Williamsville Village Board of Trustees·June 8, 2026
A Landmark Fight, Pre-Empted · Public Hearing Set for July 13 · A Vacant Building Headed to Court · Parking, Again
With Mayor Christine Hunt absent and Deputy Mayor James Celeste presiding, the Village Board spent most of a 47-minute meeting listening to roughly ten residents and property owners — nearly all of them opposed — line up against a proposed local historic-landmark designation for 13 South Cayuga Road, weeks before the board will even hold its hearing on it. The board did not decide the landmark question Monday; it voted only to schedule the required public hearing for July 13. It did take a consequential step on a different property, authorizing the village attorneys to go to State Supreme Court to take title to 22 Evans Street, a vacant commercial building deteriorating since 2023. Trustees also awarded a capped $65,000 asbestos-abatement contract for the Lehigh Valley Section House at Glen Park, approved $337,427.85 in vouchers, filled two seasonal jobs, and heard a recurring complaint that the village has gone without a parking-enforcement officer since 2019.
The item that filled the room was not on the board's list of things to decide. Under a “suspension of the rules” that opens the floor to public comment, a steady line of property owners and residents stepped to the podium — and one after another asked the board to reject a proposed local historic-landmark designation for the building at 13 South Cayuga Road. The board would not vote on that designation Monday. Its only landmark action of the night was to authorize the village administrator to publish notice of a public hearing, set for July 13 at 7:30 p.m. Deputy Mayor Celeste twice reminded the room that the argument belonged at that hearing — “if we are going to have a public hearing, I hope all of you will attend” — but the speakers wanted it on the record now.
The through-line was consistent. The building, several speakers said, is an ordinary mid-century commercial structure — variously dated to 1953 or 1957 — that has been altered so heavily over the years that little original fabric remains, and that the village's own paid surveys in 1997, 2013 and 2017 never flagged as significant. A self-described real-estate appraiser told the board a landmark tag would “devalue” the property and warned of a Buffalo sale he said nearly drew a lawsuit when a historic designation surfaced late; “it's a block building that was built in 1957,” he said. A second speaker claimed designation adds “somewhere between 23 and 47 percent” to a building's cost. James Zaepfel, one of the village's property owners, argued the code requires the commission — not the owner — to prove a building qualifies, and said the standard had not been met: “We can welcome change, or we can freeze time in decaying buildings.”
The board mostly listened. It has to: under the village's landmark process the Historic Preservation Commission recommends, but the trustees decide — and only after the public hearing they had just scheduled. The owner of the building — the “Fogel building,” onetime home of radio station WUFO for about six years in the 1960s before it moved to LaSalle Avenue — was named from the floor as Dan Fogel, with more than one speaker stressing that the owner never asked for the honor and does not want it.
In the Room
Presiding: Deputy Mayor James Celeste (Mayor Christine Hunt absent).
Present: Trustees Amy Jackson, Steven Meyer, Jeffrey Hahn.
How the floor opened: The board passed a motion to suspend its rules for a public-comment period — three minutes per speaker, name and address required, remarks to the board as a body. Nearly every speaker used it to oppose the 13 South Cayuga designation.
Why Object Now, Before Any Vote?
A local landmark in Williamsville is not designated by the Historic Preservation Commission — the HPC only recommends. The power to landmark belongs to the Village Board of Trustees, and the code requires the board to hold a public hearing before it acts. The HPC forwarded its recommendation on 13 South Cayuga to the trustees; Monday's resolution set that hearing for July 13. So the residents at the podium were speaking to the body that will actually decide — a month early, and against a designation that has not yet come to a vote. Their preferred outcome: that the board never take it up.
