Now that the Batavia City Council has passed a resolution amending the city’s municipal code to allow public garages in I-1 (Industrial) zones, the catalyst of what turned out to be a drawn-out process says his plan to place an auto repair shop on his property is on hold.
“I lost my tenant, so at this point, we’ll see what happens. But at least it is all set so that somebody could do it and I may very well do it,” said Eric Biscaro, owner of Classic Home Improvements and Armor Building Supply at 653 Ellicott St., in reaction to a development from Monday night’s City Council meeting.
Biscaro approached City Council on Jan. 27 – nine months and 14 days ago – after the Genesee County Planning Board recommended disapproval of his request for a use variance to put up a small two-bay garage behind the Armor side of the facility.
Unfortunately for him at the time, city zoning permitted service stations only in areas zoned Commercial.
He was advised that a zoning modification may be the only way for his wish to come true, and that it would take several months to adopt a Local Law, which would happen only after a series of referrals to city and county planning boards, a public hearing and environmental review.
At that time, Biscaro had someone interested in running a repair shop on the site, but that isn’t the case anymore. But, he’s not ruling it out in the future.
“Now that it is approved, I might start marketing it again to see what I get,” he said. “Still, in any industrial zone now you can do that. I was very surprised that you couldn’t do it in the first place.”
Council’s action last night included the issuing of a negative declaration in accordance with the State Environmental Quality Review Act and passage of an ordinance amending Chapter 190 entitled “zoning” of the City of Batavia Municipal Code to amend I-1 to include public garage businesses by a special use permit.
