Current Activities

May 2024

The Board met on May 23rd to elect our officers and add one new member – Chris Pellicano.

Bill Wagner was re-elected Chairman, Vic Montalbo will remain Treasurer, Rich Torcasio will stay on as Secretary. The Vice Chairman role will be vacant for the time being with the resignation of Tom Kontak. All ABO updates are in place and submitted. Under old business, the Lions Club repaid the $17,000 loan with $71 interest for being a couple days behind on the total payment. Since the project was fully funded by Niagara County, the LDC was not concerned about receiving the money. It was just a matter of timing.

May 2023

The Board met on May 9th to elect our officers and add two new members – Jennifer Ranaletti

and Tom Kontak. Both bring a wealth of knowledge and business experience to the Board. The main piece of business besides organizational issues was the Approval in Principal for the Lions Club project on Ward Road. They have received $115k in Niagara County funding for the property improvements, however it is a reimbursable grant, so they need the money up front and will repay as each phase is completed. The Board agreed to grant the Lions their first approval for $17k  pending the completion of signed paperwork that is currently being prepared. To avoid a conflict of interest, new Board member Tom Kontak abstained and LDC Attorney Bobbi O’Toole is having an alternate attorney prepare the legal documents as she is also a Lions member.

May 2024

The WLDC Board met again in January and February 2023

After sitting idle for 2 years, the WLDC Board met again in January and February 2023 to approve the minutes of previous meetings and to discuss the future of the organization. It was determined that we should continue to function and look to add more Board members after the death of Richard Muscatello and the resignation of Bob Cliffe. All members will continue in their current roles until the Annual Meeting to be held in April 2023.

B Wagner will take over the role of Secretary temporarily until a new person can be elected.
The WLDC currently has over $96,000 in the bank due to both Jacobs ladder and Pellicano’s repaying their outstanding loans in full during our lull.

Barge Brewing never came to fruition and therefore the WLDC does not have any active projects at this time.

3 potential new Board members attended the Feb 28th meeting and we will look to add them in April of 2023 if they are interested in joining.

May 2023

The Board met on May 9th to elect our officers and add two new members – Jennifer Ranaletti

and Tom Kontak. Both bring a wealth of knowledge and business experience to the Board. The main piece of business besides organizational issues was the Approval in Principal for the Lions Club project on Ward Road. They have received $115k in Niagara County funding for the property improvements, however it is a reimbursable grant, so they need the money up front and will repay as each phase is completed. The Board agreed to grant the Lions their first approval for $17k  pending the completion of signed paperwork that is currently being prepared. To avoid a conflict of interest, new Board member Tom Kontak abstained and LDC Attorney Bobbi O’Toole is having an alternate attorney prepare the legal documents as she is also a Lions member.

December 2019

The Pellicano’s grant has been closed on between the 2 entities and is in full effect

The WLDC is currently working with the Town of Wheatfield on a similar size deal for Barge Brewing Company, LLC located at 2490 Niagara Road. This will be a conversion of the existing property (The Meeting Place) into a restaurant/bar, event space and small batch craft brewery. It is expected to create 21 new jobs.  An opening date is not set, but later in 2020 is expected assuming everything falls into place. An RFP for consulting services is expected to go out in Q1 2020.

May 2019

The WLDC continues to work with Pellicano’s on their new location.

As of May 2019, the WLDC, in conjunction with the Town of Wheatfield and the OCR (Office of Community Renewal) are working to rescind the grant money allocated to Big Thunder Brewing. Their project is not ready to move forward at this time. If that situation changes, we will re-engage with them and OCR to see what grants we can apply for on their behalf.