A dying man gives away a quarter-section · Walmart rebuilds its curbside · Eastgate gets a face-lift
In a 47-minute session that moved three projects without a single dissenting vote, the Clarence Planning Board cleared a minor subdivision that lets the Peter Jackson Trust hand roughly 250 acres of Salt Road farmland to Ducks Unlimited for permanent preservation — a private act of conservation the board openly compared to the town's two-decade, $12.5-million Greenprint program. It then approved a Walmart addition that overhauls the Transit Road store's online-pickup operation, attaching a fourteenth condition on the spot to keep cars from cutting behind the building, and signed off on a facade rehab for a tired Eastgate Plaza outbuilding.
The first item of the night was, on paper, a routine minor subdivision — carve one new lot out of a 192-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Salt and Miland Roads. What it actually was, the room came to understand, was the paperwork behind a substantial gift. Director of Community Development Jonathan Bleuer[*] laid out the mechanics: the split would create one new vacant lot of roughly 158 acres, leave the existing residence and agricultural structures on about 19.8 acres, and shift a slice of the property over to the adjacent 10575 Miland Road through a lot-line adjustment.[1]
Then the trustee explained why. "The red and the purple are getting donated to Ducks Unlimited," said Chris Byer-Jones[*], trustee of the Peter Jackson Trust, describing an arrangement under which the land — part of a roughly 250-acre holding — would be preserved and never developed, with the conservation group already at work improving the property's ponds for waterfowl.[1] The lot-line extension, he said, was a gift to the rear neighbors; another portion was being gifted to Jackson's niece.
The board was visibly moved. Noting the town launched its Greenprint land-preservation program in 2002 and has since spent more than $12.5 million to protect over 1,800 acres, one member observed that Jackson "never came to the town requesting financial gain" and had taken it upon himself to do privately what the town had pursued for twenty years.[2] The trustee added a grace note: Jackson's wife, Joanne Jackson, had been part of the original Clarence group that helped create the Greenprint effort — "living by her word."[2]
Both motions — a SEQR negative declaration and the subdivision itself, the latter carrying five conditions — passed 6–0. The approval is conditioned on the applicant first obtaining a Zoning Board of Appeals variance, because an existing pond on the property would sit within the required 100-foot setback of the new lot lines; the trustee told the board he had already applied.[1]
The night's most contested item drew the only public comment of the evening. Walmart, through Matt Ranges of Colliers Engineering and Design[*], sought site-plan and architectural approval for a roughly 5,818-square-foot addition on the south side of its Eastgate Plaza store, built to consolidate online pickup and delivery into one location, plus a full repaint of the building.[3] The driving logic, store manager Brant Fosdick[*] and the engineer explained, was associate safety — keeping pickup staff from crossing the main driveway in front of the store. Dedicated pickup spaces would grow from 12 to 39, even as overall site parking shrank.[3]
Two residents of Eastbrooke Place came to the microphone. The first, identifying herself as Diana B., pressed on traffic volume, the absence of a barrier between the rear lot and her street, and what she called increased criminal activity — recounting having seen seven or eight sheriff's vehicles descend on the lot one recent morning to arrest a man.[4] A second resident, Dave Augustine, worried that pickup traffic routed behind the building would spill onto Greiner Road[*], worsening an already difficult left turn.[4] The applicant answered that hours would remain 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., that no signage would encourage rear-of-building exits, and that lighting — all dimmable — would run on a dimming schedule still being worked out with the landlord.[3]
The board folded those concerns into its action. After confirming the applicant had heard, understood, and agreed to all 13 drafted conditions, Chairman Robert Sackett[*] moved an unusual on-the-spot amendment — a fourteenth condition requiring directional signage, subject to fire-inspector approval, to steer cars in and out of the pickup area and discourage (the board was careful it could not outright prohibit) traffic from cutting behind the building toward Greiner.[5] Richard Bigler[*], who sits on the landscape committee, separately urged — without binding the applicant — that pine plantings be added to the rear berm to screen noise and headlight spill from the neighborhood behind. Both SEQR and the amended site-plan approval passed 6–0.
Planning Board conditions are usually drafted before the meeting and read into the record. Here the board added one mid-motion: the public comments about traffic cutting behind the store toward Greiner Road surfaced a concern the drafted conditions didn't cover. Rather than table the project, the chair amended the motion on the floor — requiring directional signage to discourage the rear route — and secured the applicant's agreement before the vote. Note the careful wording: the board can require signage that discourages a traffic pattern, but cannot prohibit public movement on a private site, hence "discourage," not "prohibit."
