Clarence Zoning Board of Appeals·June 9, 2026 — Agenda Preview
Use Variance with a Backstory · A Third Story on Wehrle · Three Fences · A Pond · A Subdivision
The Clarence Zoning Board of Appeals took up a nine-appeal docket on June 9, led by two that carry real weight: 7631 Transit Road, LLC[*] seeking a use variance to operate a retail business in a Restricted Business zone—the same LENCO Supplies project the Planning Board pointedly denied in May precisely so it could land here—and Natale Builders, Inc.[*] seeking to add a third story to six multiple-family buildings on Wehrle Drive. The rest of the docket is the ordinary texture of a zoning board: three front-yard fence variances, a setback for a pond, a detached-garage cluster, an attached-garage setback, and a two-part variance to split a new lot off Herr Road. This is an agenda preview: what each applicant ASKED for. How the board ruled will follow once the Town posts the meeting minutes.
The Zoning Board of Appeals meets in person and is not live-streamed (its agendas state "this meeting will be recorded" / "In-Person"). The WNY Listening Post therefore documents the ZBA from the Town's official paper trail—the posted agenda (what is requested) and, when it posts, the minutes (what was decided). This edition is built from the June 9 agenda only; ZBA minutes typically post on a lag of roughly two to three months. A follow-up with the board's actual decisions will run once the June 9 minutes are published. Nothing below is an outcome—each item is a request awaiting a vote.
The most consequential item on the docket is also the one with a history. 7631 Transit Road, LLC[*] is asking the Zoning Board for a use variance to operate a retail business at 7631 Transit Road, a parcel in the Restricted Business zone where large-format retail is not a permitted use. The code reference on the agenda is §229-76.
Readers who followed the Planning Board this spring will recognize the address. This is the site of the proposed LENCO Supplies[*] retail building—roughly 36,000–43,000 square feet on the former Bitterman's[*] automotive parcel. On May 20 the Planning Board issued a SEQR negative declaration and then denied the concept plan. That denial was not a rejection on the merits; it was the procedural move that routes the project to the Zoning Board, because the retail use isn't allowed in a Restricted Business zone without a variance. June 9 is the other end of that maneuver: the use-variance request the May denial was designed to trigger.
A use variance is the heaviest lift in zoning—harder to win than the dimensional "area" variances that make up the rest of this docket—so the board's eventual decision here, and its reasoning, is the thing to watch when the minutes post.
When a use isn't allowed in a zone, the Planning Board can issue its environmental finding and then deny the concept plan—not to kill it, but because a denial is what lets the applicant take the use question to the Zoning Board for a variance. A reader who saw "denied" in May and "use variance" in June is looking at one continuous process, not two defeats.
The docket's other heavyweight is a request from Natale Builders, Inc.[*] for a variance to allow a third story on six multiple-family housing buildings at 8080 & 8112 Wehrle Drive, a Commercial-zoned site (code reference §229-126(D)(1)(f)). A third-story allowance across six multi-family buildings is a meaningful density and massing question for the corridor—the kind of request that tends to draw both neighbor attention and board scrutiny. As with every item here, the agenda records only the request; the disposition will be in the minutes.
The remaining six appeals are the everyday work of a zoning board—mostly area variances, which seek relief from dimensional rules (setbacks, heights, lot sizes) rather than permission for a new use. Three are front-yard fence requests: Chris Louisos[*] seeks 2 feet of relief for a 6-foot fence at 9063 Orchid Ledge[*]; Lynn McCarthy[*] the same 2-foot relief for a 6-foot fence at 4866 Kraus Road; and Chris & Denise Santora[*] a larger 4-foot variance for an 8-foot fence at 5735 Newhouse Road. Daniel Thompson / CT & ST Family, LLC[*] seeks two variances—26 feet of lot frontage and 200 square feet of lot acreage—to split a new building lot off 6120 Herr Road onto Fairlane Drive. The Peter Jackson Trust[*] asks to let an existing pond sit closer than 100 feet to proposed property lines at 7039 Salt Road. Kenneth Weinstein[*] seeks a cluster of variances to build a 576-square-foot detached garage at 5870 Forest Creek Drive. And Carolyn Vinci[*] seeks a 6-foot-6-inch side-yard setback variance for an attached garage addition at 4445 Westwood Road.
All nine appeals as posted on the June 9 agenda. The right column shows the requested relief, NOT a decision — outcomes will be added when the Town posts the minutes.
Use variance to operate a retail business at 7631 Transit Road, Restricted Business zone (§229-76). The site of the LENCO Supplies[*] proposal the Planning Board denied-to-advance on 5/20/26.
Variance to allow a third story on six multiple-family housing buildings at 8080 & 8112 Wehrle Drive, Commercial zone (§229-126(D)(1)(f)).
Variances of 26' lot frontage (to allow 99' along Fairlane Drive) and 200 sq.ft. of lot acreage (to allow 19,800 sq.ft.), to create one new lot of record along Fairlane Drive split from 6120 Herr Road. Residential Single-Family (§229-49(A), §229-50(C)).
Variance of 2' to allow a 6' fence within the front-yard setback at 9063 Orchid Ledge[*]. Residential Single-Family (§101-3(C)(2)).
Variance of 2' to allow a 6' fence within the front-yard setback at 4866 Kraus Road. Residential Single-Family (§101-3(C)(2)).
Variance to allow an existing pond to be closer than 100' to proposed property lines at 7039 Salt Road. Agricultural Rural Residential (§93-19(D)(1)).
Variances to allow a secondary detached garage; 376 sq.ft. to allow a 576 sq.ft. detached accessory structure; and 4' on the side-yard setback for a 6' detached accessory structure, at 5870 Forest Creek Drive. Residential Single-Family (§229-55(H), §229-55(E)(1)).
Variance of 6'6" to allow a 6' principal-structure side-yard setback for an attached garage addition at 4445 Westwood Road. Residential Single-Family (§229-52(B)).
Variance of 4' to allow an 8' fence within the front-yard setback at 5735 Newhouse Road. Residential Single-Family (§101-3(C)(2)).
Compiled from the Town of Clarence's official posted agenda for the June 9, 2026 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting (nine appeals). The ZBA is an in-person, non-live-streamed board, so this is an agenda preview rather than a meeting summary; the board's decisions will be reported when the Town posts the June 9 minutes (only January–March 2026 ZBA minutes were posted as of this writing). Applicant and entity names are taken from the agenda, which is authoritative for spelling; names still carry the [*] verify-before-quoting flag pending the minutes, and "Orchid Ledge" is the agenda's spelling of a street not on the current Town street index (used as-is rather than "corrected"). No audio exists for this meeting; nothing here is a quotation.