Standing firm on signage laws, Village of Hamburg officials turn attention to property maintenance
By MICHAEL J. PETRO
Sun reporter
The Hamburg Village Board has decided that it will stand firm on its signage laws.
Some businesses recently approached the board asking for variances to allow for internally lit signs.
With the establishment of more stringent architectural codes and a review board to oversee them, the village no longer allows for internally lit signs and informed the public during their work session Monday (March 1) night that, as of now, it will make no exceptions to that rule.
Mayor Thomas Moses Sr. told Tara Weller, a representative of Dairy Queen on Lake Street, that the ice cream store would need to erect an externally lit sign if she were to replace the broken one that is currently sitting in front of the business.
“If we start changing how we’re trying to do things mid-stream than we might have a problem in the future,” Moses said.
A few businesses have already realized that their requests for internally lit signs will not pass through the Architectural Review Committee and not get approval from the board, so they have decided to make revisions to their sign designs to comply.
“If we make an exception on just one, than there is no consistency and no use for even having the laws,” Trustee Mark Colmerauer noted.
Village Attorney Edward Murphy III said Walgreens and Fast Track Quick Lube initially had plans for internally illuminated signs but both plans were being approved at Monday’s meeting only because the signs are now externally lit.
“These are good illustrations that these signs can be externally lit,” Code Enforcement Officer Kurt Allen said.
Weller said she is still unsure whether the Dairy Queen franchise will allow for an externally lit sign, but while waiting for a ruling, she’ll make plans to repair the current sign with a comparable design.
The current Dairy Queen sign is internally lit but the code only pertains to new signs being erected.
In other news, while yeoman’s work has been done to beautify the village, there is still some long-standing blight that officials are working to rectify.
Allen updated the board about several properties in the village in disrepair, some of which are about to go into court.
One of the bigger concerns continues to be 12 Main St., where work has completely ceased and Allen believes no progress can be made in the foreseeable future.
The board threw around a few ideas for the building, including taking over the property and building a parking ramp or applying for a grant that would be used to repair the building in hopes of attracting a responsible developer.
However, both ideas would only have a slim chance of ever coming to fruition.
In order to attain a 2010 grant that would have some merit, the building’s current developer would have to agree to sell and another buyer would have to be in place by April.
“A lot would have to fall into place quickly,” Allen said. “It would take a grant to turn that place around at this point.”
Standing in the way of the parking ramp idea, first brought to the table by Moses, would be stringent New York State laws that make it quite difficult for a municipality to take over control of a building and property.
“If the village was to take it over and develop it as a fire hall or village hall, something for municipal use, that may be a different story,” Murphy said.
Allen also made mention of code violations involving the structures that are located at 128 Buffalo St., 187 Buffalo St. and 264 Union St.
He said he expects all of those cases to be in court in the near future. Moses said he would hope for quicker resolutions than some similar cases such as the dilapidated property at 34 East Main St., which is still in court after two years.
Additionally, Allen noted that Walgreens is getting ready for demolition as work starts any day now at the construction site for its new store at 6199 South Park Ave., located near the roundabout at Buffalo Street and Legion Drive.
In other action, the board:
• Adopted the 2010-11 budget, which carries a 1.8 percent tax increase and raises taxes on the average house by about $30.
The general fund tax rate for the fiscal year beginning June 1 will be set at $17.81 per $1,000 of assessed value, while the capital improvement program will expend $464,006.
• Approved the construction of a new second story addition above an existing single story masonry structure for Ten Thousand Vines, a restaurant/winery planned for 8 S. Buffalo St.
The building is the former location of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, which recently moved up the road to a building on South Park Avenue located next to Hamburg Town Hall.
According to Allen, the addition for the building, which is planned for the rear of the structure, is the first phase of work planned to be done before the eventual opening.
He also noted that masonry restoration and a change of siding color are also planned but not yet approved by the Architectural Review Committee.
• Heard about the ongoing search for a new crew chief for the village’s Department of Public Works.
Village Administrator Don Witkowski said he has received about 50 resumes for the position and will continue to accept resumes until this Friday, March 5.
He noted that at least half of the applicants have only clerical experience and will therefore be eliminated from consideration.
From there, interviews will be conducted involving Witkowski, Moses, Murphy and Trustee Thomas Tallman.
When the crop of potential candidates is reduced to a final list, Witkowski said he will then call on the entire board to become part of the hiring process.
The next scheduled meeting of the Hamburg Village Board is a work session set to begin at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 15, which will be followed by a board meeting at 7 p.m.
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