Pittsford appoints 'Friend' to Planning Board
The head of a Pittsford civic association whose lawsuits against the village have dramatically driven up the village's legal costs has been named to the village Planning Board.
Village trustees unanimously appointed Justin Vliestra, president of the Friends of Pittsford Village, to the Planning Board during a meeting Tuesday in which they also adopted a $1.3 million operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year that devotes $1 out of every $4 in expenditures to legal fees.
Vliestra will begin his five-year term when the fiscal year begins June 1. The position is unpaid.
In its budget, the village allotted $321,500 to legal expenses. The bulk of them — $225,000 — is related to anticipated costs of lawsuits over Westport Crossing, a proposed housing and restaurant complex on a former Erie Canal industrial site that has been debated and litigated for years.
Westport Crossing has been the subject of no less than five lawsuits involving the Board of Trustees, Friends of Pittsford Village, and the developer, Canalside Properties, a division of Mark IV Enterprises.
Friends of Pittsford Village is the plaintiff in the latest lawsuit, which was filed in December and named village trustees, the village Planning Board and the developer as defendants. The Friends has also at times been a defendant with trustees and the Planning Board in litigation brought by the developer.
In a phone interview, Vliestra said he expressed an interest in serving on the Planning Board two years ago, prior to most of the Westport Crossing litigation. He said if the project ever came before the board, he would recuse himself.
"I would not be able to vote on any of the matters that are controversial at the moment because of a conflict of interest," Vliestra said.
Much of the legal wrangling over Westport Crossing focuses on the procedure the village underwent to approve the project, which would have 167 housing units and a 125-seat restaurant erected at 75 Monroe Ave.
Friends of Pittsford Village wants to stop the project, the developer wants to break ground, and the Board of Trustees wants to start anew, claiming the developer's last-minute design changes to the complex violated conditions under which trustees granted a special permit for the project.
The Planning Board in November approved the Westport Crossing plan, after a state judge ordered it to decide the matter and for the Board of Trustees to butt out of the deliberations.
But trustees have appealed that decision and if they are successful, the project could wind up before the Planning Board again.
"If 75 Monroe came back up for site plan approval, I would expect I would recuse myself on deliberations on that," Vliestra said. "I don't expect to have any impact."
Nevertheless, Vliestra's appointment rankled Westport Crossing's developer.
"It's a cynical attempt to load the Planning Board with opponents of Westport Crossing," said Don Riley, an executive with Mark IV Enterprises. "It's an attempt to deprive the right to usefully develop one's property."
Over all, the budget for 2015-16 reflects an increase of 4.5 percent over the current fiscal year.
To maintain capital projects amid the rising legal fees, trustees are considering floating a $291,567 bond.
As of Tuesday, trustees were still reviewing the projects and associated costs.
DANDREATTA@Gannett.com