batavia

As soon as the early season corn that was planted this spring is picked in a couple of weeks, Peter Zeliff will be ready to begin construction of his planned 76-unit housing development off East Main Street Road and Seven Springs Road in the Town of Batavia.

Zeliff has acquired title to the property, according to his agent Tony Mancuso, and with one more final approval, expected Tuesday at the town's planning board meeting, the path will be clear for Zeliff to start grading the farmland.

Just as soon as that corn is harvested.

Thursday night, the county planning board recommended approval of the final approval of the 109 acre subdivision, which will be known as Oakwood Estates.

The project will include 44 townhomes (the maroon area in the photo above) and 33 single family homes.

It's the first major subdivision in Genesee County in a number of years and will be located near the fast-growing Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

Mancuso said the first house should be ready for occupancy next spring.

Press release:

Alpina Foods has confirmed its intent to purchase 10 acres of land adjacent its brand-new plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park. The acquisition doubles the company’s footprint, and comes only nine months after the grand opening of its 40,000-square-foot, $20-million facility that specializes in Greek yogurt production.

Alpina selected the site to build its first-ever North American manufacturing facility in 2011, after researching locations throughout the country. Company leaders felt the highly skilled Western New York workforce, thriving local dairy industry, and convenient access to major U.S. markets made Batavia an optimal location. The site is Alpina’s 10th global manufacturing facility, following locations in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

“This purchase reinforces our commitment to Batavia,” said Gustavo Badino, general manager of Alpina Foods. “We intend to expand here, and maintain this operation as our primary U.S. manufacturing location.”

The company already employs 55 at the plant, exceeding the goal of 50 the company committed to hiring by 2014, and expects to bring in additional team members in the coming months as production continues to increase.

Alpina will lay out its plans for the land over the next 24 months. Company leaders have worked closely with the Genesee County Economic Development Center, as well as the State’s Excelsior Jobs Program and numerous other state and regional economic development organizations in establishing – and expanding – its presence in New York State.

Alpina Foods is committed to its presence in Batavia, and works with many community organizations to make a positive impact on the region. Through the company’s philosophy of “collective prosperity,” Alpina strives to deliver success beyond its business dealings and constantly improve the community in which it operates.

“We are committed to our success in Batavia and the U.S.,” Badino said. “It is our corporate practice to grow with our surroundings, hand-in-hand with our neighbors.”

Former Batavia PD lieutenant Eugene Jankwoski sent over this video from his participation in May in the 2013 New York State International Defensive Pistol Championship. Jankowski won the stock service pistol division, high law enforcement, high senior and overall match. The event was held at Pine City Sportsmen’s Club, near Pine City, and involved 104 competitors.

Jankowski's explanation of the event:

One hundred and four competitors shot 12 challenging stages of fire over three days. Jankowski is sponsored by Metal Spinning Targets, CMC Triggers, Wolf Gun Springs and Tactical Command Industries. IDPA is the use of practical equipment including full-charge service ammunition to solve simulated “real world” self-defense scenarios using practical handguns and holsters that are suitable for self-defense use. The main goal is to test the skill and ability of an individual. Competitors are required to wear a cover garment to simulate concealed carry and Stock Service Pistol firearms must conform closely to factory specifications.

CORRECTION: I misread the press release on name redacted and name redacted and listed charges that were not correct. I apologize profusely to the suspects and their families.

UPDATE: Because of our prior mistake, we offered to remove the names of the first two individuals once this post was no longer on the home page.

name redacted, 18, of Peachy Road, Bergen, is charged with possession of alcohol under age 21. Sabb was arrested at 8:06 p.m. Thursday while at a reported party at an address on Byron Holley Road, Byron. name redacted allegedly possessed 24 beers.

name redacted, 18, of Swamp Road, Byron, is charged possession of alcohol under age 21. Maskell was arrested at 8:06 p.m. Thursday while at a reported party at an address on Byron Holley Road, Byron. name redacted allegedly possessed 18 beers.

Glenn H. Wright Jr., 43, an inmate of the Genesee County Jail, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Wright allegedly placed a phone call to a person he was barred from contacting by court order.

Sean Douglas Lacy, 26, of West Bergen Road, Bergen, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Lacy was allegedly found in possession of marijuana during an investigation into a loud music complaint made at 11:55 p.m. Thursday on West Main Road, Byron.

Genesee County Economic Development Center -- through its financing arm, Genesee Gateway LDC -- is committing $500,000 to redevelopment projects in the City of Batavia as well as the business districts of Genesee County's towns and villages.

The money to start the new revolving loan fund is seeded from revenue generated for the LDC by the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, which in the last year has seen two companies construct yogurt plants there.

