Liverpool — Two dozen residents of the Tulip Street area north of the Thruway attended the Nov. 16 meeting of the Liverpool Village Board of Trustees to express their concerns about a 130-unit apartment complex proposed for their neighborhood.

The proposed Meyer Manor Apartments would be located at 1225 Tulip St., just south of Donald Place on Marvin Meyer’s property located within the village. Most of his neighbors’ homes are located outside village limits in the town of Salina.

The trustees had received an Oct. 30 letter from Village Planning Board Chairman Joe Ostuni Jr. reporting his board’s approval of a zoning-change request by property owner Marvin Meyer. Meyer is asking to change his zoning for a small portion of his property from R-1, allowing single-family structures, to R-3, which would allow multiple-family dwellings.

The trustees scheduled a public hearing on the proposed zone change for 7:01 p.m. Dec. 21, at the Village Hall, 310 Sycamore St.

“The village board is looking at the zoning change only,” Mayor Gary White said. “We’re not approving the project. This is only one step toward going ahead with the project.”

Traffic and environmental studies of the eight-acre site are pending, White said. The village planning board still needs to approve a site plan before any development could begin.

“I understand the neighbors’ concerns,” Ostuni said, “but what they don’t seem to understand is that Mr. Meyer has a right to ask for a zone change. It’s his property, and he’s a village resident, and he’s been very engaged in this process, which is good.”

Municipal Engineer Steve Calocerinos attended the Nov. 16 meeting, along with property owner Marvin Meyer.

Basin Block blues

The trustees also received a letter from attorney Robert Ventre representing the late Val LaMont, who owned two prime two prominent Basin Block properties, 110 S. Willow St., the location of the White Water Pub, and 201 First St., where Limp Lizard Barbecue does business. More than a year ago, the village planning board approved LaMont’s plan to create a 49-space parking lot in the center of the Basin Block, to be shared by the Limp Lizard and the White Water.

continued — At a special noon meeting on Aug. 3, the Village of Liverpool Board of Trustees granted a revocable license for LaMont’s use of a 20-foot strip of land on the Basin Block to install a storm drainage pipeline along a 40-foot strip of village-owned property.

LaMont died during the early-morning hours of Nov. 16 after a long illness.

In his Nov. 4 letter to the village board, attorney Ventre suggested that another Liverpool businessman, John Gormel, who owns the Barking Gull on the Basin Block at 116 S. Willow St., did not have “any interest in or to the 40-foot strip or the 20-foot side canal.”

Gormel appeared at the Nov. 16 meeting to challenge Ventre’s assertion.

“I have a problem with Mr. Ventre telling me this is no concern of mine,” Gormel told the trustees. “They’ve got the permits, but three years later there’s been no progress.”

Gormel, who also owns The Retreat and The Cobblestone, renewed his offer to the village to purchase those strips of village owned properties on the Basin Block.

“I think that whoever comes up with the biggest buck should get the property,” he said.

Beside the Barking Gull, Gormel owns several other Basin Block properties, including an ice cream shop and residential parcels.

The Basin Block is bounded by Lake Drive, First Street and South Willow Street. JGB Properties also plans a major mixed-use development along lower First Street and South Willow Street. Like LaMont’s project there, the JGB plan has received village permission, but work has yet to proceed.