Zoning Change Ruling Upheld at Amherst Walmart site

BUFFALO NEWS, MAY 1, 2007

TOWN OF AMHERST
Zoning change upheld at site for Wal-Mart
By Thomas J. Dolan NEWS STAFF REPORTER Updated: 05/01/07 7:37 AM
Amherst officials had the legal right to “downzone” a Millersport Highway property that was slated for development as a new Wal-Mart Supercenter, State Supreme Court Justice Timothy J. Drury ruled Monday.
At the center of the dispute was a 67-acre property at Millersport Highway between Smith and New roads.
For nearly three decades, the property had been zoned for use as a shopping center. But when Wal-Mart announced last year it was planning to build a 200,000-square-foot superstore, area residents organized to block the development.
In September, the Town Board voted to rezone the property. In mid-December, Wal- Mart announced it had dropped plans for Millersport Highway and would seek to build a 192,000-square-foot store in a shopping plaza off Sheridan Drive at North Bailey Avenue. A lawsuit was filed against the town in January.
Drury’s ruling was a defeat for developer Anthony Cimato, who had charged town officials with acting in “bad faith” and using the rezoning solely to block the Wal-Mart development.
Drury said that the town’s motive for the zoning was irrelevant and that town officials were on solid legal ground because they were following the town’s new master plan.
The judge also ruled there was no evidence that the town’s rezoning was the product of “malice, oppression, manipulation or corruption,” common legal indicators of “bad faith.”