The evening's final item was the simplest. Benderson Development, represented by attorney James Baglioli[*] of 570 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, sought architectural approval for a facade rehabilitation of a commercial out-parcel building within the 21-acre Eastgate Plaza holding.[6] The work: a new gray EIFS[*] finish on the tower element under the Leslie Pool[*] sign, new EIFS trim along the top, and split-face block accents on the building columns. Baglioli pointed to the developer's nearby NEET[*] building as the design precedent — "It's a dated building. We're going to start there."[6]
Asked why only one corner of the building was being refreshed, the attorney said possible future tenant changes might bring him back before the board for the rest. He also volunteered, unprompted, that a tenant — Leslie Pool — had outside storage that property managers were already working to remove, and that he had asked for a three-month window to complete it.[6] The board deemed the facade work a Type II action requiring no environmental review, and approved it with seven conditions, 6–0 — including the standard requirement that all unapproved outside storage be removed within three months or face a notice of violation.[6]
Three projects, five recorded votes, all unanimous on roll call. Six of the seven-member board were present and voting: Chairman Robert Sackett, Vice-Chair Richard Bigler, 2nd Vice-Chair Wendy Salvati, and members Daniel Tytka, Keith Lukowski and Gregory Todaro. Jason Geasling was the apparent absentee. There were no minutes to approve. Member surnames carried forward from the Town's official April 15, 2026 Planning Board minutes (see Editor's Note on verification).
Motion (Lukowski) under Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law to accept the Part 1 EAF as submitted, approve the Part 2 and 3 forms as prepared, and issue a negative declaration on the proposed minor subdivision. Unlisted action; determined to have no significant negative environmental impact. Seconded; carried on roll call.
Motion (Lukowski) to approve the minor subdivision per the application received May 20, 2026, subject to five conditions: (1) issuance of a ZBA variance for the existing pond's setback to the new lot lines; (2) Erie County DPW approval for access to the new lot; (3) town review/approval of any future construction or regulated activity; (4) drainage easements, if the town requires them, to be submitted and approved by town engineering/highway/legal and filed with the Erie County Clerk before any building permits; (5) open space, recreation and other applicable fees per town code. Seconded; carried on roll call.
Motion under Article 8 to accept the Part 1 EAF and approve Part 2/3, issuing a negative declaration on the proposed ~5,818 sq ft building addition and site modification. Unlisted action; no significant negative environmental impact found after review of plans, documents, minutes and EAFs. Seconded; carried on roll call.
Motion to issue site-plan and architectural approval per the Colliers plan set dated May 12, 2026 (final revision May 13), subject to 13 drafted conditions covering building/fire code, engineering, sewer review, landscaping in perpetuity, a lighting dimming schedule with dark-sky compliance, approved materials and repaint, screened rooftop mechanicals, dumpster enclosure, perpetual maintenance, striped parking with no parking outside designated areas, seasonal outdoor sales confined to a depicted area (no other outdoor storage without town approval), signage review, and applicable fees. Amended on the floor to add a 14th condition: directional signage, in and out of the pickup area, to discourage traffic from routing behind the building toward Greiner Road, subject to fire-inspector approval. Applicant agreed to all 14. Seconded; carried on roll call.
Motion (Tytka) to issue architectural approval for the facade rehabilitation of the commercial out-parcel building per James Rumsey, architect, plans dated May 15, 2026, subject to seven conditions: approved materials/colors of industry-standard quality; town Building Department review before construction; no unapproved outside storage (existing to be removed within three months or a notice of violation issues); enclosed dumpster per town standard; perpetual maintenance; signage review; and applicable fees. Deemed a Type II action — no SEQR review required. Seconded; carried on roll call.
This brief covers the Town of Clarence Planning Board regular meeting of Wednesday, June 3, 2026, captured live from the town's YouTube channel; a 6:30 PM work session that preceded the public meeting is not livestreamed and is not reflected here. Project descriptions, addresses, acreages and square footages are taken from the official descriptions read into the record by the Director of Community Development, from the motions as adopted, and cross-checked against the official one-page agenda (prepared by the Planning Board office, dated May 26, 2026). The agenda corrected one applicant entity the audio had rendered wrong: Item 3's applicant is Benderson Development Co., LLC — the prominent Western New York developer — not "Henderson" as the live audio suggested; the official plaza name is Eastgate Plaza (one word). Street names were checked against the Town of Clarence official street index (2024 zoning map, 519 roads): "Myland" as heard in the audio is Miland Road, and "Eastbrook Place" is officially Eastbrooke Place. (Delaware Avenue, cited as the applicant attorney's Buffalo office address, is correctly outside the Clarence inventory.) Names marked [*] were silently corrected from Whisper's audio rendering — the board members (transcript "Taika" → Tytka, "Wachowski/Lakowski" → Lukowski, "Tadara" → Todaro, "Selvati" → Salvati, "Bigwood" → Bigler), plus "Bloor/Bluer" → Bleuer, "Griner" → Greiner, and "EFAS" → EIFS (the exterior cladding product). Applicant and resident names heard only in the audio — Byer-Jones, Ranges, Fosdick, Baglioli, the Eastbrooke Place speakers — are transcribed as best understood and should be verified before being quoted by name; the spelling "Leslie Pool" is uncertain. The seven-member roster is carried forward from the Town's verified April 15, 2026 Planning Board minutes and was not re-verified against June 3 minutes, which are not yet posted; six members were present and voting, with Jason Geasling the apparent absentee.