St. John Baptist Church has backed off plans to build a 6,000-square-foot grocery store on the site of a dilapidated, post-Civil War-era house at 204 High St.
A new plan was unveiled at this week’s meeting of the Buffalo Planning Board that proposes to move the project one block east of the original site, a spokesman for the church’s Fruit Belt Community Development Corp. confirmed.
“We understand the historical significance of the house at 204 High St., and that is why we have proposed moving the market one block east,” the Rev. Michael Chapman, pastor of St. John Baptist Church, said in a statement Thursday. “The market will serve the greater good of the Fruit Belt neighborhood and the growing Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, and we look forward to bringing this much-needed market to the community.”
It is an apparent compromise that does not appease some preservationists, who insist that the project is at odds with the general character of the Fruit Belt.
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“The new proposal on the table is almost as bad as the previous proposal, because one of the reasons for seeking protection of this building is to preserve and enhance the character of the Fruit Belt,” said Timothy A. Tielman, executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo.
Tielman was not present for Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting but said he and other members of his group plan to attend a July 28 public hearing on the church’s new proposal.
Initially, the developer planned to demolish the 5,400-square-foot Meidenbauer House, though it technically is still owned by the City of Buffalo, which in 2005 seized the property from its previous owner for nonpayment of taxes.
The Fruit Belt development organization in 2011 submitted an application to acquire the property from the city for the development of a full-service grocery store, cafe and pharmacy.
According to Brendan R. Mehaffy, executive director of the city’s Office of Strategic Planning, the project was a component of a larger community redevelopment plan by the church that included residential and commercial development.
Despite the church’s plans to forgo razing the Meidenbauer House and building the proposed market a block to the east, Tielman said, the project – which he described as a suburban-style commercial blight – would destroy the identity of the Fruit Belt as a cohesive neighborhood.
“It’s kind of a giant 7-Eleven. You are introducing a suburban commercial model in a neighborhood that’s going to affect every single residential parcel adjacent to it,” he said.
“It’s out of scale and out of character with the surrounding neighborhood. And I’m telling you, if this were on Elmwood Avenue, it would never be allowed.”
Tielman said St. John Baptist Church already owns a lot at the southwest corner of High and Maple streets that could accommodate its plans for a full-service market and off-street parking. Currently, it is operated as a parking lot by the church.
“Our notion is that putting a building on that site actually helps get rid of some of the parking blight that exists in the Fruit Belt and the Medical Campus,” Tielman added.
Tielman also was critical of a move by the Common Council to place to a six-month moratorium on demolishing the Meidenbauer House, which he said will have the effect of blocking a planned designation of the Fruit Belt as a historic district, and impede any prospective developers from seeking to rehabilitate the Meidenbauer House.
“Holding up the historic district designation is holding up anyone who wants to use historic rehabilitation credits on that property. And since the church now claims they have no interest in it, the city has to move with alacrity,” Tielman said.
Council President Darius G. Pridgen, who represents the Ellicott District, disputed Tielman’s contention.
“I filed with the Council a resolution that was approved to have a six-month moratorium on demolition of that building, the same exact way that I did with the Trico Building, and that resulted in a potential developer coming forward that may not have (otherwise) come forward,” Pridgen said.
“Hopefully, in this case, it will be the same.”
email: hmcneil@buffnews.com
