After four weeks of pushback from village residents, a handful of lawyers and the owners of two gas stations on Wolfs Lane, Village of Pelham Mayor Chance Mullen scrapped a contract signed in February with a local developer to come up with ideas for transforming the Pelham Picture House, an adjoining lot at 163 Wolfs Lane and the gas stations.
Mullen disclosed the termination of the contract–a memorandum of understanding, or MOU–at the March 10 Village Trustees meeting.
“So, on the MOU, that has now been terminated,” said Mullen. “We had said from the outset the MOU was non-binding and exploratory. Now that the Picture House and the new owner of 163 Wolf Lane have decided to partner, there’s no role for the village to play.”
On February 10, the trustees voted 5-2 to sign an MOU with PHP Partners and its owner Patrick Normoyle, designating him as the “preferred developer” for the four properties. Prior to that agreement, another local developer, James Smithmeyer, had acquired the vacant lot at 163 Wolfs Lane. Smithmeyer then began speaking with members of the Picture House board about constructing a mixed-use building that would allow the cinema to add more screens and an education center, despite the trustees’ vote in favor of Normoyle.
In the face of local opposition, led by the two gas station owners who said they had no interest in selling their businesses, Mullen reversed himself last month and blessed the smaller development plan being pushed by Smithmeyer. Nevertheless, the MOU, which contained a clause regarding the possible use of eminent domain to seize the gas stations, remained in force.
At the February 24 meeting, lawyers representing the gas stations called on Mullen to rescind the MOU completely. One of the lawyers also called on the trustees to strike a supporting document, a so-called “blight study,” that incorrectly stated that one of the two gas stations no longer sells gas.
At the March 10 meeting, Mullen said he consulted with lawyers representing the village, then spoke with Normoyle of PHP Partners. Normoyle’s firm subsequently submitted a letter to the village in early March terminating the agreement.
“So the MOU is done,” Mullen said.
As for the blight study, Mullen said it could not be rescinded because it is in the public record, and it was created by a third party. However, Mullen said that the factual inaccuracy about one of the gas stations had been corrected.
In other business, Mullen swore in Kenneth Shirreffs to a five-year term on the village’s planning board.
“Ken Shirreffs has lived in Pelham for 30 years, served on the architectural review board and the zoning board,” said Mullen. “He’s a registered architect. He worked in construction in the city for 47 years and the last twelve of those years through his own business. And on top of it, he’s very funny and he’s just an all around great person.”