"Fortunately, some of the risks we've taken and some of our strategies we've taken have created some capital," said GCEDC CEO Steve Hyde said during a joint meeting Thursday of the GCEDC and LDC boards of directors. "I'm now recommending to the local development board to say, 'let's take some of the strategic investment money from the success of the ag park and reinvest it to support the redevelopment activities and revitalization here in the city and the business centers in the towns and villages.'"

The board approved the proposal unanimously.

The vote followed presentations by Batavia Development Corp. Economic Development Coordinator Julie Pacatte and City Manager Jason Molino.

The city, which is largely built out and has some aging industrial and commercial buildings, has been developing a strategy to pursue redevelopment, adaptive reuse and in-fill development.

An example of redevelopment, Pacatte said, is the Masse Gateway project, which took old manufacturing buildings and turned them into office buildings.

Adaptive reuse would be the project now under way to convert the former Carr's warehouse in Jackson Square into retail, office and apartment space.

In-fill would be the kind of project that Pacatte said needs to take place with the Della Penna property on Ellicott Street where there's one building on the property now and another could be added to create more density and expand the range of uses for the property.

"These projects are very difficult to fund," Pacatte said, "the Carr's warehouse for example. It was a warehouse. It's becoming residential and commercial. The condition of the building today, he (the buyer) would never get a traditional mortgage to do anything with that site, so he needed to start with a lot of equity. He has to look for some other opportunities so he can cash flow the project before the the grants will come in on the back end to reimburse him."

The kind of loans available through the new Batavia Micropolitan Redevelopment Fund could have helped the Carr's Warehouse project.

The loans will need to meet a long list of requirements to be granted and can range from $25,000 to $100,000 at 80 percent of prime.

To qualify, a developer would need to have at least a 30-percent equity stake in the project or already have another traditional bank loan in place. Collateral is required and the developer must make a personal guarantee for repayment.

Legislator Marrianne Clattenburg -- who both while City Council president and as a legislator has been critical of the scant attention GCEDC has seemed to pay to redevelopment in the city -- was pleased with today's decision and was on hand to witness the vote.

"It meets what I'm looking for," Clattenburg said. "It's a start. It's a beginning and it's gratifying to see the culmination of what I believe is a partnership that's forming and a recognition that the county development agency should be into redevelopment while it's doing greenfield development. I'm gratified it's coming about and I look forward to much more in the future."

For more than a decade, at least, GCEDC has been focused on building shovel-ready parks to attract manufacturing and other industrial businesses. Its biggest success so far, with the opening of the Alpina and Muller Quaker yogurt plants, has been the ag park.

The LDC will administer the loan fund. GCEDC could become involved in projects where tax abatements are needed to assist the redevelopment effort, Hyde said.

Molino said it's really been a collaborative effort to develop the new program.

"Developing this over the past few months has been a good opportunity for everybody and hopefully there will be more opportunities where the city, the BDC and the EDC can partner and take advantage of some of the development that's happening throughout the county and really help redevelop and improve some parts of the city," Molino said.

Ray Williams, of Batavia, skates down Bank Street on freeline skates.

Before the gray hair, before the jobs, the mortgages, the children, they were the boys in the band.

At age 15 and 16, from about 1967 to 1969, Geno Ceccato, Greg Deck, Andrew Martorana, Jerry Keating, Bob Baker and Tim Martin (top photo, in that order) were known in Western New York as The Middle Class and later, after a change in sound and Tim leaving the band, Faith.

The boys stayed in touch and the families always heard the stories of those glory days, but the former bandmates had nothing from that pre-digital time that showed "this is what we did."

No long ago, Martorana decided maybe a reunion was in order so there could be a little more documentation that they once were a band.

"We realized we didn’t have any kind of legacy to leave our families," Martorana said. "They would hear these stories, but there were no recordings, no videos, just a couple of snapshots here and there."

All week The Middle Class/Faith have been rehearsing in space at the Harvester Center and tomorrow they will go in the studio to record a CD.

Martorana's wife has been making a video, interviewing band members and taking snapshots to include on a DVD of this week's "reunion tour."

None of this is for any commercial/public release. It's just a family thing, a living memento that these six men were once, in fact, a band.

While Jerry, Tim and Greg all carried on with musical pursuits after the band split in 1969, Martorana, who lives in Le Roy, put away his drums, stowed his sticks and pursued a career as an electrician. Before starting to practice for the reunion, he hadn't played drums in 43 years.

After he had been practicing a while, he posted a couple of videos on YouTube of him playing and sent the link to a couple of drummer friends.

