Town of Amherst Traffic-Safety Board·May 6, 2026
A traffic island residents want gone — and the board's answer is MORE restriction · A 40-year handicap-parking fix · A quorum the board can't reliably muster · A mosque-adjacent addition, denied
The Town of Amherst Traffic-Safety Board spent most of its May session on Fair Woods Drive[*], where residents pleaded to remove a raised center island they say confuses drivers into passing on the wrong side — one homeowner said he was nearly struck mowing his lawn. The board declined: town speed data showed the island shaving 2–4 mph off traffic, so rather than remove it, members voted 7–0 to send the Town Board the opposite fix — extending the parking restrictions the developer had once talked the town into loosening, so cars can no longer choke the roadway beside the island. Elsewhere the board voted 7–0 to lift a decades-old “No Parking” restriction on Coronation Drive for a 40-year resident with mobility issues; declined an all-way stop at Cherry Laurel Lane and Tupelo Lane for a park not yet built; referred a Sweet Home Road guardrail request to Erie County (a county road); and rewrote its own bylaws so a shrinking board can still make quorum. It also lost a member: Councilmember Michael Szukala[*] announced Helaine Sanders had resigned, leaving two vacancies. Per the official minutes, the board's site-plan docket also denied a religious-facility building addition at 757 Hopkins Road over parking and pedestrian-safety concerns.
The request was simple — take out the raised center island on Fair Woods Drive[*]. What residents got was a lesson in how the island came to be there in the first place. Fair Woods was once a dead-end street of nine homes off Hopkins Road; the approved Fair Woods Estates subdivision extended it through to Heim Road and added roughly 25 lots, turning it into what one member flatly called a “cut-through street” between two roads that flank a backed-up high-school intersection.[1] The island was the traffic-calming measure this board demanded during that review to keep speeds down on a street it never wanted opened up.[1]
Acting Traffic Safety Coordinator Gregory Dionne[*] laid out the town's data: speeds ran about 26–27 mph at the island against 29–31 mph on the straightaways — a 10–13% reduction — on some 750 vehicles a day.[1] A wrong-way count told a subtler story: with a car parked illegally near the island, four of 53 eastbound vehicles swung around it on the wrong side; with no parked car, none did.[1] The parking, in other words, was helping cause the very hazard residents were complaining about.
Two residents pressed the case. Anthony Nanula[*], 73 Fair Woods, said the town's speed numbers were “a little bit skewed” by that parked car, and told the board he was “almost hit by a vehicle” going the wrong way around the island while mowing his lawn — “that's me as a grown 37-year-old adult… children around here, I feel like it's a huge safety concern.”[2] Laura Agle[*], 72 Fair Woods, said she counted seven wrong-way passes from her dining-room window in a single morning, and that plow-piled snow around the island makes backing out of her driveway a hazard.[2]
A member's own site visits pointed the same way: he'd parked on the street himself and watched traffic slow, and favored a sharper color contrast on the island's faded arrows.[3] But the through-line of the discussion was the parking restriction the town had walked back years earlier: when the island went in, the board and Planning Board recommended a wider no-parking zone; the developer objected that over-restricting a residential street would “reduce the value of the houses,” and the Town Board obliged, shrinking the restriction to 10 feet on either side.[3] That, the chair argued, is what now lets a parked car choke the road and push drivers around the island. Rather than remove the calming device the data says is working, the board voted 7–0 to recommend the Town Board restore the original, wider parking restriction — a “go from A to B” step, as one member put it, before anything more dramatic. Police enforcement and a possible re-count were left for later.[4]
The Traffic-Safety Board is an advisory body with no lawmaking authority. It reviews traffic and pedestrian-safety requests — stop signs, parking restrictions, guardrails, sight lines — against standard traffic-engineering practice and the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, then makes recommendations. Anything that changes the law — a new or lifted parking restriction, a sign the Highway Department must install — is referred to the elected Town Board, which actually decides and enacts it. Roads under other jurisdictions go further still: a county road like Sweet Home is referred to Erie County. So on May 6 nearly every “yes” was a recommendation forwarded elsewhere, not a final order — and a “receive and file” is the board's way of closing an item without recommending action, usually because the warrants aren't met.
