CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — A settlement has been reached in a court case involving the Town of Cheektowaga and three hotels housing migrants sent from New York City.
The agreement, approved by the Cheektowaga Town board on Tuesday and approved by NYS Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Wednesday afternoon, will allow two of the three hotels to continue to house migrants, but puts a time limit on how much longer and sets new conditions on their stays.
What the town gets
Among other things, the agreement stipulates that all migrants will be moved out of the Best Western Galleria Hotel on Dingers Street within a week, and no more will be placed there.
The hotels and the parties involved in placing migrants also agreed to reduce the number of single men staying at two hotels on Genesee Street near the airport, the Best Western and the Quality Inn, and stipulated that when any single men move out no others will be allowed to move in, with the two hotels only accepting "families" as new guests from here on out.
The hotel owners will also have to provide town officials with a true and accurate list of the number of migrants staying at their properties and update it monthly.
Also, by the end of 2024, all of the migrants have to be out of the hotels entirely and cannot be moved into any other hotels in the town after that.
The town had gone to court claiming things were getting out of control at the three hotels, citing an uptick in police and fire calls, which included serious crimes and incidents where numerous smoke detectors at one of them had been tampered with or removed so that occupants could cook or grill in their rooms.
The town also complained that those running the program to place them there, were preventing town building inspectors and code officers from entering to look for safety hazards.
On that note, the two sides have agreed to make the hotels available for inspection in accordance with municipal law.
Where the hotels come out
The town had also argued that the hotel properties had become in essence long-term shelters, and thus operating beyond their permitted use.
When it proposed requiring the hotels to apply for a special use permit to continue to operate in that fashion, the lawyer for the hotels pushed back, arguing that this would allow the town to simply sit on the applications, or deny them outright.
In either case, he doubted the town would ever approve such permits.
With that off the table, it allows the hotels to continue to house migrants, albeit under new parameter, and for a defined time period, but that also means none of their guests will be suddenly put out on the street, which is something Justice Colaiacovo had expressed concern about.