BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — The future of Voelkers Lanes -- up for discussion at a community meeting on Monday night.
The bowling alley has sat empty for three years now, at the busy intersection of Amherst and Elmwood Avenue.
Back in August we told you about a developer's plans to redevelop this site in a five-floor building, with hundreds of rental units and retail space.
"When I was growing up Voelker's had bowling leagues and parties like individual bowling and there was always something going on in the street over the past 5 years we lost that," said Joesph Golombek, North District Councilmember.
The developer Connor Kenney says he wants to be able to make his childhood neighborhood a more vibrant place.
"We are adding residents into the neighborhood, that's going to increase the vibrancy and increase the livilhood of the neighborhood, and I think it's going to have a brillant impact long-term," said Kenney.
On Monday afternoon the Buffalo City Planning Board put a pause on the request for the PUD, so developers could focus on the community's opinon.
Currently the public is most concerned about street parking near their homes and how more people on the dead end streets will impact the traffic patterns.
Councilmember Golombek hopes to find a compromise so the residents are happy and the developer continues to try to revitalize the area.
"People are adamantly against anything some are in support of anything and then you have everybody pretty much in between that and when we've done this in the past with developers, we've had almost in every single case, there's been a compromise instead of it being a 5 floor building perhaps it ends up being four floors," said Golombek.
Kenney's development company says it has added more parking lot space to its plans -- upping it from 77 spaces into the hundreds, and the Buffalo native wants to make his childhood community a great place to live again-while ensuring everyone has their voice heard
"We will continue to have public meetings even through construction to make sure that we are continuing to have open lines of communication with not only resident sin the area, homeowners, but also business owners," said Kenney.
