Amherst Traditional Neighborhood Zoning Project
The Town has recently begun to examine its older commercial areas in order to apply custom zoning regulations that permit and encourage mixed-use and pedestrian-oriented redevelopment. Towards this end, the Town in May 2010 enacted a Traditional Neighborhood Business Zoning Overlay (-TNB) and rezoned commercial properties at the Main-Eggert and Harlem-Kensington centers.
The Town Board has directed that the –TNB be applied to several additional areas in the Town: Eggertsville West (the area bounded by Eggert Road to the north, Main Street / Kenmore Avenue to the south, Bailey Avenue to the east, and Niagara Falls Boulevard to the west); Main Street / Harlem Road; and along Main Street adjacent to the Village of Williamsville.
Additional information on these projects will be added to this page as work proceeds.
Project Background
The rezoning projects implement a key recommendation of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan: to encourage redevelopment of the town’s older commercial centers.
The Town’s current predominant commercial zoning category, General Business, has been applied to both older commercial areas and larger, automobile-oriented development along roadways such as Transit Road and Niagara Falls Boulevard. This “one-size-fits-all” approach has acted as a disincentive to redevelopment in older areas, and when development does occur, permits projects that often do not fit in with existing conditions.
The goal of the Traditional Neighborhood Zoning project is to promote redevelopment by customizing zoning so that there is a better fit with existing development. Resulting development projects should also be consistent with community goals, such as improved aesthetics and higher-quality design, greater pedestrian-orientation, a mix of uses, and minimized impacts on adjacent residential areas. It is anticipated that the work completed for Harlem-Kensington and Main-Eggert will become a model for other commercial areas in the Town.
Eggertsville West
A public information meeting has been scheduled for:
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 7 PM
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
4007 Main Street
Eggertsville, NY 14226
Comments or Questions?
Please contact the Amherst Planning Department or by email: complan@amherst.ny.us. | 
