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Friday, March 23, 2007March 23 2007Tourist-Resident Tensions Dominate As Cooperstown Candidates Debate  Photo by: Russ Honicker Polls Open Noon-9 March 20 For Only Otsego County Race By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN This is it, the final stretch. And the three candidates for three spots on the village board cite one issue in common that voters want to talk to them about: The tourist-resident dynamic, and everything that means, from parking to overcrowding to the drain on municipal finances. Polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the fire hall, where voters will chose between Republican Tim Feury, a retired Blue Cross, Blue Shield actuary; Eric Hage, a stockbroker and founder of Mohican Financial Management on Railroad Street, and Lynne Mebust, whose professional background is in fundraising and grantsmanship for a civic-participation entity in Washington D.C. No surprise, given what the candidates have found generally, the tourist-resident dynamic was a central focus of the League of Women Voters’ Meet the Candidates Night, Monday, March 12, which filled the board room at 22 Main to near-capacity. Martha Grossi moderated. The first question, from Charles Hudson, Nelson Avenue, got right to the point: How can we raise income to village government? FEURY – Raise fees for out-of-town teams that are lined up to play at Doubleday Field. MEBUST – She agreed, saying the $300-350 fee is a pittance to organizers who are paid thousands to bring the teams here. Advertising inside Doubleday should also be considered. HAGE – Extract more from the county; of the $30 million Otsego County gets in sales tax, only $265,000, less than one percent, gets back to Cooperstown. Of the village’s $1.5 million budget, half goes to street repair caused by overuse. He would “building a better relationship with the county” and go after more money. Bruce Kramer, Estli Avenue, asked whether they would help protect neighborhoods east of the Susquehanna by preventing Woodside Hall from becoming a high-end hotel. HAGE– “Give it time to see if it can be sold to a private entity.” FEURY – It should be a private home. MEBUST – “I believe in the independence of the zoning board” and “I don’t like rhetoric.” Raising the specter of the building’s possible razing was provocative. (That was incorrectly attributed to Woodside Hall would-be developer Marc Kingsley in last week’s Freeman’s Journal; it was actually suggested by a Planning Board member.) With tourism pushing up rents, occupancy and home prices, Hugh MacDougall asked about affordable housing plans. FEURY said he hadn’t thought about it. MEBUST – She cited an income-price study that showed Cooperstown housing is twice what’s considered affordable. “What a village government can do about it, I’m not sure, but I’d like to look at it.” HAGE – He wondered at the wisdom of village government “interfering with the free-market system,” but said condo development and senior-citizen housing should be explored. What about a downtown parking lot or deck? HAGE – “The ideal solution is not to have cars come downtown.” Permit parking is and should be explored, he said. FEURY agreed. MEBUST – The village put together a plan for a parking deck in the early ‘90s, but it died “for lack of resident support.” Summertime crowds downtown, diagonal vs. parallel parking and public restrooms were among other tourist-resident issues raised. Cooperstown is the only village in Otsego County that has a race this year; the other eight village found only enough candidates to fill the vacancies. Bargain Rejected At CV-S 14-Vote Margin Rejects $7 Million By BREN MIOSEK CHERRY VALLEY The $7.7 million renovations of Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School would have cost local voters only $30,000. More than $30,000 would have been recovered in saved energy costs alone. Within a year, the school district is mandated to spend most of that money anyway, and pay for it with local tax dollars. Still, defying all such logic, voters Tuesday, March 13, defeated the proposed bond issue narrowly, 197-183, but irrevocably. “I’m definitely disappointed,” said Steven Schneider, school board vice president and chairman of the operations and infrastructure committee “... Most of the project consisted of things we need to do in terms of safety, like improving our fire-alarm system and the safety of our locker rooms.” The school board planned to meet Thursday, March 15, to discuss what to do next. The money was available on a one-time basis as part of the state’s multi-billion EXCELL-NY program. (The state Legislature had approved a huge appropriation for New York City schools, then found it necessary to approve a similar amount for upstate schools.) In addition to safety and security, the capital project was designed to pay for maintenance and repairs and save energy. Most interesting, it would have reconfigured the school so when the public walked in the front door, the facilities used by 90 percent of visitors would be at hand: the auditorium to the left, the gymnasium straight ahead, and the cafeteria to the right. The