Kenmore, N.Y. (WBEN) - For 36 years, Insty-Prints on Elmwood Avenue in Kenmore has been owned and operated by Tom Metz, along with brother Dave, next to Colvin Cleaners and the Village of Kenmore Police Station.
However, after years of helping local residents out with all their printing and designing needs, the business is in danger of being acquired by the village via eminent domain in order to expand police headquarters.
"They came to offer us something for the building quite some time ago. They came through and asked if the building was for sale. We didn't have it on the market, but we thought, 'Why not entertain an offer of somebody that wants to buy the building?'," said Tom Metz of the process of eminent domain on Tuesday. "Well, they came in and they offered us quite a low amount of money for the building that we felt was not appropriate for what we wanted to get out of the building. So we just didn't do anything about it. Later on, they came back with the same offer, but they asked if we would take it. We wouldn't take it again, so they said, 'OK, then we'll take it by eminent domain. So they started the process.'"
It was on Nov. 1 when the Village of Kenmore board members at a town meeting passed a resolution authorizing the acquisition of the family-owned, long-time printing business through the New York State Eminent Domain Procedure Law.
"I can't think of any other scenario in Western New York where a government has taken an operating business through eminent domain," said Chris Billoni, Vice President of Colvin Cleaners on the matter on Tuesday. "They might have taken vacant lots or abandoned buildings or something, but never an operating business, never a family business that's been there, paying their taxes like everybody else."
"If they would treat us fairly and give us what we feel would justly be compensation for what we have here for the years that we've been here; We've been here for 36 years, we've been paying our taxes, been a good neighbor. So we're trying to either get what we deserve, it's a lot more than what they've offered so far, or stop the whole process all together," Metz added.
During a village board meeting two weeks later on Nov. 15, Insty-Print and Colvin Cleaners encouraged board members to appoint a committee to conduct a comprehensive study of the best location for the new police headquarters going forward.
A similar situation happened 50 years ago when the Town of Tonawanda sought a location for its new police headquarters that is now located on Sheridan Drive. While Mayor Patrick Mang thanked Metz and Billoni for the suggestion and said the board will take it under consideration, they will both be asking for an update, as well as presenting the results of two petition drives during a village board meeting on Tuesday night.
"We're basically showing up with the owners of Insty-Print, Tom and Dave Metz, as well as a bunch of their friends and supporters to kind of get some answers and see why is this decision that the Village of Kenmore made to acquire their property through eminent domain," Billoni said. "We went to the last board meeting and simply asked them to put this on pause and form a committee of experts or commercial developers, or somebody that has done this before, and survey all the possible options of where they could build a new police station that would not require them to steal a family business, and hinder our family business in the process. That's simply all we're asking, and we're going tonight to see if there's any kind of updates. My guess is they are not going to entertain that, and continue to move forward with eminent domain."
"Insty-Prints does not want to relocate, they don't want to move. If they did, they would have sold their property to the Village of Kenmore. The Village of Kenmore is just taking over against their will, rather than looking at other options to expand the police station. We don't feel like that's right."
Meanwhile, Metz says they have had a very strong community outreach since they were notified of the potential of eminent domain. It is support that has been overwhelming and heartfelt, especially as we inch closer to the Christmas holiday.
"I haven't heard one person say that it's a good idea, everybody is against it that we know," Metz said. "My niece started a petition, and we've got close to 2,000 signatures on it right now, and everybody else that has approached me; I've had people come in just off the street, who hasn't had business to do with us, just want to talk about it and say that it's not right. They feel that it's not something that eminent domain should be used for, not to push a business out that's been here for 36 years."
While this matter is only set to directly impact the future of Metz's business, Billoni feels that this matter, if the village is able to acquire Insty-Prints via eminent domain, will have an impact on how his business will operate down the road.
"We've been operating with Tom and Dave Metz, sharing parking spots. Our buildings are so close together, I mean, we might as well be a plaza where everyone shares parking across all 13 spots. People will come in their driveway off of Elmwood Avenue and exit out of our driveway, they're very close together," Billoni said. "The plans that the police station has to not only steal their business and put them out of business potentially, but they're going to add a bunch of parking for the police, and put their driveway right next to our property. Customers will not be able to use the parking anymore, that'll be gone. They won't be able to get in-and-out with ease of access, so now you have a dangerous scenario where customers are going to be trying to back out onto Elmwood or over the sidewalk. It's going to create a huge hindrance for us, and as a retail business, if customers can't get in-and-out easily or safely, they might just go somewhere else. So, of course, it's going to impact not only how our customers can do business with us, but the bigger picture is it's going to, potentially, put Insty-Prints out of business."
As both businesses continue to do battle against the Village of Kenmore against the process of eminent domain, Metz is thankful to have an ally like Billoni that is willing to go above-and-beyond to keep his business where it is on Elmwood Avenue.
As for the hopeful outcome of Tuesday night's village board meeting, both Billoni and Metz are hopeful for the best-case scenario, which is an agreement that they maybe came to this decision a little too swiftly, and they agree to form a committee to determine a potential better location for police headquarters.
"Their proposals, I don't know where they come from, as far as their knowledge of what it takes to run a business, to move a business, to keep it going through something like this. We need to be compensated a lot more than what they're offering, it's way too low," Metz said. "Talking to other members of the business community, they feel that what they're offering us is just unbelievable. We should be getting, at least, twice, if not, three times more than what they're offering. So either give us that, or stop the whole process altogether. We don't want to move. If we were given the right amount of money and stuff like that to compensate for the move, yeah, we would think about it, but what we've got here works out very, very well for us. It's a a good building, solid. Everything that we need is here. For us to find something somewhere else to rehab it or whatever we have to do to it, it would just be a lot more costly than what they're thinking."