A resident of Coronation Drive, off Hartford Road between Millersport Highway and Sweet Home Road, asked the board to lift the “No Parking” restriction on one side of a short stretch of his street. The wrinkle: the signs had been gone for two to three years — knocked down and never replaced — until a routine Highway Department sign inventory turned up the gap and re-installed them, per the town's own records. Nobody had complained while they were missing; the objections started when they went back up.[5] The petitioner, Paul Pirk[*] of 20 Coronation, told the board he is handicapped and that restricting both sides makes it hard for him — and the services he now pays for — to park near his home. He recalled the restriction dating to college-apartment overflow “way back” that, in his telling, is long gone: “there's no jam-up over there… I just don't know why the signs went off.”[5] A single mailed response opposed the change without stating a reason. Noting the signs had been down harmlessly for years, the board voted 7–0 to recommend the Town Board remove the “No Parking” restriction on the east side of that stretch — one member wryly adding that bringing parked cars back might even slow traffic, given what he'd just watched on Fair Woods.[5]
A resident of the Evergreen Landing subdivision, off Tonawanda Creek Road[*], asked for an all-way stop at Cherry Laurel Lane and Tupelo Lane, anticipating foot traffic once a planned town park at the end of Tupelo Lane is built. Staff noted the intersection is already signed correctly — the minor legs stop, the major road runs free — and that no traffic counts have been taken there.[6] The problem, as the board saw it, was timing and warrants: “we're never gonna have the traffic counts to warrant that becoming an all-way stop,” one member said, and installing a stop nobody expects invites drivers to simply run it. With the park not yet built, the board voted 7–0 to receive and file, explicitly inviting the resident to re-petition once the park is open and any real problem is measurable.[6]
A resident at 3391 Sweet Home Road asked for a guardrail along the curve near his home after a car left the road and struck his house — a crash the letter attributed to an “overworked med student.” But Sweet Home is an Erie County road, so the board can only recommend, and the county had asked for its input.[7] Staff data (from further south) showed 85th-percentile speeds of 45–48 mph on roughly 9,300 vehicles a day in 2022, but members noted the crash reports on file cited sleep and impairment, not speed, as causes — and that a guardrail at the requested spot likely wouldn't have protected the house anyway, sitting past it in the wrong direction. Declining to make a substantive call on someone else's road, the board voted 7–0 to refer the matter to Erie County for an engineering review of whether a guardrail, signage or other improvements are warranted.[7]
The board's last new-business item was itself. Chartered for 10 members but chronically short-staffed — and now down to eight with Helaine Sanders's[*] resignation and a second seat open — the board found its own quorum rules working against it. Under the old bylaws, keyed to the maximum 10 seats, it took five members present just to open a meeting and six to vote; only two absences and the board was paralyzed.[8] Member Maxwell Kahn[*] proposed re-basing the thresholds on the current appointed voting membership instead of the maximum. After wordsmithing — adding “present” to each clause so nobody counts absent members toward a quorum — the board voted 7–0 to amend its bylaws so meetings commence with half the sitting membership and a quorum is a majority of it, forwarding the change for the Town Attorney's blessing.[8]
Liaison Councilmember Michael Szukala[*] used the moment to flag a bigger project: the Supervisor wants fewer, more consistent committees, and the Town Attorney's office — “overwhelmed,” he said, and months behind — is supposed to standardize a “mishmash” of board bylaws town-wide. He wouldn't oppose the board's fix, but warned it could be “rendered moot” within 18 months if the town-wide rewrite lands.[8]
A traffic-safety board that can't seat a quorum can't forward recommendations to the Town Board — so resident requests simply stall. By tying the threshold to the seats actually filled rather than the 10 authorized, the board makes itself able to act with a smaller bench: with eight members it now needs roughly four to meet and five to vote, instead of five and six. It's housekeeping, but housekeeping that decides whether the other items in this brief ever get heard.
