Residents concerned by Daemen College's parking waiver request
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Daemen College has released the design for a new 47,000-square-foot structure to be named the Center for Information Research and Community Programs. The new building will replace the library.

The parking around Daemen College is already causing concern for many Snyder residents, and the proposal for a new library - without additional parking - won't help the situation, residents say.

Barbara Anger said parking along Getzville Road, Meadowstream Drive and Woodbury Road are dominated by students who constantly ignore "no parking" signs.

She said adding a new library, without parking, will make the problem worse. The college has requested a waiver that would not require additional parking.

"(Daemen) applied for a waiver, saying they should not have to provide any additional parking. The surrounding streets will have to absorb the additional parking; there are a lot of problems," Anger said.

Following the Planning Board's motion to table the proposal at its Sept. 21 meeting, the board received a parking study from Robert C. Beiswanger Jr., vice president for business affairs and treasurer for Daemen College.

In Beiswanger's letter to the town, he stated that the campus's reluctance to create new parking at the south end of campus comes in part from the desire to preserve as much of the lawn as possible.

"This site is the only wide recreation space available to our students and is also used by many members of the Amherst community including the YMCA, People Inc. and the Boys and Girls Club.

Anger said the overload of student parking on neighboring streets is causing driveways, sidewalks and fire hydrants to be blocked.

She said that neighbors were informed of a plan to expand but were never told Daemen College was requesting a waiver on the required parking lot. Town ordinance would require the library, to be accompanied by a parking lot of 179 spaces, she said.

Andrew Terragnoli, a site design engineer with Lauer-Manguso & Associates Architects, said the college is proposing a 47,000-square-foot, three-story building - the Center for Information Research and Community Programs. It would replace the Marian Library.

Terragnoli said the Planning Board requested the developer address two concerns: a master plan by Daemen College and parking.

"What the college is doing now is building a new structure to replace an existing one," he said, adding that the expansion is not designed to increase faculty or student numbers.

According to Terragnoli, the college plans to eventually demolish Marian Library. Currently Daemen College has 830 parking spaces since adding 165 spaces in 2005. Parking for students is free.

The site plan is being reviewed by the Planning Board, and a state environmental quality review has been requested, he said.

During the process, Anger said security guards have been walking neighborhood streets, telling students not to park there.

The plan was first submitted on Aug. 21, and Terragnoli said the item is scheduled to be discussed at the Oct. 19 Planning Board meeting.