Lockport looks to fill vacant lot with townhomes

Lockport — The Lockport City Council’s Committee of the Whole on May 1 approved a plan for a new unit of townhomes to be constructed at 25 Charles St.

The proposed development would include five townhomes located at the corner of Charles Street and Princess Court on a vacant lot surrounded by other residential developments.

According to the board documents presented at the meeting, the lot is bordered by apartment buildings to the west and south, townhomes to the east, and duplex homes to the north of the lot. The property is currently zoned R-4, as it was originally intended to be developed into further apartments, but the project never came to fruition.

“Why this was never developed I don’t know, but it has always been a challenge,” Community and Economic Development Director Lance Thies said. “We’ve had a number of people come to us to ask about it, but they could never get the math to work, they can never get the site to work and, ultimately, [developer] Zach [Konan] was able to find a path forward working with us to get something that will work on the site and function really well.”

The proposed townhomes each would be 1,400 square feet. Part of the request for the special-use permit involved slight reductions in street setbacks and an increase in impervious surface coverage from code standards, which were approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission, since there are no plans to widen either Princess Court or Charles Street and the corner has wide parkways.

The committee voted to advance the proposal to the consent agenda during the May 15 City Council meeting.