Town of Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals·June 16, 2026
A backyard pole barn clears the size cap · Two "granny-flat" permits pass · A revoked building permit deal ends an appeal
A three-member Zoning Board of Appeals — short of a quorum's comfort and needing unanimity on every vote — moved through a light docket in about 12 minutes, granting an oversized garage variance at 284 Ayer Road, approving two accessory-dwelling permits under the Town's ADU pilot program at 254 Getzville Road and 24 Wayside Court, and watching the night's one contested matter dissolve: the administrative appeal over a revoked building permit at 44 Glen Meadow Drive was formally withdrawn after the applicant and the Town cut a last-minute deal to reinstate the permit and fight the underlying streetlight dispute another day.
The only genuinely contested item on the agenda never got its hearing. Item 4 was an administrative appeal — the ZBA's power to review and overturn a Town official's zoning decision — brought by attorney Ralph Lorigo[*] on behalf of Dodge Road Development, LLC, challenging the Building Commissioner's revocation of a permit for a house at 44 Glen Meadow Drive.[1] The board took it up first, out of order, because the parties had spent "most of the entire day back and forth" and arrived with a stipulation to read into the record.[2]
The Town Attorney[*] laid out the backstory: the property sits within the Preserve at Glen Meadows, a 32-lot subdivision the Planning Board granted final plat approval on May 18, 2021 — subject to conditions, including a requirement that the developer create a lighting district for the subdivision.[2] A dispute festered over whether the applicant was obligated to install that street lighting a particular way, and caught in the middle were buyers who had already contracted for and built a house. A building permit issued April 17, 2026 was later revoked over the lighting fight.[2]
The deal read into the record: the applicant waives any liability accrued to date — while admitting nothing — the lighting question is "carried over to another day," the revocation is rescinded, and the building permit at 44 Glen Meadow Drive is reinstated, with the Building Commissioner to formally reinstate it the next morning.[2] In exchange, the applicant withdrew the appeal. With the matter withdrawn, the board took no vote — a resolution that sidestepped the three-member unanimity trap entirely.[2]
Only three of the ZBA's five members were seated — Kelly J. Philips[*], Ellen Parker and Erik A. Goergen[*]; Chairperson Brian Bray and Vice Chairperson Ronald Shubert were absent. New York Town Law requires a majority of the full board — three of five — to act, so the board had exactly enough to do business, but no cushion: with three members, any single "no" sinks a motion. The Town Attorney[*] spelled out the stakes early, telling the board that "if there is one no … any action fails," leaving only unanimous approval, a rescind-and-amend, or tabling to the next meeting. It is also why the board tabled May's minutes rather than risk them: absent members couldn't vote on minutes for a meeting they may not have attended.
The board's first substantive grant went to Zachery Day[*], who sought an area variance to build a 35-by-50-foot pole barn on his R-3 lot at 284 Ayer Road.[3] The structure runs over two Town limits at once: it would push the combined building area of all accessory structures (including the attached garage) to 2,590 square feet against a 1,279-square-foot ceiling, and it would stand 22 feet tall where the ordinance caps accessory height at 20 feet.[1] Day told the board he has "only got one shot at doing it" and plans to add onto the house eventually, which would improve the square-footage math.[3]
Asked whether neighbors objected, Day said he had spoken with the abutters on both sides and a family across the street, and none had raised an issue — the barn would sit at least five feet off the property line and be largely out of view.[3] No one from the public spoke. The board granted the variance 3–0.[3] The item had been adjourned from the board's May 19 meeting to June 16.[1]
Two of the night's four cases were nearly identical: special-use permits to add an accessory dwelling unit — a second, self-contained living space on a single-family lot — under the Town's ADU pilot program, which routes such requests through the ZBA. At 254 Getzville Road, William Roesser[*] asked to build a 722-square-foot addition on the back of the garage as a unit for his son, so the young man "can lead basically a separate apartment… become more individual."[4] At 24 Wayside Court, an applicant identified as LaDuca[*] sought a permit for a one-story addition attached to the garage — a dwelling for an aging parent.[5] Neither drew public comment. The board granted both permits 3–0.[4][5]
Three of the five ZBA members sat — Philips[*], Parker and Goergen[*] — with Chairperson Bray and Vice Chairperson Shubert absent; with only three members, every action required a unanimous vote. Roster verified against the Town's official ZBA page (see Editor's Note); dispositions are provisional pending official minutes.
Appeal by Dodge Road Development, LLC (attorney Ralph Lorigo, Esq.[*]) of the Building Commissioner's revocation of a permit issued April 17, 2026, tied to a streetlight-district dispute in the Preserve at Glen Meadows subdivision. The parties read a stipulation into the record: liability waived without admissions, the lighting issue deferred, the revocation rescinded, and the permit to be reinstated the next morning. The appeal was formally withdrawn; the board took no vote. Taken up first, out of agenda order.
Area variance from the accessory-structure size cap (2,590 s.f. total vs. 1,279 s.f. permitted) and the height limit (22 ft vs. 20 ft), R-3 zone. Public hearing held, no public comment. Motion to approve by Goergen[*], second by Parker; carried unanimously. Adjourned from the May 19, 2026 meeting.
Special use permit under the Town's ADU pilot program for a 722 s.f. accessory dwelling on the rear of the garage, intended for the applicant's son, R-3 zone. Public hearing held, no public comment. Motion to approve by Parker, second by Goergen[*]; carried unanimously.
Special use permit under the Town's ADU pilot program for a one-story addition attached to the garage, a dwelling for an aging parent, R-3 zone. Public hearing held, no public comment. Motion to approve by Goergen[*], second by Parker; carried unanimously.
An initial motion and second to approve the May minutes were rescinded after a member noted that, with only three present, the minutes were better held. The board voted to table the May 19, 2026 minutes to the next meeting, expected in August.
The five-member ZBA roster — Chairperson Brian Bray, Vice Chairperson Ronald Shubert, Esq., and members Erik A. Goergen, Esq., Ellen Parker, and Kelly J. Philips, Esq. (spelled with one "l" per the official roster) — is verified against the Town's official Boards & Committees page. This meeting's official minutes had not posted at the time of writing, so attendance (only three of the five members sat), the specific mover/seconder of each motion, and the dispositions recorded here are provisional pending the official minutes.
Names heard only in audio — treat as unverified (marked [*]). Applicant surnames were reconciled to the official June 16 agenda, which governs spelling: the agenda records the 284 Ayer Road applicant as Zachery Day, the 254 Getzville Road applicants as William and Karen Roesser, the 24 Wayside Court applicants as Louis and Cheryl LaDuca, and the 44 Glen Meadow Drive appeal as brought by Ralph Lorigo, Esq., for Dodge Road Development, LLC (the transcript audio rendered these as "Zachary Day," "Rozier," "Laduka" and "Lurigo"). The Town Attorney who read the Glen Meadow stipulation into the record was audible only in the transcript and is described by role, not named, pending the minutes. "Glen Meadow Drive" is confirmed by the agenda but is not yet in the Town street index (a newer subdivision); it is used here as the agenda spells it. Per house practice, this note carries no disclosures into the published copy beyond what appears here; the [*] convention flags proper nouns corrected against, or awaiting confirmation from, the official Town Clerk's record.