library, which dominates the entry way now, would have been relocated to a new floor on top of the cafeteria, and was designed to make developing research skills an integral part of the curriculum. “Several systems of our infrastructure are nearing the end of a 20-year life expectancy,” Superintendent of Schools Nicholas J. Savin told one of several public-information meetings a couple of weeks ago. “Our boiler system could be made to work more efficiently, we need to upgrade fixtures to reduce daily maintenance in both the boys’ and girls’ locker room, and we need to fix the roof. A good deal of what we’re talking about now will be going in front of the board next year if we don’t fix them now.” In addition to enhancing CV-S’s infrastructure, the Community Advisory Council – it includes parents, citizens, teachers, administrators and school board members, and was designed to maximize public input – addressed the idea of improving outside security as well. By creating a drop-off-only area for buses and improving exterior sidewalks the Community Advisory Committee was hoping to create a safer campus for students and visitors. “Students are constantly walking through the parking lots because there is no where else for them to be,” Savin said. Other proposed enhancements included repairing the front entry portico, repairing a small portion of the track, improving athletic field drainage, upgrading the public address system, upgrading the water purification system and adding a full building water softener system. Operational efficiency issues included consolidating administrative offices at the main entrance area, and creating restrooms accessible from outside for athletic events. “I’m not exactly sure what we’re going to do next,” said Schneider. “The message I’m hearing is that the community wants a quality, efficient school with vision. Right now, there appears to some level of dissatisfaction with the schools and the efficiency of our administration. Basically, we need to work harder at creating quality, efficiency, and vision. The whole project needs to be done if we’re going to have a high-quality school.” Woodside Hall Discussion Pitting Innkeeper vs. Former Innkeeper  Photo By: Russ Honicker Neighbors Want Tourism Kept West of Susquehanna River By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN The owner and past owner of The Inn at Cooperstown again found themselves on different sides of a transaction the other day. The Inn’s current owner, Marc Kingsley, and his wife Karen, are exploring if they can convert pillared Woodside Hall, perched on a hill at the east end of Main Street, into a 22-room luxury hotel. The Inn’s former owner, Mike Jerome, Brooklyn Avenue, is a past member of the village Planning Board as well – he was chairman for almost a decade – told a planning board informational hearing that, as far back as 1962, planning consultants have been recommending that intense activity related to tourism be limited to the village’s center, west of the Susquehanna River. “One of our intentions,” said Jerome, who was a planning board member when the current zoning map was adopted in 1988, “was to limit and control the size and location of tourist accommodations.” Woodside Hall is zoned R-1A, “one zone where tourist accommodations should not be allowed.” The only time a zone can be changed in contradiction to the comprehensive master plan is when it serves the “health, safety and welfare of the county.” The Woodside plans, he said, “serve no public purpose.” Jerome’s detailed critique of Kingsley’s plan for The Inn at Woodside Hall, which came at the start of a informational hearing in the village trustees’ room at 22 Main that was packed with neighbors and others who generally spoke against the plan, elicited a round of hearty applause. Kingsley waited to speak until the hearing neared an end; he pointed out that, strictly speaking, not all the uses in the Main Street/Estli Avenue neighborhood are residential. The Mohican Lodge, he said, is zoned for a B&B, and there is an Otsego County ARC hostel there too. He presented a petition signed by Inn at Cooperstown neighbors, avering that noise has never been a problem there. Even if Woodside Hall – an 1829 Greek revival mansion with a rare Egyptian revival gatehouse – becomes a private residence, Kingsley said, “it could be as noisy or even noisier than a hotel.” With no restaurant or bar, there would be even fewer deliveries than when Woodside Hall was a nursing home before it was sold last summer. The Rochester investment firm that bought it immediately put it back on the market. Planning Board Chairperson Teresa Drerup emphasized after the hearing that it was only for informational purposes. She said the board will discuss whether to do anything further at its next meeting, March 27. Informational or not, opinions flew from the 50-some people in the room. Here’s a sampling: • Neighbor Bob Lettis, Main Street – Allowing The Inn at Woodside Hall to go forward would “open up other areas as well” to new uses. • Barbara Ann Heegan, Bassett Healthcare director of volunteers – Has anyone considered turning Woodside into an independent living