Published: July 30, 2008 11:52 pm      

TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Residents concerned over strip club’s presence

While installing a strip club on Sawyer Avenue is legal, the move is still ruffling the feathers of nearby residents.

The construction of Mustang Sally’s has been a long time coming, starting last May when 1700 Properties tried to open the club at 345 Grand Island Blvd. Then-Supervisor Ron Moline denied the move, but afterward the town board set to redrawing the zoning districts.

Shortly before the rezoning was complete, 1700 Properties bought the Sawyer Avenue building, near several trucking and industrial companies and a small neighborhood. Plans submitted to the town’s State Environmental Quality Review Committee just after the rezoning include expanding a 2,500-square-foot concrete building to a more than 4,900-square-foot adult cabaret.

Last week, the SEQR Committee conducted its review of the property and found no environmental reasons to reject the night club. The town board approved the findings on Monday, sending the matter to the town planning board for final review.

“We sat down with business owners and one of the things we explained to them was that these types of businesses were always allowed on Sawyer Avenue,” Bargnesi said. “We didn’t change that.”

But the residents of Kaufman Avenue aren’t thrilled with the prospect of a strip club less than half a mile from their neighborhood park and homes. Pat Strickland lives on Kaufman with her daughter and two young grandchildren and said she doesn’t think locating a strip club so close to a place where children congregate is a good idea.

“There are a bunch of kids in this neighborhood,” Strickland said. “I don’t know why they would want to put a strip club somewhere so close to kids, all the way up from little ones to teenagers.”

While the First Amendment prevents towns from banning adult use businesses outright, restrictions can be put on where the businesses are allowed. The current regulations limit adult uses to the general industrial district, which Sawyer Avenue is in, and adult use businesses no longer have to apply for a permit to operate within those bounds.

But the zoning law does set up several provisions the club must follow even within those bounds. Adult businesses can’t be within 500 feet of a school, park, church, residential area and other places deemed as sensitive by the town, such as waterfront areas dedicated to tourism. Only one adult business is allowed per lot and adult use buildings can’t be within 1,000 feet of one another, Bargnesi said.

“The board did put into place more restrictions on where they could place it on Sawyer Avenue,” Bargnesi said. “And the wording also keeps that area from becoming a red-light district. Our purpose was to rewrite the law to be the most restrictive that such a law can be, but we have to allow it somewhere.”

But even with the club complying with the restrictions in place, Kaufman Avenue resident Cheryl McNett said there are too many kids around the area to have a strip club so close by.

“I think they should have went further or zoned it somewhere else that it’s not near any residences,” McNett said.

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.