After the recorded audio ends, the official minutes show the board took up its site-plan docket. It approved the town's own Proposed Evergreen Park at 75 Tupelo Lane as submitted; approved a shed modification for the American Legion Alfred J. Jurek Post #1672 at 655–665 New Road; and approved with conditions a Reid Petroleum LLC convenience store and fueling station at 4220 Sheridan Drive, requiring a continued pedestrian access route — a sidewalk or maintained crosswalk — through the Frankhauser Road curb cut. The notable action was a denial: the board rejected a building addition for a proposed religious facility at 757 Hopkins Road (petitioner Center for Jewish Life Inc.), finding the site already lacks parking to meet demand and that the addition would intensify off-site parking and pedestrian-safety problems along a Hopkins Road stretch without sidewalks or crosswalks; the board's findings urged a sidewalk connection to the public walk. These four site-plan outcomes come from the official minutes only — the audio recording cut off as site plans opened, so they are not corroborated by transcript.
The board took the agenda out of order, hearing signed-in items first (Fair Woods, then Coronation) before returning to the printed sequence. Per the official minutes, every action carried 7–0; the audio confirms voice votes ("all in favor" / aye) with no audible dissent. Members recorded present in the minutes: Chair Eric Fraas[*], Vice Chair Cara Biddlecom[*], Dan Rider[*], Kevin Cantwell, Maxwell Kahn[*], Patricia Dunne[*] and Nicholas Alterio[*]. Gregory Dionne[*] served as Acting Traffic Safety Coordinator in place of Christopher P. Schregel[*]. Site-plan rows are drawn from the minutes only (audio ended first). The board is advisory — see the Editor's Note on the UNVERIFIED roster and attribution status.
Motion (Chairman Fraas[*], second Dan Rider[*]) to recommend extending the parking restrictions in the vicinity of the raised center island consistent with the board's original recommendation, and to refer the matter to the Town Board. The board declined the resident's request to remove the island, citing speed data showing it reduces speeds ~2–4 mph and wrong-way data implicating cars parked close to the island. Approved 7–0.
Motion (Chairman Fraas[*], second Dan Rider[*]) to recommend removal of the "No Parking" restriction on the east side of Coronation Drive between Hartford Road and Rosemont Drive. Signs had been missing 2–3 years before a Highway sign-inventory re-installed them; petitioner Paul Pirk[*] (20 Coronation) cited mobility limitations. One mailed response opposed, without a stated reason. Approved 7–0.
Motion (Chairman Fraas[*], second Cara Biddlecom[*]) to receive and file the all-way-stop request in the Evergreen Landing subdivision (off Tonawanda Creek Road[*]). The intersection is already properly stop-controlled, no counts have been taken, and anticipated volumes would not meet the warrant; the proposed park at the end of Tupelo Lane is not yet built. The board noted the resident may re-petition after construction. Approved 7–0.
Motion (Chairman Fraas[*], second Kevin Cantwell) to refer the guardrail request to Erie County for an engineering review and determination of whether roadway improvements or signage are warranted. Sweet Home Road is a county road; 2022 data showed 85th-percentile speeds of ~45–48 mph on ~9,300 vehicles/day, but crash reports cited sleep/impairment, not speed, and a guardrail at the spot likely would not have protected the house. Approved 7–0.
Motion (Maxwell Kahn[*], second Cara Biddlecom[*]) to amend the Meetings section of the bylaws so meetings commence with at least one-half of the current appointed voting membership present, a quorum is a majority of that membership present, site-plan reviews require at least one-half present, and members present below quorum may review and recommend with formal action deferred to a later quorate meeting. Restated after wordsmithing to add "present." Approved 7–0; forwarded to the Town Attorney.
Motion (Chairman Fraas[*], second Kevin Cantwell) to approve the minutes of the April 15, 2026 meeting as written, taken at the top of the session. Approved 7–0.
Major site plan review approved as submitted for the town's Proposed Evergreen Park at 75 Tupelo Lane. From the official minutes only — the audio recording ended as site plans opened.
Major site plan review approved as submitted for the American Legion Alfred J. Jurek Post #1672 shed modification. From the official minutes only — not corroborated by audio.
