Published: October 06, 2008 11:58 pm      

NORTH TONAWANDA: NT First wants expert testimony

The sale of Bluebird Drive to Wal-Mart, a key step in getting the project underway, has been discussed by officials and Wal-Mart as they await a lawsuit from Frank Budwey and NT First.

Instead, Budwey late last month submitted a 180-signature petition to the North Tonawanda Common Council asking them to hear comments by their own traffic expert, Andrew Wolfe, Ph.D, also a professor at SUNY Utica, prior to any sale of the access road.

Wolfe addressed the Planning Commission March 11 with a 14-page report. Then, NT First requested more information as the plans had undergone several key changes.

“After the March 11th meeting they gave us information but they didn’t give us the whole package,” Budwey said.

A Freedom of Information request filed a couple of months after the presentation sought data used to establish traffic impact after planners added an entrance to the store’s proposed site on Wurlitzer Drive.

Earlier attempts to have traffic cross over a set of railroad tracks had been denied by CSX, a railroad freight company, and Budwey has claimed information regarding the traffic impact of what is more or less the final plan was never properly compiled.

Now, the group wants Wolfe, a traffic engineer, again to speak up about the reasons they feel the city and their consultants Wendel Duchscherer were never supplied with computer data used by Wal-Mart to analyze the likely traffic flow.

NT First has long bemoaned the perceived increases in traffic going thorough two residential neighborhoods — commonly known as Wurlitzer Park and Martinsville — near the Wurlitzer Park property.

“But I feel the city isn’t willing to get me what I want to get because they don’t want to know,” Budwey said.

While Budwey said he feels the city has provided him with what he asked for, he believes the additional data needed to make an informed decision was never given to the city. He believes the missing information is computer data used to set up a virtual representation of the roadways used by Wal-Mart earlier in the process. Of the Common Council’s pending approval of the entire project, he thinks they have made up their mind already and aren’t looking for any reason to have further doubts.

“They’re just as guilty as Frank Budwey, looking out for his business — they’re looking out for their jobs, what probably the majority of taxpayers want. But they think they’re going to get more taxes for it, more finances, and I’m saying that’s wrong ... they’re looking out for their votes,” Budwey said.

The process for site plan approval, however, and the groundwork to approve the plans has taken just under two years and many pages of reports have been studied.

Common Council President Brett Sommer said that’s why consultants Wendel Duchscherer was hired in the first place, to avoid procedural oversights that could feed a lawsuit.

All of the council, the mayor’s office and Wal-Mart are on the record as in favor of the project.

Sommer, who has missed a few recent meetings following surgery, said no official action has been taken on Wolfe’s presentation. However, he said the city and Wal-Mart are eager to confront any future lawsuit even as the question of Bluebird Drive is discussed. Also, he said he feels, through informal conversations with council members, that the council does not appear eager to hear any more from Wolfe, whose position they are familiar with.

“We’re still in negotiations with Wal-Mart concerning the compensation with them for the portion of the property that has to be sold,” Sommer said. “I don’t want to say there’s a formal decision (on Wolfe) because there isn’t, but in casual conversation, that’s the impression I’ve gotten.”

Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.