Hamburg senior and recreation programs will have three more years at the current community building on Southwestern Boulevard.
But by July 2026, the town will have to find a new home for its Youth, Recreation and Senior Services.
The town and Frontier Central School District, which owns the building at 4540 Southwestern Blvd., signed a three-year lease for the property.
The school district had planned to locate a new educational program, the Big Picture Academy, at the former school this fall. But students in the academy will attend the program on the Erie Community College South Campus this September.
When the school district told the town it wanted to move a new high school program into the building, it caused an uproar among seniors using the building and town officials, who spent $1.7 million renovating it and planned on buying it in nine years.
The school district and town had an agreement for Hamburg to lease the building for up to 19 years, with the option to buy it for $1 at the end of the lease. But state Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa did not grant the necessary extension of the lease beyond 10 years.
“While I would have preferred that the School District stand by the original deal, it became apparent during our conversations with Superintendent (Christopher J.) Swiatek that the original lease agreement provided little protection to the Town of Hamburg,” Supervisor Randy Hoak said in a news release.
The town will have exclusive rights to the property for the first year. The school district will use part of the building, and some of the town’s programming will be shifted to other locations, in the second and third years. The two will share access to the cafeteria and the gym.
The monthly rent for the first year is about $4,700, and it decreases to about $2,200 a month for the last two years. The town is responsible for lawn maintenance and snow and ice removal the first year, and the…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply