City of Buffalo Planning Board·September 21, 2026
Four items, five members. A 6,900-square-foot daycare at 484 Abbott Road was approved 5–0 with a SEQR negative declaration. A tavern permit at 462 Niagara Street was recommended with closing times (midnight weeknights, 1 a.m. weekends); Council hearing Oct. 6. The 416 Wohlers assembly permit was tabled again; 129 Holden got a one-year extension, Billman abstaining.
The only public hearing on Monday's docket was for a 6,900-square-foot daycare center at 484 Abbott Road, in the N-3C zone in South Buffalo, and it ended the way most site-plan hearings hope to: hearing closed, negative declaration adopted, plan approved, no dissent. Vice Chair Cynthia Schwartz moved and Martha Lamparelli seconded; Chairman James Morrell, Schwartz, Lamparelli, Arthur Hall and Scott Billman all voted yes. The summary minutes record two things beyond the vote — “The public hearing was closed” and “Negative Declaration Adopted” — and nothing about who spoke or what was said. Whether anyone from the neighborhood appeared is not in the record.
What the record does show is the size of the file. The application came in on the Green Code's Major Site Plan form (the §496-1137 form is the first attachment), and the packet behind it runs twelve documents: a statement of intent, the deed to 484 Abbott Road, a site plan revised once, a building elevation sheet, a landscaping plan, a photometric lighting plan, an area map, a short environmental assessment form, a preliminary stormwater pollution prevention plan dated August 22, a transportation demand management plan, and the negative declaration itself. Two of those filings — the stormwater plan and the TDM plan — carry the name “Mercy Daycare” in their titles; the agenda item itself names no operator, and this brief does not go beyond what the file names say.
A daycare is a use the Green Code allows in a mixed-use center zone, which is why the case came to the board as a site plan rather than as a special use permit routed through the Common Council. The board's approval is the land-use decision; building permits follow. There is no Council docket number on this item because the Council was never involved.
Board: Chairman James Morrell (presiding), Vice Chair Cynthia Schwartz, Martha Lamparelli, Arthur Hall, Scott Billman. Absent: Leonard Sciolino. Titles are as printed in the minutes' roll call.
Format: in person in Room 912 City Hall and by Microsoft Teams videoconference, per the meeting notice.
Public speakers: not recorded in the summary minutes for any item.
Staff: Office of Strategic Planning; minutes prepared by Lori Hinson, City Clerk's office, per the item detail page.
Before a New York agency approves a project, the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) requires it to decide whether the action “may have a significant adverse impact on the environment.” A negative declaration is the finding that it will not — which ends the environmental review then and there, with no environmental impact statement. It is a normal outcome for a modest building on a city lot with a stormwater plan already in hand; the word “negative” describes the impact finding, not the board's view of the project. The daycare's short environmental assessment form and the neg dec are both in the posted file.
The board's other substantive act was advisory. A petition filed with the Common Council under the name J Anzalone seeks a special use permit for a tavern at 462 Niagara Street, in the N-2C zone in the Niagara Council District. The Council received it on September 15, set its own public hearing for October 6, and referred it both to the Legislation Committee and to the Planning Board for a recommendation. Monday the board gave one: “Rec. Approve w/Conditions,” moved by Schwartz, seconded by Billman, 5–0.
The minutes list a single condition, and it is about hours: Sunday through Thursday, close by midnight; Friday and Saturday, close by 1:00 a.m. — “unless related to an event.” The minutes do not define “event,” and no other condition (occupancy, sound, outdoor seating) appears. Whether the hours were the applicant's offer or the board's requirement is not stated. The recommendation now travels back to Council under docket 26-000631, where the hearing on October 6 is the public's opportunity to be heard; the Planning Board record shows no speakers.
In Buffalo, a special use permit — the Green Code's device for uses that fit a zone only under conditions, like a bar in a mixed-use neighborhood center or a gathering hall on a residential street — is granted by the Common Council, not the Planning Board. The petition is filed with the City Clerk, the Council refers it to its Legislation Committee and to the Planning Board (“CPBD” in the docket line), and each returns a recommendation. The Council then holds the public hearing (here, October 6) and votes. So “Rec. Approve w/Conditions” is the Planning Board's professional advice with conditions attached, not a permit; the Council can adopt the conditions, change them, or decline the permit. By contrast, the Abbott Road daycare was a site plan, which the Planning Board decides itself — which is why that item says “Approved” and this one does not.
416 Wohlers Avenue. The second special use petition on the docket — filed under the name Islam, M, for an assembly use in the N-3R zone in the Masten Council District — did not get a recommendation. The board tabled it, Schwartz moving and Hall seconding, 5–0. It was the same motion, the same mover and seconder, and the same result as on September 8, when the board first tabled the petition. The Council referred the item to its Legislation Committee on September 1 under docket 26-000250, and the Council's public hearing is noticed for October 6 — the same day as the Niagara Street tavern. Unless the board meets and acts before then, the Council will hold its hearing without a Planning Board position. The record gives no reason for either tabling; the attachments are a photo set and the application, unchanged from two weeks ago. N-3R is a residential zone, which is what puts an assembly use — a hall, a house of worship, a meeting space — on the special-permit track.
