Island Dispatch, 1993-04-16

              ISLAND DISPATCH ills The Dispatch Is Moving Next Tuesday! Niagara Frontier Publications is moving temporarily to the building behind Rockwood Bros. Collison A at 1858 Whitehaven Rd. SERVING THE GRAND ISLAND COMMUNITY SINCE 1944 NIAGARA FRONTIER PUBLICATIONS 500 With The GRAND ISLAND NEWS GRAND ISLAND, NY (716)773-7676 24 PAGES VOL. 50 • NO. 3 APR. 16, 1993 Old Trinity Is In Jeopardy UNLESS the town board agrees to issue a special use permit to allow renting office space in Old Trinity Church, the landmark house of worship may have to be demolished. The planning board Monday turned down the application in a split vote. It did, however, agree to reconsider the request if Trinity United Methodist Church would deed the 1968 building to another entity. But Timothy Mordaunt, the attorney for the Save Old Trinity Committee, said this same proposal was turned down by the Church's Board of Trustees and the Western New York United Methodist Church Council when he submitted it in 1990. Mordaunt and Fay Recti, Historic Trinity Committee chairperson, in a news release to (he Island Dispatch Tuesday, stated: "$50,000 in compassionate support from the Island community has renovated the exterior and purchased a boiler for Historic Trinity. This money will be wasted, and the building demolished in light of the planning board's action. As a result, a WNY landmark, the Island's second oldest church structure, will vanish and be lost forever. "Historic Trinity Committee's goal was to make the chapel, and large assembly hall with stage, generally available to community groups and organizations for activities, meetings and functions. Building space of this type and size is not readily available on the Island. The Committee believed that the availability of space in Historic Trinity would fulfill a great need for the community as a whole. "We have one last chance to save Historic Trinity. On Monday, April 19 at 8 P.M. the Grand Island Town Board will meet to consider the planning board's recommendation. The town board may elect to ignore the planning board and decide to save Historic Trinity by granting the special use application. "A favorable decision by the town board will save an Island landmark and a valuable community resource. The money from leasing the office space in Historic Trinity represents a critical key in making this dream come true." They also urged residents in favor of saving Old Trinity to attend Monday's town board meeting, "write a letter or call a town councilperson." MEK WEATHER: The Old Farmer".* Almanac says - April 17--18: .snowstorm. April 19-23: clear, warm.  ANR Has History Of FERC Violations IN RESEARCH recently unearthed by the Grand Island Citizens Against the Pipeline, several newspaper articles from 1992 detailed pipeline construction violations resulting in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issuing ANR Pipeline fines of $350,000. The fines were imposed for alleged building and operating violations in four states before getting proper environmental permits. In Michigan FERC stated that ANR' s construction was underway before the approval was received by the state's Dept. of Natural Resources. The line also ran through a wetlands area that was subsequently restored. Other violations involved construction before receiving clearance from state historical preservation offices in Illinois and Louisiana, and for building a meter station on the Maumee lateral in Ohio without giving FERC a 30-day notice. The violations date back to 1988-89. An article in the May 15, 1992 issue of Gas Daily reported that ANR agreed to pay the Tines but didn't admit or deny that any violations occurred under Section 311 of the Natural Gas Policy Act. The company did admit, however, to the facts in the case. ANR also agreed to immediately implement a program to ensure problems like these would not happen again. Empire (ANR) is currently awaiting a decision from the US Army Corps of Engineers as to whether they can construct a gas pipeline that will traverse Grand Island and Wheatfield on its way to Syracuse. Many Islanders believe had the Grand Island Citizens Against the Pipeline been any less vocal similar violations would have occurred here.