Board's mill resolutions address parcel, not buildings
by ELIZABETH TAUFA Reporter

In an effort to nail down the Village Board's concrete intentions for the Mill Restoration Committee, Trustee Jeff Kingsley proposed three resolutions at Monday night's meeting that were passed by the board.

The first of the three resolutions caused some tension between Kingsley and Mayor Mary Lowther, who was previously the liaison to the mill committee when it was the Mayor's Water Mill Committee. The committee was renamed, and Kingsley was named as the liaison at the board's yearly reorganizational meeting on July 2.

The resolution, according to Kingsley, was intended to set expectations of the Mill Restoration Committee to restore all three buildings on the parcel, instead of just the mill.

"If we don't restore all three buildings, we may jeopardize our relationship with (the New York State Historic Preservation) Office," Kingsley said. "It's premature to talk about future use."

The board has accepted SHPO grants that have strict stipulations that the entire parcel of land, on which sit the mill, red house and white house, must be restored.

Lowther voted in favor of the resolution but noted her reluctance, because the project is considerably larger than originally intended. She said the village "doesn't have the means, manpower or resources to commit to that."

"It was not the intent of the board when the mill was purchased to restore all three buildings," Lowther said. "There was never a prior indication by the previous board that we would have an obligation to all three buildings. It breaks my heart to say this, but we may have bitten off more than we can chew with all three buildings."

"Despite the intentions, what happened was that grants were accepted with respect to the entire parcel," Kingsley retorted. "What should have happened, could have happened or didn't happen are no longer an issue. We have to be consistent with the actions, not the intentions."

Trustee Brian Kulpa noted that several historic preservation projects around the area have encouraged the restoration of whole parcels of land rather than one specific building.

"SHPO has been in favor of putting pieces together that have previously been split apart," he said.

The other two resolutions regarding the mill were the adoption and declaration of support for the Mill Restoration Committee's mission statement and the approval of formal directions for what the committee is charged with, including picking a date of historical significance, outlining and suggesting possible future uses and finding alternative sources of money for the restoration.

"This is just to give formal direction to the committee," Kingsley said of the last resolution. "It's to establish ownership of the parcel by the board because the decisions are ultimately at the hands of the Village Board."

The next regular meeting of the Village Board will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14 at Village Hall, 5564 Main St., Williamsville.

e-mail: etaufa@beenews.com