129 Holden Avenue. The board granted a one-year extension of a Major Site Plan approval for a project at 129 Holden Avenue. The request, dated September 9, was filed under the name Chalmers; the record does not describe the project, its size, or when the original approval was granted. Schwartz moved, Hall seconded, and the vote was 4–0 with Scott Billman abstaining — the only non-unanimous vote of the afternoon. No reason for the abstention is recorded; this brief does not supply one. Site plan approvals under the Green Code expire if construction does not begin within a set period, and an extension request is how an applicant keeps an approval alive without refiling; the minutes' entire narrative on the item is one sentence: “The board approved a one year extension for this project.”
Every recorded vote, in docket order, from the City's structured agenda and summary minutes. All five votes were roll calls by name. Present: Morrell (Chairman), Schwartz (Vice Chair), Lamparelli, Hall, Billman. Absent: Sciolino. No recusals were recorded; one abstention was. Adjournment carries no recorded vote. Items 3 and 4 are Common Council petitions on which the board's action is a recommendation; items 1 and 2 are Planning Board decisions with no Council docket number.
Moved by Billman, seconded by Hall. Ayes: Morrell, Schwartz, Lamparelli, Hall, Billman.
Moved by Schwartz, seconded by Lamparelli. Ayes: Morrell, Schwartz, Lamparelli, Hall, Billman. Minutes: “The public hearing was closed. Negative Declaration Adopted.” Twelve attachments including the §496-1137 Major Site Plan form, deed, statement of intent, site/building/landscaping/lighting plans, area map, short EAF, a preliminary SWPPP dated 2026-08-22, a TDM plan and the negative declaration. Two filings are titled “Mercy Daycare.” Flagged as the meeting's one final land-use approval.
Moved by Schwartz, seconded by Hall. Ayes: Morrell, Schwartz, Lamparelli, Hall. Abstain: Billman. Attachment: “Chalmers – Extension Request for Site Plan Approval 9.9.26.” Minutes: “The board approved a one year extension for this project.” The underlying project is not described in the record. Flagged for the abstention, the only non-unanimous vote of the meeting; no reason is recorded.
Moved by Schwartz, seconded by Billman. Ayes: Morrell, Schwartz, Lamparelli, Hall, Billman. Condition as recorded: “Hours of Operation: Sunday through Thursday close by midnight / Friday & Saturday close by 1:00am unless related to an event.” History: received by the Common Council September 15, 2026, and referred to Legislation and CPBD. Returns to the Council for its October 6 public hearing and decision.
Moved by Schwartz, seconded by Hall. Ayes: Morrell, Schwartz, Lamparelli, Hall, Billman. Second consecutive tabling: the board tabled the same petition, on the same motion by Schwartz and Hall, on September 8. Referred by the Common Council to its Legislation Committee September 1. No reason for tabling is recorded. Attachments (a photo set and the application) are unchanged from September 8. Flagged as a carried-over item with a Council hearing pending.
What this brief is built from. The City posts video for most of its public bodies on its CivicClerk portal one to two days after each meeting. For this Planning Board meeting no video or audio was posted, and this publication has no recording of its own. This brief is therefore built entirely from the City's structured agenda with its recorded roll-call votes, the item-detail page for the Niagara Street petition, and the three-page summary minutes. There is no transcript, so there is no Overheard section, no timecodes and no verbatim quotation of anyone in the room; the short phrases in quotation marks above are the clerk's written words in the minutes, not speech. Summary minutes record dispositions, not discussion: where this brief says a reason is “not recorded,” it means exactly that, and no reason has been inferred. Public speakers, if any, are not noted in the minutes for any item.
Roster. The six board members are verified against September 2026 roll calls. The minutes' roll call prints James Morrell as Chairman and Cynthia Schwartz as Vice Chair, and this brief uses those titles on that authority; no other title is asserted. Leonard Sciolino is recorded absent; Martha Lamparelli, absent September 8, is recorded present.
Text of the record. The City's item text spells the Wohlers Avenue use “Asssembly”; it is rendered “assembly” here. The record gives the Holden site as “129 Holden Avenue”; the City of Buffalo street index (TIGER 2024) lists a Holden Street and no Holden Avenue. The record's wording is kept because it is the clerk's, and the discrepancy is noted rather than corrected. Abbott Road, Niagara Street and Wohlers Avenue all appear in the index as written. The applicant names “J Anzalone,” “Islam, M” and “Chalmers” are reproduced as the City's docket prints them; “Mercy Daycare” appears only in two attachment file names and is reported as such. No name in this brief comes from audio, so the [*] flag is not used.
Other checks. The interests watchlist was checked against every address, applicant and entity on the docket; no match. Prior-meeting context (the September 8 tabling of 416 Wohlers; the Council's September 1 and September 15 referrals) is drawn from those meetings' posted records. Docket 26-000250 for 416 Wohlers is taken from the September 8 minutes, which print it; the September 21 minutes do not.