Kindel's 12-year stretch comes to an end
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Council Member Bill Kindel will leave the Amherst Town Board at the end of the month after a 12-year tenure. He said creating Margaret Louise Park, named after his mother and grandmother, was one of his proudest accomplishments. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Bill Kindel isn't ready to say his service as an Amherst Town Board member is done.

"I learned never to say never," he said. "I don't want it to be over."

The final meeting of Kindel's 2004-07 term will be held Monday. Just days before, he reflected on the past 12 consecutive years in which he has served as a council member and on his prior service.

In November, Kindel lost a seven man race for three board seats, ending his most recent tenure.

The 12 years (1996-2007) was the longest of his two tenures, the first from 1981 until he was appointed to serve as town clerk for a year. He lost in the general election.

After a break he ran again in 1996.

"I wanted to get back in, I had a lot more to do," he said.

After watching Amherst "explode" with development during his first years in office, he focused on open-space preservation.

When he became a Republican committeeman in 1966, there was no University at Buffalo North Campus, no Youth Board, no Pepsi Center, no Plant 16. Youngs Road stopped at Sheridan Drive, and Maple Road was only two lanes. There was no Eastern Hills Mall, and Niagara Falls Boulevard was just a route to Canada.

Kindel said he watched a community be built.

"It happened in a very short period of time - dramatically," he said, adding that much of the shopping centers were farmland. "Amherst was destined to be what it is."

He added that the town has a great Police Department, golf courses, development - a high quality of life.

It was in his final term that Kindel had his "finest hour." In the preparation of the 2007 budget, several departments were faced with large cuts.

Sitting at his kitchen table, Kindel said he found a way to restore $1.8 million, much to benefit the Police Department, without changing the bottom line by even a penny.

Throughout his career he viewed himself as being an independent who stayed consistent. He said he never went along with one train of thought, such as all development or all green-space preservation.

He also never wanted to give in to proposals he didn't agree with.

"I hate the word 'compromise,' but you have to do it," he said.

He had victories and disappointments in the career. In his final year, he sponsored a proposed bond for $12 million to preserve land. That failed in the November election.

But there were several pieces of land that have been preserved through his efforts. One of the spaces he is most proud of is Margaret Louise Park, 25 acres on Hopkins Road.

"It was a dump site from 1920 to 1960," he said, adding that after $600,000 in contamination testing, it ranked a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, higher than Love Canal.

The land was cleaned and preserved, and he named it after his mother and grandmother.

Kindel also highlighted the creation of LaClair-Kindel Wildlife Sanctuary, Great Baehre Conservation Area, Nature View Park (1,250 acres), Farm Land Protection Program, Veterans Park, Paradise Road Park, College Park and Canalway Nine Mile Island. The areas total 3,175 acres of open space.

His first run for office was a direct result of fighting a town proposal. Living near Main Street and Youngs Road, Kindel's home was possibly going to have a new neighbor - a diesel truck repair shop. He said the developer wanted to have 12 bays, and the diesel trucks would have been driving through the neighborhood, testing the repairs, emitting fumes.

"We fought it; the Williamsville Southeast Amherst Homeowners Association got going. We went to court and fought for the first SEQR," Kindel said, adding that it was the first Supreme Court ruling ordering the state environmental review in the town.

Kindel said during his tenure he could appreciate the residents' points and reasons for going to court.

He ran in 1980 and took office in 1981, shortly after battling the repair shop.

"The board plays an important role as mediators of development and neighbors," he said. "I was an advocate for mediation."

Prior to his service to town government, Kindel served as a Republican Party chairman from 1970 to 1975. He has been a member of the Republican Party throughout his career, but when his term ends on Dec. 31, so will his affiliation.

Kindel announced his decision to switch to the Conservative Party, which becomes official in 2008.

"In 20 years there was no hint of a scandal," K,indel said. "The Republican Party was proactive, it started the Youth Board, the Senior Center. We were activists, weren't just endorsing candidates."

Kindel added that the party has become less issue-oriented.

"Now the party sits back, it's slogan-, banner-oriented," he said.

He said he plans to be active in the Conservative Party after ending his term with the Town Board.

Kindel also served as a Planning Board member from 1978 to 1981.

"A variety of experience gives a member a better understanding of what they are doing," he said.

Throughout the years, Kindel has been involved in many new developments, debates, hot topics and mundane resolutions.

In those years, he has had some accomplishments he is most proud of: restarting the Amherst Conservation Advisory Council, initiating the compost facility and first garbage district, obtaining sounds barriers for Interstate 90, leading the Citizens Against Rapid Transit, initiating redevelopment of Eggertsville and founding the lockbox tax collection system.

But the real success of the town is credited to the volunteers, he said.

"The volunteers are really what made the town. We are a blessed community," he said.

He said his final effort will be to secure funding to install handicapped bathrooms for the sports facility on Wehrle Drive.

Kindel said when you lose an election you are basically fired by thousands of people.

"I have been out in the wilderness before and come back," he said. "I don't know if I am done."