Deal could lead to Webster development
WEBSTER – Village officials are considering a deal that could clear the way for a large housing development on North Avenue, give the village enough money to jump-start a major road project and preserve a historic train depot.
The pending agreement centers on Morgan Management’s plans for a 70-unit apartment complex on North Avenue, between Kittelberger Park and the Hojack Trail. The plan was introduced nearly two years ago under an incentive zoning law that allows builders to make public improvements in exchange for zoning variances for their projects.
Village leaders and Morgan Management have gone back and forth for months about what those amenities should be. Earlier plans included fixing up the exterior of an freight rail depot that sits on the project property, as well as installing wider sidewalks near the site and building new bathrooms at the village’s Schantz Park.
But now village government wants something else instead: Cash.
Mayor John Cahill said he asked Morgan Management to forgo the physical improvements in lieu of paying the cash value of that work, estimated at $213,000. Cahill said he and the developer eventually arrived at an agreement for the village to receive $175,000.
Morgan Management did not return a call for comment.
Cahill hopes to use the money for a planned rehabilitation of North Avenue. The work was recommended in a major Genesee Transportation Council study earlier this year on revitalizing the village center and calls for new sidewalks, repaving and bicycle lanes, among other things.
The village plans to apply for a state grant to fund the roughly $1 million project, but if it wins, it needs to match 20 percent of that funding, according to Cahill. That’s where the Morgan Management money comes in.
The mayor called the agreement a “win-win.”
“There was a lot riding on this,” Cahill said. “Morgan stood to lose. The entire village stood to lose with respect to the North Avenue project.”
Meanwhile, historic preservationists don’t want earlier talk of repairing the old train depot to fall by the wayside.
Karl Laurer, chairman of the village Historic Preservation Commission, said Morgan Management has agreed to allow his panel and several civic groups to visit the building and come up with a proposal to repair it privately.
The Kiwanis, Lions and Rotary clubs have agreed to volunteer time and supplies to fix up the deteriorated structure, according to Laurer.
“It’s a gallant effort by the three groups to do this,” he said. “We’re forever grateful that they’ve even offered.”
The original freight depot dates to 1875 and the rest of the structure was built around 1920, Laurer said.
The Village Board plans to hold a public hearing on the proposed amenity agreement during its June 12 meeting.
DRILEY@DemocratandChronicle.com