Developer Frank Parlato Jr. is inviting neighbors of his proposed
senior citizens housing park on North Creek Road in the Town of Hamburg to discuss their objections at a meeting next Thursday at 7 p.m. in the former Cliffside Restaurant, 2051 North Creek Road.
"If there's a real consensus of opinion and they don't want this there, then I'd look for another location," Parlato told The Buffalo News.
"Ideally, I've always seen the property as a park."
Parlato plans to retain a park-like atmosphere around the $8 million, 200-unit, three-story building. More than 50 percent of the site along 18-mile Creek would be left as green space, he said. The parking lot, which currently can hold 250 cars, would be made smaller, he added.
"I want to create an environment that will encourage people to visit more often," he said. "I plan to tie it in with Buttermilk Falls. What's nice about it is there are two paths down the cliff which I would open to the public. Right now there's no public access."
Parlato outlined his plan Wednesday for the Hamburg Town Planning Board.
After he submits an official proposal, he hopes to begin construction in the spring.
The 90,000-square-foot complex would house apartments, a recreation room, an auditorium, a store, a doctor's office, a pharmacy and an adult day-care center.
"The plan also calls for another restaurant, which would also encourage visitation of the older people," Parlato said. "It's supposed to be a socially conscious project. We're going to have a constitution for the residents so they have a voice in the management.
"I've done a lot of developments," he added, "and I've never done one where I've overrun the neighbors' concerns. How can it be a good, humanitarian project if you start out with all the neighbors upset?"
At the planning board meeting Wednesday, residents cited concerns about traffic, safety along the cliffs and the impact on the neighborhood.
Parlato noted that a previous developer had gotten town approval for a 230-unit condominium development and a strip plaza on the site, despite objections from the neighbors, but the project was never built. The parcel is zoned NC (neighborhood commercial).