community for the elderly, similar to what Christa Development is doing at The Plains at Parish Homestead in Oneonta? • Neighbor Laura Kilty, Estli Avenue – “This is the beginning of the invasion of tourism to the east side of the Susquehanna.” She turned over a 30-signature petition opposing the project. • Stephanie Bauer, Pioneer Street – “Once it becomes a hotel, what’s to stop a Best Western, a Howard Johnson’s or a Marriott” from moving into the village? • Donna Mackie, Mill Street – She was the one encouraging word for the Kingsleys: She said she worked for them for 10 years and knows the Woodside Hall project would be a credit to the neighborhood. Wendell Tripp, Fair Street, the former village mayor and retired village administrator, said he knows a dozen couples who retired to Cooperstown over the years, attracted by the quality of life; in recent years, however, he knows of three couples who wanted to do so but changed their minds because the village is changing so much. “If one property can be changed, then other properties can be changed,” he said. If The Inn at Woodside Hall were to be approved, it would be “a very, very important and unfortunate step backwards.” More applause. In addition to the 30-signature petition, the Planning Board has received letters from Ann and George Vamvakias, Bob and Grace Lettis, Peggy Poulson, Atty. Robert J. Poulson Jr., Frank and Dominica Annese, Kenneth Sprague, all of Main Street; Pat Thorpe, Esti Avenue; Stephen and Denis Nagy, Fernleigh Drive; Rick and Jeanne Hulse, Pioneer Street; Keys and Allison Hill-Edgar, Mohican Lodge owners, 4 Main St. and Henry F. Cooper, the Otesgo 2000 president; Crowd Gathers For CCE Meeting; Board Shunned by Members of the Community ONEONTA “You should consider what I'm about to say to you as job counseling,” said James Atwell to executive director Dinnie Sloman during the privilege of the floor portion of Thursday night's Cornell Cooperative Extension Board of Directors meeting at the FoxCare Wellness Center. “I think you failed very badly. You've rendered your self incapable of recovery. From what I've seen, and from what I've heard, this community has absolutely no faith in you. It's not the manner of the matter, but rather the matter of the matter.” On Thursday, Jan. 18, the directors voted for a five-year plan, unaware that would trigger the firing the following morning of two veteran employees, one with 33 years of service, a janitor with over 10 years experience, and other employees who had displayed dedication over the years. Two of the most visible extension agents, Rich McCaffery, who led 4-H and other youth efforts for more than three decades, and David Cox, who handled agriculture development and horticulture for six years, were told their jobs were eliminated when they got to work; their computers were locked, and they were told to clean out their personal effects and leave the building by 4:30 p.m. A locksmith was standing by. “I gave it my all,” said McCaffery said to the board. “I gave it my energy and my trust. They told me to vacate the premises, and then I watched as they changed the locks. I probably would have been happy with retiring, but no one ever even approached me about that.” Searching for an explanation, members of the board chose not to respond to McCaffery when he asked them if they were fully cognisant of the fact that he'd be eliminated if they elected to adopt a five year plan brought forth by Sloman. After failing to elicit any kind of a reaction, McCaffery addressed the crowd that had gathered and thanked them for their support. According to Sloman, the five-year plan will ensure financial solvency while strengthening the organization's ability to provide programming for youth, farmers and other residents interested in agricultural, horticulture, nutrition and financial literacy. Like many others at Thursday night's meeting, McCaffery was allowed to view the five-year plan that cost him his job for the very first time. “I'm confused,” said Willie Bruno of Middlefield. “I have no idea which direction you're heading in. I have an apple orchard that I've invested in. I needed a field rep and you took him away. The system is broken. You broke it.” Shocked, angered and dismayed, others questioned recent wage adjustments for board members. Gwen Dowsey of Middlefield asked the board to provide a complete detailed public accounting of the recent raises granted - including job titles – salary before “the plan” implementation and after and the percentage of increase for each position affected. “I was totally shocked, embarrassed and disappointed,” said Christine Amos referring to the dismissal of McCaffery and Cox. “Rich gave you 33 years. He just said he would have been content with retiring. Don't you think it would have been nice to send him off with a nice retirement?” Through it all, members of the board sat stone-faced and stolid. Following further discussion, board members agreed to review all public comments at a later date. Whether or not they'll have answers at their May 17 meeting in Cooperstown remains to be seen. Labels: Archives
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