Dairy Queen asking the Village of Hamburg to consider softening their stance on signage
By MICHAEL J. PETRO
The Sun reporter
Representatives of Dairy Queen located on Lake Street made an appeal earlier this week to the Hamburg Village Board to allow a sign that doesn’t meet with the village code to be erected in front of the local ice cream retailer.
John Schaap, an attorney representing the owner of that Dairy Queen location, asked during Monday (Feb. 1) night’s work session of the board to allow the internally-lit sign despite the fact that the village’s Architectural Review Committee did not recommend its approval.
Village design standards call for signs such as what Dairy Queen wants to be lit externally.
However, Schaap pointed out to the board that the sign and its message board are no bigger and less intrusive than the current sign that stands in front of the store. He also noted it would be an obvious upgrade to the current sign, which is broken.
Schaap said that the owners of the local retailer would have no problem complying with village code except for the fact that they are first required to comply with signage designated by the corporate ownership of Dairy Queen as per the contract signed between the two parties.
“Dairy Queen will not release us from that obligation,” Schaap said. “I don’t think we’re asking for anything too big here. It’s no different and will actually look better than what is there now.”
Village Attorney Edward Murphy III asked Schaap to look further into the possibility that under a clause in the contract to see if Dairy Queen would allow for an alternative sign due to the municipalities specific code.
He said that he has reviewed similar situations in other communities in the Northtowns where that has been the case.
“We will take this under consideration,” Mayor Thomas Moses Sr. said. “It’s the Architectural Review Committee’s job to tell us if it doesn’t meet design standards.”
In other business from Monday night, the board heard from three Forestal Drive residents who are upset with flooding that has occurred at their homes since the Country Meadows development was built as well as plans they believe have changed from building patio homes to instead constructing single family homes off of Pleasant Avenue and Crownview Terrace.
Donna Pepe said she has recently experienced bad flooding, which she claimed never happened before the development was constructed, showing photographs of a recent flood between her garage and cellar walls.
The flooding that Pepe and fellow homeowners Susan Urbanski and Kathleen Schriver are experiencing is something that they believe will get worse with the building of more houses, especially if there are plans to allow them to be single-family homes instead of patio homes.
The trio claims they have seen recent advertisements for single-family homes in the Country Meadows development, specifically on Scooter Lane.
“If they keep putting in more homes with basements there will be even less place for the water to go,” said Urbanski.
Murphy said there have not been any plans submitted by Ryan Homes or Clover Construction that are any different from the patio homes they have already built, alhough he warned that New York State does not specifically define what constitutes a patio home.
He encouraged the three residents to contact the Town of Hamburg Building Department and request an inspector to come out to see the flooding and make an assessment, saying it would be important for someone from that department to see things first-hand.
In other action from Monday’s meeting, the board:
• Announced that the preliminary budget for the fiscal year 2010-11 is complete and will be available to the public beginning today (Thursday, Feb. 4.)
The board will hold a public hearing to hear comments relative to the tentative budget at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
Residents who want to review the budget can visit Hamburg Village Hall between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Heard Police Chief Dennis Gleason ask for help from residents in their efforts to capture unknown individuals who are smashing windows and slashing tires of vehicles parked out on village streets at night.
Gleason said the breaking of car windows is happening “at an alarming rate.” Anyone with any information about these crimes is asked to call 648-5111.
• Approved a number appointments and resignations made to various village commissions. They included the resignations of Jonathan Gorman as an alternate member of the Zoning Board of Appeals; Marianne Smolinski as a member of the Beautification Committee; and Christopher Smith as a member of the Recreation Commission.
Also approved were the appointments of Stacy Furlong of Norwood Avenue to the Recreation Committee, and Gerard Stockmeyer of Norwood Avenue, Pamela Revezzo of Brookwood Drive and Brenda Boland of Arnold Court to the Civic Beautification Committee.
• Heard Recreation Supervisor Bill Nye praise Recreation Leader Josh Haeick and several part-time employees from the village’s Recreation Department for their work and professional conduct at the Niagara Frontier Parks and Recreation Commission’s “Winter Fest” event, which took place this past Sunday (Jan. 31) at Chestnut Ridge Park in the Town of Orchard Park.
Nye also said there are ideal skating conditions at the outdoor rink on Pleasant Avenue, thanking Craig Peters and other members of the Hamburg Volunteer Fire Department for helping to maintain the ice surface.
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