The night's most consequential recorded action drew no comment at all. In a long “whereas” resolution, the board authorized and directed the village attorneys to commence a proceeding in State Supreme Court to take ownership of 22 Evans Street, a vacant commercial building the resolution traced to a February 20, 2023 crash when a motor vehicle struck it, unoccupied ever since and steadily deteriorating. The recitation laid out the paper trail: repeated code-enforcement inspections finding “substantial structural damage,” a string of violation notices through late 2024, an order to vacate in March 2026 declaring the property unfit for human occupancy, and a formal certification that the property was abandoned. With the record owner having failed to remedy the conditions, the board voted to go to court to vest title in the village.
What “Article 19-B” Means Here
The resolution leans on New York's Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL) Article 19-B — the state's abandoned-property track. It lets a municipality that has certified a building abandoned, and served the owner, ask a court to declare the property abandoned and transfer title to the village. It is a slow, notice-heavy process (the resolution cites service in April and again in May 2026, each starting a clock), and it ends not with a fine but with the village potentially owning the building — the point being to stop a dangerous structure from rotting in place when the owner has walked away. The board's vote authorizes the lawsuit; a judge decides the transfer.
Trustee Steven Meyer carried a resolution awarding the exterior asbestos-abatement contract, phase three, for the Village of Williamsville Lehigh Valley Section House, the old rail structure tied to the Glen Park corridor. The project was advertised and bids opened May 14; only one bid came in. The board awarded the work to Arric Corporation of Depew on a base bid of $2,500, with add-alternate unit pricing of $82.40 per lineal foot on two scope items, and capped the total project cost at not more than $65,000. The Section House was also the subject of resident Thomas Frank's public comment earlier in the night, in which he pressed the Glen Park Joint Board's push to abate the asbestos-contaminated structure and advance an Ellicott Creek greenway. Frank ran well over his three minutes; “Please wrap it up, Tom, you're done,” the chair told him, more than once.
Two speakers turned the public-comment period toward a grievance the board has clearly heard before: the village has no parking-enforcement officer. One resident described cars blocking the speed hump by the Island Park bridge during Music on Main and no one to ticket them. Another, village resident Dan Rider, pushed back on a claim — made, he said, at a recent traffic-and-safety meeting — that the village legally cannot issue handwritten parking tickets through a civilian officer; he handed up a printout of an AI search to make his point and urged the board to “hire a parking officer and be done with it.”
The board's answer, from the chair, was history rather than dispute: the village did employ a parking-enforcement officer for years, but a prior board eliminated the position, and there has been none since 2019. Every member of the board, the deputy mayor said, is for having one — but the board wants to meet certain criteria first, given the reasons the position was dissolved. The exchange also aired a smaller legal question, left open: whether chalking tires to time parked is still lawful in New York. No action was taken; the topic stays live.
Around the two headline items, trustees worked through a routine docket. The board approved the May 26 minutes, as amended, and $337,427.85 in payroll and vouchers for the period from May 18 to June 1, and adopted the annual “standard work day” resolution the state retirement system requires. Trustee Amy Jackson moved to appoint Lucy Voelkl seasonal recreation supervisor for the Garrison Park wading pool at $20 an hour, and used her report to announce a new standing volunteer park-cleanup event — the third Saturday of each month, 9 to 11 a.m., meeting at the Noll Nature Building in Glen Park — with the first outing set for June 20. Trustee Jeffrey Hahn reported a successful first Music on Main of the season and moved a second seasonal appointment, Ethan Percy of Buffalo, as a DPW seasonal employee at $16 an hour, effective June 11. Meyer's second resolution set the July 13 landmark hearing. Staff reports were brief: the village administrator flagged the wading pool's coming opening and reminded residents of the June 23 primary; the attorney had nothing to report.
Four of five board members answered the roll: Deputy Mayor James Celeste presiding, with Trustees Amy Jackson, Steven Meyer and Jeffrey Hahn. Mayor Christine Hunt was absent. Every motion below was recorded in the adopted minutes as unanimously carried.
Moved by Deputy Mayor Celeste, seconded by Trustee Jackson, at the opening of the meeting.
