Board looks to follow neighboring towns' condo law
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

According to Amherst Town Board Member Shelly Schratz, there is a growing problem within the town involving developers changing town houses to condominiums for the assessment tax breaks.

Schratz proposed a resolution on Monday asking Town Attorney Tom Jones to draft a local law to exclude converted condominiums from reduced assessments.

"There is an increasing number of converted condos," Schratz said. "The state allows towns to make a local law to disallow this."

She wants Amherst to follow the lead of Clarence, Elma, Cheektowaga and Grand Island, towns that have previously passed such local laws.

The Cheektowaga Town Board approved its local law on Feb. 5, preventing property owners from taking advantage of the "loophole" in the state's taxation assessments.

Under Cheektowaga's law, patio homes and other dwellings will no longer be allowed to be converted into condominiums for tax reductions.

Cheektowaga's assessor, Brian Hess, said in The Cheektowaga Bee, "This would curb the practice of converting units into condominium ownership solely for the purpose of receiving the tax benefits that would be obtained."

Hess said the town followed the Town of Clarence's local law.

Schratz had requested that Amherst follow Cheektowaga's local law when drafting its own.

A public hearing on the local law was set for April 16.

Amherst Assessor Harry Williams said that currently, there is a very similar law in the town that was passed several years ago.

"It doesn't have any teeth in it ... the real change has to come from Albany," he said.

Schratz's proposal is another attempt to stop developers from building single family homes and patio homes and then claiming they are condominiums.

According to Williams, condominiums must share common space, which, by definition, can include a roadway. But developers are creating large lots with single family homes, then claiming they are condominiums because of the shared roadway.

"They are doing it just for the tax breaks, but the residents have the benefits of the single family lots," he said.

He anticipates that the proposed law would be geared to new structures, and he doesn't expect many conversions to be the main issue.

"This has been an issue since at least the 1980s when I started," he said.

Jones questioned how enforceable the local law was.

"I have never heard of the law being challenged," he said, adding that he was unsure how that situation would be handled if that occurred.

The public hearing will take place during the Monday, April 16 meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. The draft of the local law will be available for review prior to that date.

In other development matters, the Town Board set a public hearing for 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 19 on Section 203-2-5 - zoning measurements and exceptions. The code addresses modifying side yard setbacks and height requirements for accessory structures.

An issue on Troy Del Way arose this past summer when a resident built a garage that was taller and closer to the street than his house. Neighbors protested the structure, claiming it did not follow town code.

Supervisor Satish Mohan said the town now wants to change that code to prevent such a structure from being built again. The Troy Del Way garage would not have to be adjusted, according to Mohan.

"An auxiliary building won't be allowed to be higher than the original building and can't be set closer to the street. It has to at least align with the (main) building," he said.