"They said, 'oh, man, you've gotta keep playing after this,' " Martorana said. "I talked with my wife and she said I should keep playing. So I'm shopping for a band."

It was Greg, he said, who made the point that the music never dies.

"You may have to relearn it, but it's always in your soul."

Merchants are lining the streets in Downtown Batavia today for the first of three Thursday sidewalk sales sponsored by the Business Improvement District.

The other sidewalk sales are also on the second Thursday of the month -- in August (Aug. 8) and September (Sept. 12). Time is 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Above, Chris Merrian, Don Brown and Bryce Rogers with Charles Men's Shop, and below, John Roche, Adam Miller Toy & Bicycles.

Press release:

Batavia Downs Gaming will be closing at 10 p.m. on Monday, July 15 and reopen no later than 3 p.m. on the following day, Tuesday, July 16 to accommodate construction work.

Management is confident that the facility will reopen prior to 3 p.m. that day. Those wishing to find information on the reopening of the facility should check Batavia Downs’ Web site (bataviadownsgaming.com) as well as their social media pages on Facebook (facebook.com/bataviadowns) and Twitter (twitter.com/bataviadowns) for up to date information that day after 11 a.m.

The newly expanded gaming floor is scheduled to open on Aug. 30.

Steven Douglas Crandall, 50, of Driving Park, Rochester, is charged with petit larceny and trespass. Crandall allegedly stole an air conditioning unit at Walmart with a $479.08 value. Crandall is allegedly banned from all Walmart stores because of a prior shoplifting allegation. Crandall also had an warrant for his arrest out of Town of Batavia Court for a prior shoplifting charge at Kmart. Crandall was jailed on $500 bail.

Daryl R. Hamler, 19, of Wescott Road, Le Roy, is charged with criminal possession of marijuana, 4th, and speeding. Also charged with criminal possession of marijuana was Rebecca E. Cook, 19, of Caldwell Road, Groveland. Hamler and Cook were allegedly found in possession of more than two ounces of marijuana during a traffic stop by Deputy James Diehl at 12:02 a.m. on Route 19, Le Roy.

Andrew Alexander Halloran, 48, of Northwest 7 Street Road, Miami, Fla., is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, DWI, refusal to take breath test, speeding and failure to keep right. Halloran's vehicle was stopped at 11:43 p.m. Tuesday on Route 20, Darien, by Deputy Joseph Corona.

Cheryl L. Behm, 53, of Alden, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, moving from lane unsafely, failure to use designated lane and consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle. Behm was stopped at 1:24 a.m. Wednesday on Main Road at Back Street in Pembroke by State Police.

Earl S. Lockhart, 20, of Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Lockhart is accused of stealing from Kmart.

Terry Hills Restaurant Invites You to Dinner, Dance and a Swinging Sunset! Thursday, July 11th. Dinner seatings 5-5:30 p.m., and 6 p.m. Serendipity Swing will be playing from 6 to 8 p.m. We will be offering a special menu that includes: Chicken Cordon Bleu, Seafood Stuffed Haddock, Prime Rib, Vegetarian Pasta Capri and Stuffed Pork Tenderloin. Reservations required -- Last call.

Serendipity Swing: “A Little Big Band,” is an Eight-Musician Ensemble with a female and male vocalist from Buffalo that performs music associated with the Golden Age of Glamorous Ballrooms, Classy Supper Clubs, the Most Elegant of Private Parties, and the Great American Songbook.

The music library, with more than 300 titles, contains selections which explore and mirror the beauty of the music elements; melody, harmony and rhythm. It is music that is artful, graceful, whimsical and listenable. The melodies are memorable. The harmonies are soothing and rich in texture. The tempos, rhythms, are danceable and toe-tapping.

From the time he was in high school Michael S. Tomaszewski dreamed of being a funeral director.

“I liked dealing with different people, different families and different emotions,” says Michael. “Although I did not come from a background of funeral homes, I always knew that was what I wanted to do.”

Five years ago, Tomaszewski and his wife, Valerie, turned dream to reality when he purchased property on West Main Street, designing a a home-like facility with soft tones, vaulted ceilings, comfortable furniture and a kindling fireplace.

That's not all that gives Michael S. Tomaszewski Funeral & Cremation Chapel a degree of distinction: The Dibble Family Center opened adjacent to the funeral home in 2009. It is the first and only Family Center in Genesee County, Tomaszewski said.

It’s a multipurpose facility with a cozy atmosphere, right down to the pictures of Michael and Valerie’s families on the walls. It is a dedicated place to spend time with family and friends.

