reverse itself on other issues.
“I’m hopeful that a solution everyone can live with can be worked out,” Trustee Libby Weberg said, even if it’s not the “absolute ideal.”
The state’s plan, which the board approved in January 2007, calls for scrapping the parking lane on the south side of that block bordering the Roycroft Campus and relocating the sidewalk along the crumbling, century- old Roycroft fieldstone wall, which would be rebuilt. Initial plans called for extending curbs about 7 feet into the road. But firefighters have complained that would impede their response time and use of Main Street as a primary response route.
The controversy has divided the community for several months, although the majority at a recent communitywide meeting supported the original plan.
The village is trying to obtain funding for a device that would allow firefighters to control traffic signals from their vehicles and for doubling the width of the driveway at 411 Main St. to provide emergency vehicle access to the campus.
“The Fire Department did a tremendous job of making sure that the task force, Village Board and community really looked at every available option and weighed the risk and benefit,” Crook said.
