|
Czestochowa to host residential meeting
Our Lady of Czestochowa Church will host a community meeting next week that is intended to provide nearby residents a chance to discuss with the developers their concerns about the potential conversion of its former school into apartments.
The meeting will take place Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. inside the former Clinton Street school.
Savarino Construction and Southeast Works hope to convert the building, vacant since its 2003 closing, into a 24-unit apartment building for the developmentally challenged who seek to live independently.
The plan has drawn opposition from residents of Meadowbrook and Willowlawn parkways, some of whom used a public hearing last week to accuse officials from the town, church and developers of rushing approval of the project.
Other residents appeared uneasy that developmentally challenged persons with little supervision would be living nearby.
"We've heard this every time we try to open a facility," Judith Shanley, executive director of Southeast Works said.
The not-for-profit organization, which is based in Depew, provides developmentally disabled adults with opportunities to work, live independently and reach their full potential.
Southeast Works operates two group homes in the village, on Columbia Avenue and Grant Street. The two homes are on adjoining property to the organization's main work building, the former North Side School.
Both homes were built in recent years and there was resistance from village residents before they were constructed.
However, Depew Mayor Barbara Alberti said there have been few complaints about the two homes since they opened.
"There are instances where they pull fire alarms," Alberti said, "and a couple of women walked out at night in their pajamas."
Aside from these incidents, there have not been complaints about the homes or their inhabitants.
"Overall, they've been good neighbors," Alberti said.
People Inc., another not-for-profit organization, has built assisted living homes for the developmentally challenged in Cheektowaga and has faced similar reaction.
When that group in 2003 planned to build a nine-person home on Wheaton Drive, residents expressed concern for the safety of their children and wondered if the home would adversely affect property values.
A People Inc. representative said in November 2003 that she couldn't guarantee the behavior of her clients any more than she could guarantee the behavior of other residents living along Wheaton.
Residents near Our Lady of Czestochowa last week did not indicate that there may be similar problems already on their streets, but a review of Cheektowaga Police Department records indicate there are.
According to Cheektowaga Police information requested by the Times, there were more than two dozen reports of disturbances along the twoblock stretches of Meadowbrook and Willowlawn from Clinton Street to their northern termini in 2007.
Police responded to five reports of harassment in the neighborhood, including four on Meadowbrook; four reports of disturbances; three reports of an "unknown" type of trouble, and two larcenies.
Three police escorts were requested and there were also five reports of "suspicious" persons or vehicles in the area.
There was one report each of an unwelcome guest, neighbor dispute, landlord-tenant dispute, criminal mischief and domestic incident. One order of protection was also served against a Meadowbrook resident.
Safety issues and property values aside, another resident wondered if the neighborhood's sewer system could handle the plumbing- sinks, showers and toilets- from 24 apartments.
When the school closed in June 2003, Our Lady of Czestochowa enrolled 48 students, nearly double the number of persons who would inhabit the apartments.
Town Engineer Bill Pugh said he was not sure of the number of sinks and toilets in the former school and adjoining convent.
However, he estimated the persons associated with the convent and school equated to between six to eight homes.
"It's not as if they will be establishing 24 units from scratch," Pugh added. "In my mind, the trade-off is insignificant."
A similar view was expressed by a Depew building inspector in December 2005 when Southeast Works built its second home.
| 