After Deputy Mayor Celeste gave a synopsis of the Rules of Procedure for public meetings, the board moved (Celeste, seconded by Jackson) to open the public participation portion at 7:37 p.m. Ten speakers followed, most opposing the proposed 13 South Cayuga landmark designation.
With the speakers finished — and Trustee Hahn noting a public hearing would follow and urging all concerned to attend — the board closed the public-participation portion and moved to Reports & Resolutions.
Moved by Deputy Mayor Celeste, seconded by Trustee Jackson. The minutes itemize the total as $48,581.74 in payroll and $288,846.11 in vouchers — the largest single line being $188,298.20 for Village Hall renovations.
Establishes standard work days for village employees for reporting days worked to the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System, based on the timekeeping/record-of-activities system. A routine annual filing. Moved by Deputy Mayor Celeste, seconded by Trustee Jackson.
The vacant commercial building was struck by a motor vehicle on February 20, 2023 and had been unoccupied since; the resolution recited multiple code-enforcement inspections finding substantial structural damage, violation notices through November 2024, an order to vacate declaring it unfit for occupancy (March 15, 2026), a posting as abandoned (March 17), and a certification of abandonment (March 27) served on the owner April 14 and again May 6, 2026 under RPAPL §1982. With no remedy shown, the board directed counsel to seek a court order vesting title in the village. Moved by Deputy Mayor Celeste, seconded by Trustee Hahn; adopted as amended, with no comment from the floor.
Moved by Trustee Jackson, seconded by Trustee Hahn; effective immediately for the 2026 summer season.
Moved by Trustee Hahn, seconded by Trustee Jackson. Percy, of Buffalo, is appointed a DPW seasonal employee at $16.00 per hour, effective June 11, 2026.
Moved by Trustee Meyer, seconded by Trustee Hahn. Advertised and bid; one bid received (opened 10:00 a.m. May 14, 2026). Awarded to Arric Corporation of Depew on a base bid of $2,500, with Unit Price #1 and Unit Price #2 each at $82.40 per lineal foot for their respective scope items; total project cost capped at not to exceed $65,000.
Moved by Trustee Meyer, seconded by Trustee Jackson. Directs the village administrator to publish notice of the public hearing at which the board will take up the proposed local landmark nomination of 13 South Cayuga Road. This is the scheduling step, not a designation vote.
The board first adjourned at 8:05 p.m., then reopened and moved into executive session to discuss the employment history of a particular individual. It reopened and closed the executive session at 8:45 p.m., then adjourned for the night. The next regular meeting was set for Monday, June 22, 2026.
Editor's Note
This brief was built from the audio of the Village's own June 8, 2026 meeting video. The board roster, speakers, appointees, contractor, dollar figures and resolutions have been cross-checked against the Village's official adopted minutes for the meeting, and corrected where the audio differed — for example, the property owner who spoke is James Zaepfel (not a company), the seasonal recreation supervisor is Lucy Voelkl, the asbestos-abatement contract went to Arric Corporation of Depew, and 22 Evans Street is a vacant commercial building, not a house.
Staff at the table were Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer Nick McCormick, Deputy Clerk Kathryn Rappleye, and Village Attorney Charles “Chip” Grieco of Bond, Schoeneck & King. A work session held earlier the same evening is referenced by speakers but is not part of this record, which covers the regular meeting only. Quotations are lightly cleaned for readability; where the audio was indistinct, wording follows the minutes. The Village's official minutes remain the authoritative record.
“You can put lipstick on it, doesn't change it.” — Steve Blake, on the building at 13 South Cayuga
“It's a block building that was built in 1957.” — a real-estate appraiser, urging the board to reject the designation
“We can welcome change, or we can freeze time in decaying buildings.” — James Zaepfel
“Please wrap it up, Tom, you're done.” — the presiding officer, as a speaker ran long
“We haven't had an enforcement officer since 2019.” — the board, on parking
“So I guess you're in favor of illegal parking.” / “No, sir. We're quite the opposite.” — a resident and the deputy mayor