Major site plan review denied. The board found the property already lacks sufficient parking, resulting in off-site parking and traffic-safety concerns, and that the addition would intensify pedestrian and vehicular parking along Hopkins Road, which lacks sidewalks and crosswalks; the findings called for a sidewalk connection between the building and the public sidewalk. From the official minutes only — the audio ended before site plans; no vote tally is recorded in the minutes for this disposition.
Major site plan approved with conditions: a public pedestrian access route must be continued through the Frankhauser Road curb cut (west side) via either a concrete sidewalk through the driveway or a painted, maintained crosswalk. From the official minutes only — not corroborated by audio.
New Road (north of Millersport Highway): speed/volume data received and filed, forwarded to police for enforcement timing, to be re-studied after county road work (85th-percentile 51 mph on a 40-mph road). E-bike/e-scooter signage: held, awaiting a second request to the Town Attorney. North Forest bike-path crossing near Auden Apartments: held. A newly built speed hump on Westmoreland Road (between Washington Highway and Berryman Drive, near Amherst High School), installed at the school district's request, was raised by Kevin Cantwell and carried forward as a new item for June.
The membership of the Amherst Traffic-Safety Board is not confirmed. Two official Town sources disagree on who currently sits on this board: the Town website's committee roster lists members including Helaine Sanders and Cynthia Selden and does not list Joseph Lojacono, while the Town's iQM2 agenda masthead lists Joseph Lojacono as a seated member and does not list Sanders or Selden. Because that conflict has not been human-verified, this brief does not present the TSB roster as authoritative, and every member name in it should be treated as provisional. TSB membership must be confirmed with Traffic Safety Coordinator Christopher P. Schregel before any roster is treated as settled. (Note that this meeting's own minutes partly speak to the conflict: they record Councilmember Szukala announcing that Helaine Sanders had resigned, and list the seven members present as Fraas, Biddlecom, Rider, Cantwell, Kahn, Dunne and Alterio — neither Selden nor Lojacono appears in the May 6 attendance. That is a data point, not a resolution: it does not by itself reconcile the two official rosters, so the roster remains unverified pending Schregel's confirmation.) All member and staff names in this brief carry the [*] flag accordingly.
Names. Proper nouns were cross-checked against the official May 6, 2026 agenda and minutes (which govern spelling) and the Amherst corrections file. Names heard only in imperfect audio and confirmed against the minutes are footnoted [*]: Chair Eric Fraas (audio "Eric fries"), Vice Chair Cara Biddlecom ("Kara"), Dan Rider ("Dan writer"), Patricia Dunne ("Dunn"), Maxwell Kahn, Nicholas Alterio, Acting Coordinator Gregory Dionne ("Greg Dion/Dione"), Coordinator Christopher P. Schregel ("Chris Schragel"; absent, ill), and liaison Councilmember Michael Szukala ("Mike Sukala / Zucalla / Ucala"). Public speakers were confirmed against the minutes: Anthony Nanula (73 Fair Woods), Laura Agle (72 Fair Woods; audio "Laura angle"), and Paul Pirk (20 Coronation; audio "Paul Park").
Streets. Corrections applied from the agenda/minutes and the town street index, footnoted [*]: Fair Woods Drive (audio "Fairwoods Drive"; the official record spells it as two words), Tonawanda Creek Road (audio "Tonawana Creek Road"; street-check suggested, confidence 0.974), and Tupelo Lane (audio "Tapleto Lane" in one place). "Rosemont Drive," "Heim Road," "Hopkins Road," "Hartford Road," "Coronation Drive," "Sweet Home Road" and "Millersport Highway" verified against the agenda/street list.
Capture & scope. Built from the Amherst YouTube-stream transcript plus the official May 6, 2026 agenda and minutes. The audio recording (~76 minutes) ended as the site-plan portion opened, so the four site-plan dispositions (Evergreen Park, American Legion, the 757 Hopkins Road denial, Reid Petroleum) are drawn from the official minutes only and are so labeled; they are not corroborated by transcript. Recorded votes are shown as 7–0 per the minutes; the audio confirms unanimous voice votes with no audible dissent. Per house practice this note carries no disclosures beyond sourcing.