Bee Editorial
Rezoning requests are land use issues, not moral ones
When did moral issues become part of a rezoning request? In case you were unaware, town boards cannot make a decision based on morals or ethics. Hence why a strip club or casino usually become hot topics - residents don't want them for moral reasons and become infuriated when one is approved. Why are they approved? Because they meet traffic, building and environmental regulations, among others.

Many of the speakers at Monday's Amherst Town Board meeting were making moot points. Board members can't make a decision based on an ad once run by GMH Communities. As racy as two coeds in their underwear may be, that can't tilt the decision to deny a rezoning.

Yes, in case you missed it, someone at the public hearing placed a photo of such an ad on the overhead. A representative for GMH Communities later admitted to never having seen the ad before, having heard it was produced five years ago by the owner of the building and in another state.

That is just one example of how the request to rezone Rensch Road became a back and forth debate between attorneys to see who could outwit one another. For four hours it was mostly lawyers. It got to the point that some attorneys apologized for their profession when it was their turn to speak and non-attorneys made sure to point out they weren't in the profession.

The matter is a land use issue as Council Member Dan Ward pointed out - not a moral one. Daniel A. Spitzer of Hodgson Russ, representing the University at Buffalo, asked the Town Board if GMH was the type of company members wanted in town? The answer was yes - not because of the good things it may do for the students, not because it claims to be safe, not because it holds volleyball tournaments, but because it meets the requirements in the request for rezoning.

Photos of security guards at an out-of-state facility standing next to students who appear intoxicated have no weight on the rezoning decision. For UB representatives to rant about such allegations was a huge waste of time. The seventh public hearing was a huge waste of time. Everything that was once said was repeated. The vote was the same as before.

We hope this is the end of the Rensch Road debate and that UB accepts the vote taken Monday, as well as its new neighbor. We also hope the rumors of UB denying GMH's shuttle access isn't true. That would be a bad decision since the American Campus Communities' shuttles are often spotted transporting students.