Tensions remain high between Benderson Development Co. and residents of a Snyder neighborhood over a planned project on Main Street, as the Amherst Planning Board prepares to take up the Squire Shop redevelopment proposal – and potentially approve it – Thursday.
Neighbors of the project site who live on Chateau Terrace and Fruehauf Avenue are angry over what they perceive as the developer’s mistreatment of them and its refusal to compromise on elements of the project that have raised the most concern among residents.
After years of go-go development, housing and other proposals in Amherst are now running into fierce, well-organized opposition from some neighbors.
They acknowledge that Benderson has made modifications to the plan design in response to town feedback and direction – most recently by shrinking the building’s length along one street and cutting four apartments – but argue that it is insufficient to address their objections.
They complain about comments made in meetings and in letters to the town by James Boglioli, Benderson’s director of “right-to-build” for the Northeast, about the actions of the neighbors.
In a March 29 letter to the town Planning Board, Boglioli said neighbors have “spread disinformation.” And after residents submitted a…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply