Williamsville Village Board of Trustees·July 13, 2026
A Landmark Fight, Held Open · Four Grants in a Night · WUFO’s First Signal · The Park-Bathroom Problem
A packed public hearing on whether to make the Fogel Insurance Building at 13 South Cayuga Road a village landmark ran the length of the meeting and ended without a decision: after roughly eleven speakers — preservation commissioners and supporters citing the building’s role as the 1962 birthplace of WUFO, Buffalo’s first Black-oriented radio station, against the owner, his attorney and neighbors who called the nomination a stretch aimed at blocking development — the board held the hearing open until August 10, saying it needed time to read a village-commissioned June 2026 study that found the property met all four of the code’s landmark criteria. The board then moved briskly through its own business, authorizing four grant applications in one sitting: a roughly $14.64 million water-quality sewer improvement bid, a $485,900 Glen Park / Ellicott Creek habitat-restoration application under the Western New York Great Lakes Restoration program, a $200,000 Glen Park master-plan application, and a $125,000 urban-forest inventory grant. Trustees also approved $596,422.50 in payroll and vouchers, and heard a long, exasperated staff report on repeat vandalism of park bathrooms and the cost of locking them.
The single question that consumed the night was whether a two-story brick office building one block off Main Street — the home of Fogel Insurance, and before that of a radio studio — belongs on the village’s list of protected local landmarks. Nobody voted. After more than an hour of testimony, Mayor Christine L. Hunt held the public hearing open until the board’s next meeting, August 10, and the fight now carries into the summer.
The case for designation was made almost entirely by the village’s own Historic Preservation Commission, which is also the applicant. Chair Susan Fenster told trustees the property is “not simply a building where important history occurred — it itself is an important historic resource,” pointing to its origins as a New York Telephone central office of the mid-1950s and, more powerfully, to what happened inside it. Beginning November 2, 1962, the building housed WUFO, which the commission called Buffalo’s first Black-oriented radio station — the place, in Fenster’s words, where “Buffalo’s black community heard itself on the radio for the first time.” Commissioner Patrice Hannotte and architect Catherine Waterman-Kulpa walked the board through the code criteria one by one, and repeatedly returned to a document neither the commission nor the owner wrote: a June 2026 evaluation by the village’s paid consultant, Preservation Studios[*], which they said marked 13 South Cayuga as satisfying all four applicable criteria — the only one of six properties studied to do so.
Waterman-Kulpa, who said she meets the federal preservation-qualification standards the code requires, reduced the architectural argument to a phrase: “It is a modern brick box wearing a colonial front door. That is not a defect. It is a local style.” She closed with the procedural stakes: “The machine is working. The board is the last gear.”
The owner’s side pushed back hard, and on two fronts — the merits and the process. Dan Fogel, president of Fogel Insurance and the building’s owner of some 45 years, told the board his family’s business is what deserves the word: “That’s historical. The building is not.” He said he had kept an open mind, hired his own preservation expert, and attended every hearing — and came away convinced that “every time the reasons being offered… were refuted by the evidence, the justification seemed to change.” His attorney, Corey Auerbach[*] of the firm he named as Barclay Damon[*], was blunter: the commission wrote a nomination and submitted it to itself, he said, then reached for a new rationale each time an expert knocked one down. “You’re supposed to have facts that lead to a conclusion,” he told trustees, “not a conclusion, and then go afterwards and find the facts. That’s backwards.” He urged the board not to be “a puppet of the Preservation Commission,” and — noting he had been handed the village’s new June study only as he walked in — asked that the hearing stay open so he could respond.
Hovering over the merits was a letter. Sheila Brown[*], the current owner of WUFO, wrote to the board that the station’s time at the address was brief and confined to a few upper-floor offices, that its legacy lives elsewhere, and asked that “WUFO’s name and legacy not be used to support this designation.” Supporters answered that the code asks what happened at a place, not who still occupies it; the owner’s side treated the letter as fatal to the whole nomination.
Board (all five present): Mayor Christine L. Hunt; Deputy Mayor Jim Celeste; Trustees Jeffrey Hahn, Amy Jackson, Steven Meyer.
Staff: Administrator/Clerk Nick McCormick; Village Attorney “Chip” Grieco.
The hearing: roughly eleven speakers, split for and against — five preservation commissioners and residents in support, six residents, the owner and his attorney opposed.
Outcome: no vote. Hearing held open to August 10 so the board can read the late-arriving June 2026 consultant study.
The commission doesn’t create landmarks; it recommends them. Only the Village Board can designate a local landmark, and under the village’s preservation ordinance (Chapter 47) the board’s options are narrow once a recommendation is in front of it:
Not every voice was a commissioner or a lawyer. Among the opposition voices was a familiar name from town politics: Dennis Hoban of California Drive, who owns a masonry company and was recently the Republican candidate for Amherst town supervisor. Speaking as a tradesman of 40-plus years rather than as a politician, he said he passes the building constantly and sees “nothing special” in it. A business owner who gave his name as Jim[*] told the board the nomination fails a “sniff test” and warned that landmarking a 1950s office building could “lose some credibility” and invite a lawsuit. Commissioner Ray Herman countered that ordinariness is not disqualifying — the board has landmarked plain commercial buildings before, he noted, and “if you don’t landmark it, you’re saying it’s okay to demolish.” Before closing the hearing to a future date, the mayor read three late submissions into the record, including the WUFO letter and a supportive note from a former village mayor[*]. The next chapter is August 10.
With the hearing set aside, the board turned to the evening’s real business and authorized four separate grant applications back to back, each on a voice vote, each empowering Mayor Hunt to sign the paperwork. The mayor framed the pace approvingly — the village is “moving forward at lightning speed with our grants” — and thanked the staff and grant writers who assembled them.
The largest number of the night was a Water Quality Improvement Project sewer application: a total project cost of about $14.64 million, with a maximum grant request of $10 million and a local match of roughly $4.635 million, which the resolution noted exceeds the required 25 percent. The headline environmental item was the Glen Park / Ellicott Creek habitat-restoration initiative, submitted under the Western New York Great Lakes Restoration grant program at a total estimated cost of $485,900 — a program the resolution said reimburses up to 100 percent of eligible costs. Because Glen Park is jointly owned by the village and the Town of Amherst under the Glen Park charter, the resolution recorded that Amherst had provided formal landowner authorization and a partnership commitment.
Two smaller applications rounded out the slate: a $200,000 Glen Park master plan under the state Environmental Protection Fund’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program ($150,000 grant, $50,000 match), seconded by Trustee Jackson; and a $125,000 urban- and community-forest grant from the state DEC — a tree-inventory and management-planning project moved by Trustee Hahn and, unlike the others, requiring no local match at all.
Three of the four resolutions commit the village to make money available up front even though the state or federal program pays it back. That is the nature of a reimbursement grant: the village spends first, then files for repayment. It is why the habitat-restoration resolution pledges “an amount not to exceed $485,900” to undertake the work — the grant reimburses up to 100 percent, but the village fronts the cash. The sewer and master-plan bids carry a 25 percent local share; the tree grant is fully funded with no match. Authorizing an application is not the same as receiving an award — each still has to be selected and contracted before a dollar moves.
The night’s most vivid stretch had nothing to do with landmarks. In staff reports, a public-works officer identified in the audio as Deputy Chief Lennon[*] laid out a running battle with vandalism in the village’s park bathrooms: crews had to “super-jet” a clogged lateral at South Long that day after, in his account, young residents kept putting “everything and anything down the toilets, specifically fireworks lately.” A camera he installed at one park simply pushed the group to another, where they lit fires in the bathroom — prompting the line of the night: “I don’t know why you got to go in a bathroom to smoke weed. Like, just go in the woods, guys.”
The fix is not cheap. Retrofitting the bathrooms with the same electronic access-control system used elsewhere — new doors, electronic strikes, wiring, a network connection — runs roughly $14,000 per building, he estimated, far more than the purpose-built Glen Park restrooms cost because those were designed for it. Timers on the handles, he said, aren’t robust enough. The board weighed the awkward alternatives — paying overtime to lock and unlock restrooms nightly, chasing middle-schoolers a reluctant prosecutor may decline to charge, or writing letters to parents — and asked him to bring back a firm quote at the next meeting. It is, the officer said, a cycle: “we’re in a bad cycle right now,” and he wanted to “nip that in the bud.”
Public participation, taken before the hearing, produced three threads. A resident and property owner named Jim[*] asked what the village plans for the second half of Orchard Street, where a drainage well “overflows” in a decent rain and the unpaved, curbless right-of-way is washing out; the board directed him to put it in an email and copy staff. A resident who gave her name as Jean Richards[*] pressed, as she said she has for roughly three years, for a simple list of the village’s outstanding open items — “I don’t really want to go further with it, but I would like an answer.” And a regular commenter identified as Tom[*] delivered a sweeping, time-limited pitch tying Ellicott Creek to the relicensing of the Niagara Power Project and a multi-year Greenway vision before the mayor called time at three minutes — a civic tangent that, hours later, brushed against the board’s actual Glen Park / Ellicott Creek grant.
