Based on a resolution made this past Tuesday by the Amherst Town Board, it appears UB may finally get its wish — 23 acres of property near Rensch Road. The town of Amherst rezoned the area for UB research and development.
This resolution came in direct conflict with a decision made back in 2007 to rezone the same property to the private developer American Campus Communities for the construction of 237 apartment-style student dorms. American Campus Communities owns The Villas at Chestnut Ridge and University Village at Sweethome apartment complexes near North Campus, which house a number of UB students.
The original ruling in 2007 was made because the members of the Town Board, none of whom remain currently on the board, felt that UB was in need of additional student housing. The new apartment complex would also generate an attractive $450,000 in property tax, another aspect contributing to the decision.
UB has opposed the prospect of building privately owned off-campus housing on the property near Rensch Road since 2004, when the idea of rezoning the land began to receive serious attention. According to an article in The Buffalo News, UB officials want to keep student housing concentrated on the actual campus, a move they believe would 'keep students more engaged in university life.'
Instead, they feel it would be most suitable if the property were utilized for research and development expansions called for under UB 2020. This use would be in keeping with the original zoning intention of the land.
The proposal to reconsider the 2007 decision was introduced to the Town Board by Barry Weinstein, the town supervisor. Weinstein argued that an apartment complex would be unfitting for the property, which is located 'in an area otherwise devoted to commercial interests.'
'I do think with UB growing, with their 2020 plan, I think it's more imperative for them to have research and development available right next to the campus,' Weinstein said in an interview with the Buffalo News.
Weinstein's proposal to begin the process of reversing the zoning designation met with a unanimous vote by the board at their meeting on Tuesday.
Representatives for American Campus Communities have been fervently resisting the idea of rezoning the land. According to Sean Hopkins, the developer's lawyer, the company bought the land for $10.2 million only after it was promised it would be able to use the land for the construction of the apartment complex.
'[This ruling] is directly contradictory to the lengthy planning process that resulted in the property being rezoned . . . in the first place, as well as the position the Town Board took with respect to the litigation it won,' Hopkins said.
The deliberation is still ongoing, and American Campus Communities still intends to develop the land along the lines that it was originally assured it could.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
