About one year ago, Arlene H. Bolton and a dozen fellow residents sat outside the Blocher Homes in Williamsville, holding picket signs and protesting plans to convert the senior housing to mixed-income apartments.
Now, Bolton and her friends have to decide where they'll go next after the controversial project received final approval from the village earlier this month.
What was once a possibility is now reality: The 34 or so seniors who remain at Blocher Homes must move out to make way for the $31.5 million conversion to apartments for people with low and moderate incomes and those with developmental disabilities.
"We're being evicted, more or less," said Bolton, president of the Blocher resident council.
Blocher residents, most in their 80s and 90s, say they're pained and frustrated by the project approval and at the looming prospect of moving.
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Beechwood Continuing Care, Blocher's owner, said the organization is sharing all the information it can with Blocher residents and anyone who wants to can move to the company's main campus in Amherst.
There's no timeline set for when the residents have to leave to make way for the start of construction on the apartments.
Project sponsor People Inc. still must obtain financing for the project and a group of neighbors has filed a legal challenge to the development and the process by which it was approved. But the nonprofit agency looks forward to showing how the apartments will benefit the community.
"Change is difficult in any neighborhood," said Rhonda Frederick, People Inc.'s president and CEO. "I hope our reputation as an organization and our other 100-plus properties in the Western New York region speak for themselves."
Divisive plan approved
The Blocher Homes proposal sparked one of the most bitter development battles Williamsville has seen in years.
Beechwood Continuing Care and People Inc. revealed their plans last summer. Beechwood argued it could no longer afford to operate Blocher Homes under the current senior care climate and People Inc. said this type of housing is badly needed in Williamsville and Amherst.
The project has evolved in response to concerns raised by neighbors and the village Planning Board. Under the final version, People Inc. will construct 93 apartments across the existing senior residence, which opened in 1970, and three smaller buildings it would construct on the 5.3-acre site at 135 Evans St.
The nonprofit said the project is an acceptable use for the site, which has hosted a home for seniors for more than a century, and it has taken steps to preserve green space on the property and to limit the effects of traffic in the neighborhood.
Opposition came from Blocher residents, who didn't want to leave; Blocher employees, who aren't assured of a job elsewhere in the Beechwood system; and Blocher neighbors who say the new development is far too dense for the area. Those neighbors include the owners of some of Amherst's most expensive homes.
Over the past year, the Planning Board found the project would not significantly harm the environment and the Zoning Board granted a parking variance. On Sept. 8, the Planning Board narrowly approved the project site plan and, by a wider margin, gave a favorable architectural review.
Neighbors have sharply criticized the village for how it has handled the project review, arguing the Village Board should have taken control of the approval process. They also complained the public didn't have enough chance to weigh in and the deck appeared stacked in favor of the developer.
"It's just preposterous how they rammed it through," said Douglas Coppola, an attorney and Village Pointe Lane resident who is a member of the Williamsville Residents Opposed to Blocher Redevelopment group.
Village officials have argued the matter was appropriately left in the hands of the Planning and Zoning boards. The Village Board at its reorganizational meeting Monday is set to make appointments to various Williamsville boards and committees and it's possible some Planning Board members could be replaced.
Timeline uncertain
People Inc. has applied for the federal and state tax credits that will make up the bulk of the funding for the development, Frederick said. She said she doesn't know when this approval will come but she is optimistic the Covid-19 pandemic won't upend the project economics.
People Inc. has a sale contract in place with Beechwood for the property that is contingent upon obtaining this financing, said Frederick, who declined to reveal the purchase price.
Construction should start about six to nine months after the funding is in hand and work would take about 18 months to two years to finish.
The agency hasn't started marketing the apartments yet but expects demand from people living in the area to be high, particularly for those with children who want to move to or remain in the Williamsville Central School District.
"Our market studies support that," Frederick said.
The project is the subject of an ongoing court challenge brought by a group of nearby homeowners who say the project's environmental effects require a more thorough review than granted by the Planning Board. They plan to amend the filing to raise objections about the site plan review, Coppola said.
Beechwood hasn't given Blocher workers or residents a firm date for the closing of the facility.
Administrators last week began negotiations with members of the union that represents about 14 of Blocher's workers over severance and other issues related to the closing, said Marshall Bertram, an organizer with 1199SEIU. The Beechwood campus is nonunion and Blocher workers have not been promised jobs at the Millersport Highway facility.
'Just sick over it'
Beechwood earlier this month received approval from the state Health Department for its closing plan. The Blocher residents will receive at least 30 days' notice before any deadline to move out.
"We are presently working with each resident and their family members to create a comprehensive individual transition plan that will meet their specific needs," Beechwood CEO Daniel O'Neill said in a statement.
Beechwood is making renovations to a space at its Millersport Highway campus and promises any Blocher resident who wishes can move there and pay the same rate they pay at Blocher.
But several Blocher residents in interviews said they don't believe the rooms and amenities at Beechwood meet the standard they've enjoyed at Blocher. For example, Blocher rooms have their own showers while at Beechwood they would share common showers.
The Blocher residents also say they're concerned because Beechwood has had 21 coronavirus deaths, according to state records.
"We've had no cases whatsoever here," said Blocher resident Joyce L. Wilson.
Some Blocher residents say they are willing to give the Beechwood facility a try, although they will move again if they aren't satisfied. This includes Wilson and Mary Frontera, who said she's trying to stay positive amid the uncertainty.
"There's a lot of people here who are just sick over it, and I am, too," said Frontera.
Bolton, for her part, said she and a small group of Blocher residents plan to move into the new Fredonia Place of Williamsville senior housing on Reist Street. This has been a difficult year for Bolton, who lost her husband, Ralph, in May and now must move from her home of about five years.
"It's just put everyone in a state of stress," Bolton said.