Beyond the grants and the hearing, the board approved the June 22 minutes as amended — corrected, at Trustee Jackson’s catch, to reflect that the mayor had opened that meeting — and payroll and vouchers for June 15 through July 10 in the amount the resolution states as $596,422.50 (its itemized schedule computes to a grand total of $605,240.54). In reports, Administrator McCormick pitched building a standing financial master plan and capital-projects plan over the summer so the village isn’t “scrambling” at budget time, flagging big-ticket needs already in the wings — a roughly $3 million fire ladder truck and road reconstruction. Deputy Mayor Celeste offered assurance that the traffic-and-safety committee keeps working between meetings; Trustee Jackson noted the parks committee moved its meeting to July 20 at Garrison Park; and Trustee Meyer, ahead of the village’s home-days week, thanked first responders in advance for what he expected to be a busy stretch.
All five members answered the roll: Mayor Christine L. Hunt, Deputy Mayor Jim Celeste, and Trustees Jeffrey Hahn, Amy Jackson and Steven Meyer. (Trustee Hahn’s name is garbled in the roll-call audio; attendance is inferred from his participation later in the meeting.) The board acts by voice vote — “all those in favor… aye” — and every item below carried without an audible dissent. Administrator/Clerk Nick McCormick recorded the meeting; Village Attorney “Chip” Grieco advised.
Amendment caught by Trustee Jackson. No further discussion.
Roughly eleven speakers testified for and against designating the Fogel Insurance Building under Chapter 47 of the Village Code. The Historic Preservation Commission (the applicant) and supporters cited the building’s WUFO broadcast history and a June 2026 evaluation by the village’s consultant, Preservation Studios[*], said to find all four applicable criteria met. Owner Dan Fogel and attorney Corey Auerbach[*] opposed and asked the record stay open; WUFO’s current owner submitted a letter objecting to use of the station’s legacy. The mayor entered three late submissions into the record and, on motion, held the hearing open to the next board meeting rather than voting. No designation decision was made.
Approved as written on the mayor’s motion. The resolution approves “payroll and vouchers in the amount of $596,422.50” covering June 15–July 10, 2026; its own itemized schedule — payroll plus three voucher runs, including a $329,860.90 sewer slip-lining payment and $91,920.59 in Village Hall renovations — computes to a grand total of $605,240.54. The figure is reported here as stated in the resolution’s operative line.
Total project cost $14,635,000, with a maximum grant request of $10 million and a local match of $4,635,000 (exceeding the 25% requirement). Authorizes Mayor Hunt to apply for and execute state assistance under the Environmental Conservation Law; commits the village to fund its share and to be ready to begin fieldwork within 12 months of written approval. A certified copy goes to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Total cost not to exceed $200,000, with a $150,000 maximum grant and a $50,000 (25%) local match, under the state Department of State’s Environmental Protection Fund LWRP. Tied to the village’s approved Local Waterfront Revitalization Program. Seconded by Trustee Jackson.
Village to serve as lead applicant for the Glen Park Ellicott Creek habitat-restoration initiative; total estimated project cost $485,900, reimbursable up to 100% of eligible costs, with the board committing to make available up to $485,900 to be advanced and reimbursed. Records that Glen Park is jointly owned by the village and the Town of Amherst under the Glen Park charter and that Amherst has given landowner authorization and a partnership commitment. Authorizes Mayor Hunt to execute all related documents.
“Smart tree management inventory and community forest management planning” project — inventory public trees, identify planting locations, develop a management plan and system. Total estimated cost $125,000; no local match required; 100% grant-funded on a reimbursement basis. Moved by Trustee Hahn; authorizes Mayor Hunt to execute the application and related documents.
Adjourned following staff reports and the park-bathroom discussion.
The docket, resolution figures and board roster in this brief were cross-checked against the Village of Williamsville’s official July 13, 2026 agenda packet (posted at williamsvilleny.gov), which carries the full text of each resolution and its dollar figures. The board roster — Mayor Hunt; Deputy Mayor Celeste; Trustees Hahn, Jackson and Meyer — and the named staff match Village records. The Village’s official minutes for July 13 had not been posted at publication, so the meeting’s outcomes reported here — the public hearing held open to August 10 and the voice votes on each resolution — come from the meeting video and will be reconciled when the minutes are filed.
Because the agenda does not name hearing speakers, the names of residents, the owner’s attorney, the preservation consultant, the WUFO figures and other non-roster participants are spelled from the meeting audio and marked [*] on first prominent use; they should be confirmed against the minutes. The building’s owner introduced himself at the hearing as David Fogel but is referred to as Dan Fogel in Village records, and is named Dan Fogel here. Dollar amounts above follow the resolution texts in the agenda packet; note that the payroll-and-vouchers resolution states $596,422.50 in its operative line while its itemized schedule computes to a grand total of $605,240.54. The Village’s official minutes remain the authoritative record.