LEWISTON, N.Y. — Two residents in the Town of Lewiston will soon be making appearances in court over some minor property and zoning violations.
But the reasons behind the violations are what have the residents, and hundreds of supporters on social media, saying the town of Lewiston are in the wrong.
Samantha Bassett owns and operates the Little Bakery in the City of Niagara Falls. In January, Bassett was issued a code enforcement violation and a cease and desist letter from the Town of Lewiston.
"I was kind of unsure what they meant, because I give away free bread all the time," Bassett said.
According to the Town of Lewiston supervisor, the issue was a shed that Bassett had placed on the property.
2 On Your Side was shown a receipt for a shed permit issued by the town on January 17, 2023. At the time it appeared the issue was resolved.
"They were asked if the permit needs to include electrical for the shed, they said no, the shed won't have any electricity," Lewiston Town Supervisor Steve Broderick said. "A week later, after we issued the permit, our enforcement officer went up there and the shed was fully equipped with electricity."
Broderick also maintains there was an oven and air conditioning unit in the shed, along with a 220v electrical hookup, which would have also required additional inspections.
When 2 On Your Side was on the property, the shed had an extension cord powering outlets inside the shed with a small generator and the shed was completely empty.
On social media, the owner of the Little Bakery maintains the town is not happy that they give out loaves of bread to those in need. The bread is often stacked on a table at the end of her driveway.
"If it's the bread, we stopped everything," Bassett said. "Nothing goes on here, the Shed is empty and I believe we're in compliance."
Supervisor Broderick insists the charitable deeds by Bassett and the Little Bakery have nothing to do with the situation.
"If their Facebook post was true, I would probably resign tomorrow," Broderick told WGRZ. "It's a fabricated Facebook post, it says nothing to do with free bread free giveaways, absolutely nothing."
Broderick says another issue is any so-called event held on the property where money is exchanged, would also be a violation of town ordinances.
The Little Bakery is promoting an event with a suggested donation of $35 on the property this weekend. The proceeds will benefit the local Shriners.
"That's not allowed," Broderick said. "There's a fire hall right up the road, that they could have their charitable event there like every other organization does."
Bassett says that the event does not require a ticket, nor do they ever require anyone to pay for their events.
According to the Supervisor, the Little Bakery only has to fix the outstanding violations for the matter to be closed.
2 On Your Side observed two inspection stickers on the window of the shed, dated July 11 and July 12, which would appear to resolve those violations.
As for Kyle and Alisha King, they operated Niagara Nightmares in North Tonawanda for several years, but moved to Lewiston in November 2021. They purchased 15 acres with the plan to operate a farm and continue their annual haunted house.
Each year they would volunteers would perform in a haunted house and any proceeds generated would be donated to a charity, most recently the Niagara Co. SPCA.
In March 2022, Kyle was issued a zoning violation for operating a business on his residential property.
"He's in a rural residential area and is not in a business area," said Broderick.
"He's charging admittance, it is a business, whether it's for charity or not he's still running a business."
King went ahead and operated the charitable haunted house during the 2022 Halloween season. He was again cited for violating zoning laws.
King maintains that his haunted house, which will instead be a corn maze this year because of the kerfuffle with the town, is no different that a get together anyone else would have.
"We're inviting the public, but they're not paying to be on my property," King said. "This is no different than us throwing a party at our house."
To try avoid any further issues with the town, King applied for his property to be added as an agriculture district, which would allow him to operate a farm.
"We took all the right steps to become a farm in order to be able to do what we want to do,' King said. "That's what we're planning to do this year and they're fighting us."
A trial is set for next Wednesday between King and the Town of Lewiston regarding the violations.