The staff relieves families of the burden of planning a gathering after funeral services, as well as offering a private setting to relax between visitation hours, where refreshments are always available.

“Our goal is to ensure that your family and friends are extended the same hospitality we all share in our own homes,” Valerie said.

“The Family Center grew from being a complement to the funeral home, to a separate facility open to the community," Michael said. "Guests enjoy special events in a homey, family-type of environment."

Included when you rent the space is food cooked on the premises by Michael’s family, a bar with bartender, as well as set up and clean up. An outdoor reception area is available during the summer months.

Also unique to the concept of the traditional funeral home is the Children’s Room, which is a comfortable, safe space just for children.

Being parents of two children themselves, Michael and Valerie understand that it's important to include them in the funeral process. The Children’s Room offers handpainted murals painted by Valerie, along with toys, games and a TV (with age-appropriate videos).

Signature services provided are: airline reservations and hotel accommodations, airport transportation, local restaurant reservations, florist, monument service, dry cleaning service and consultation with an attorney or financial planner.

Michael said he is passionate about the business and committed to providing the best experience for all his guests. That can include putting together picture slide shows to view at services, or maybe bringing in personal belongings -- even motorcycles -- for services, and hanging the grieving family’s portrait above the fireplace. Military magnets can be placed on the hearse to honor the deceased military service, and they can create a “widow’s chair," which is a tall chair that allows the widow to sit down and still be able to look eye-to-eye with guests.

“We take great pride in what we do. Our promise is to give every funeral the respect it deserves and make the service truly memorable down to the smallest detail, that is The Tomaszewski Difference,” Michael said.

A three-car accident is blocking traffic in front of the jail on Main Street. No injuries are reported. Batavia PD is responding.

Batavia's police officers have a new four-year contract after the City Council approved the pact last night that gives officers a 2.75-percent annual pay increase.

The new contract reduces sick days for new hires and new officers won't receive city-paid healthcare upon retirement.

The council also approved a pay raise of 1.5 percent for City Manager Jason Molino. Molino will make $87,299 per year.

Four council members balked at the idea of using $10,000 of video lottery terminal (VLT) money to help pay for a new Dumpster enclosure on School Street, near Center Street.

The project would have cost $35,000.

Council members Rose Mary Christian, Kathy Briggs, Jim Russell and Brooks Hawley favored requiring the four businesses that would use the Dumpsters to pay the $10,000.

The first $25,000 in costs would be covered by various state grants.

The council will reconsider the proposal at a future meeting.

Finally, Zoladz Construction out of Alden will receive a $2.5-million contract for reconstruction of Cedar Street.

(Information from The Batavian's official news partner, WBTA).

A car versus bicyclist accident with minor injuries is reported in the Clor's Meat Market parking lot at Lewiston and West Main Street roads. Law enforcement is on scene along with Mercy medics and the Town of Batavia Fire Department is responding.

A 40-year-old truck driver from Batavia died today in an unusual accident in Rochester, according to State Police.

The victim has been identified as Shawn Wetmore.

According to WHAM-13, Wetmore was driving a box truck southbound on I-590 when a tanker truck on a westbound overpass of the I-490 rolled off the bridge and tumbled on the Wetmore's cab.

Wetmore was pronounced dead at the scene.

The tanker driver, Daniel Baker, 25, of Wyoming, was taken by ambulance to Strong Memorial Hospital with serious injuries.

The cause of the accident, which was reported at 1 p.m., has not yet been determined.

Baker was hauling liquid food waste and some 8,000 gallons spilled at the scene.

According to a coworker, Wetmore leaves behind a wife and infant daughter.

The interchange was closed for several hours and portions are expected to remain closed until at least 10 p.m.

The colorful and vibrant artwork of Esther von Kramer is on display this month at the Richmond Memorial Library.

The artist was born in Buffalo in 1893, but spent much of her adult life in Batavia and was an original member of the Batavia Society of Artists.

She died in 1981 at the age of 88 in East Aurora.

Her grandson, Eric von Kramer, helped organize the show, pulling together pieces of her work from family and friends.

Esther von Kramer's work in the show is comprised primarily of still lifes and a few landscapes, with work on canvas as well as household items such as serving trays, chairs and milk buckets.

Von Kramer had to move east to work during the war, but returned when it was over and opened a studio and shop in her home. She was an art instructor for adult education programs in Corfu and Le Roy. She also taught painting at the YMCA.

"Those years were some of the happiest of her life, filled with all the dear people who came as students and customers, and remained as lifelong friends,"  according to a family biography.  "She loved everyone!"

There will be a reception at the library tomorrow (Tuesday) from 7 to 9 p.m.