OBSERVER File Photo The RED House for Youth

CASSADAGA — The issues surrounding the Red House have come to a close, allowing the business to operate like it did for several years.

The Red House in Cassadaga has served its surrounding community for years, its full name being the RED House for Youth. According to the website, the family owned and operated business was designed as a not-for-profit business. All the proceeds from events support the upkeep of the buildings and grounds and any profit otherwise goes towards youth development efforts in the Cassadaga Valley region.

“The Red House is a magical place,” says their website. “It evokes a strong sense of history and creates a comfortable haven for anyone who enters, adding a certain mystique to every event.”

Steve and Nancy Wickmark, owners of the popular wedding venue, have been dealing with people, more specifically one person, in the community not wanting their business to run anymore. They have had to deal with court cases and the Zoning Board of Appeals in Cassadaga, as well as the village board to get the issue straightened out.

It all started in 2014, when Barry Wilcox, a resident of Cassadaga went to the Cassadaga Village Board to complain about the popular wedding venue. His letter to the board included noise, fire hazard and quality of life complaints.

According to Wilcox, the weddings that were hosted at the Red House continued until 2 a.m. He also said that he could not sit out on his deck as the noise made it impossible. Wilcox also added that he could hear the noise in his bedroom, including yelling, swearing, partying and slamming doors. In fact, Wilcox labeled the whole situation as “obnoxious.”

At that same board meeting, Wilcox went on to describe that the noise complaint was just the tip of the iceberg. Wilcox alleged the Red House “poses a fire hazard, with over 50 Chinese lanterns being sent up in the air during these parties.” Wilcox also said, “This has gone too far, this has become a quality-of-life issue.”

A couple weeks later in 2014, the Wickmarks addressed the complaint that was made by Wilcox. Meanwhile, the Red House owners received a “flood of support” from their neighbors. According to Steve Wickmark, his neighbors came to him after the complaint went public. They came to him to tell him that they support his business and they have no complaints about it. In fact, Wickmark stated that the neighbors said he does a very good thing for the community with the Red House.

While still adressing the complaint, the Wickmarks explained their passion for the Red House and what it means to them and the community. After moving back to the area after being in Washington for years, the Wickmarks had an idea to help out the local youth programs with fundraisers, organizational meetings and a place to have training situations, which was the Red House. They wanted to help support youth programs in a business matter. Many organizations have benefited from the popular wedding venue including area scouts, 4-H and various other youth organizations.

In 2011, people started asking to use the rustic barn that is part of the Red House for weddings. Wickmark explained that the people he rents to understand there is to be no noise after 11 p.m., even though Wilcox said that the noise went on through the wee hours of the morning. “We don’t allow overnight use for this reason; we want to be good neighbors and keep the noise down,” Wickmark said. “We tell them the music goes off at 11 p.m. and the music goes off. We weren’t aware of the music playing until 2 a.m. and don’t think it happened.” In fact, Wilcox’s property is not very close to the Red House — and the immediate neighbors have nothing but support for the Wickmarks.

In June of 2018, the Red House stopped taking reservations. Before the announcement, they went to a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting where the board said that since the house is in a residential zoning district, they can not operate it as a business. Although the Wickmarks kept all of the reservations they previously had, they told all the parties that the music was to be off at 10 p.m., to guard from any more complaints.

Later in the same month, the Wickmarks requested that the board reconsider their decision of denying the property a variance, which would allow them to continue to operate as a business. Still, the board denied to request. Then, Rodney Lind, the village code enforcer at the time, was seeking guidance from the board as to whether or not he should inspect the Red House for possible code violations. Steve Wickmark did not appreciate this sudden venture, as he knew that Lind was a friend of Wilcox. Lind kept repeating to the board that he “could not look away” from the possible building code violations.

“Because of the delay in getting the variance, there were changes in state law,” said Steve Wickmark in an interview with the OBSERVER on Wednesday. “We ended up having to do safety and fire safety things, but now the property is in complete compliance.”

Finally, after months of waiting, the zoning board granted a variance to the Red House. They were able to open for business again. At that meeting, Nancy Wickmark made a presentation to the board about how the house has brought revenue in for other businesses in the community and how the business has cheered up the village. Three other residents supported the Wickmarks at that meeting and three businesses sent in letters to the board stating that they had benefited from the people the Red House brought into the community for events.

However the Red House was then issued an injunction by the Chautauqua County State Supreme Court, which prohibited any events from taking place there until further notice. That court ruled the zoning board acted improperly by issuing the Red House a use variance. After much deliberation at multiple meetings, the Wickmarks were given a special use permit.

Then, Barry and Gayle Wilcox filed an Article 78 proceeding against the village, insisting the court look at whether the zoning board proceeded appropriately.

As of Dec. 23, 2019, the Red House is in the clear. The court hearing was held and the court denied the Wilcox Article 78 proceeding and dismissed their petition on all grounds. The Wickmarks are free to continue to run the house as a business.

“It was a good lesson,” said Steve Wickmark. “It’s been frustrating, but gratifying to see how much support we had from the whole community. … We’re in good shape now.”

The Red House is now taking reservations again, with some openings for 2020 left open still. They are booking into 2021 and have people calling about 2022 already. The Wickmarks expect to fill in a lot of the open spaces after Valentine’s Day.