Cooperstown All Star Village representatives must submit a Planned Development District application for part of its expansion plans, the town of Oneonta town attorney said at a Monday, Aug. 3 Planning Board meeting.
A PDD is a town zoning designation that permits diverse, but specific uses. The baseball tournament camp’s existing fields, owned via Abner Doubleday LLC, are within a PDD.
The meeting had separate agenda items for a site plan review of a proposed parking lot expansion and a sketch site plan review of a campus expansion. The subjects were addressed together.
The All Star Village’s June campus expansion proposal included a new stadium-style field with about 1,200 seats, another playing field, athletic facilities, a bunkhouse, additional parking, a pedestrian overpass above State Route 23 and other upgrades and additions.
In application documents, the business estimated an investment of $20 million to $30 million. The organization also has proposed amending lot lines for properties they own to make them contiguous.
At the meeting Monday, town attorney Corinne Cavanaugh was the main official to speak with the developers. She said the applicants needed to file a Planned Development District application. Cavanaugh said it would conform with a letter the applicants had provided July 8.
That document could not be reviewed by press time Monday.
“We just need that in the proper application format,” she said.
Dan Hooper, general manager for Cooperstown All Star Village, asked whether that was as opposed to “adding it to the existing PDD because it would be contiguous to the existing PDD?”
“Yes,” Cavanaugh said.
Cavanaugh said “we need that application in front of this board in order for the town board” to make a determination, “because this board needs to make a recommendation to the town board in order to do that.”
It was unclear by press time how the PDD application may impact the proposal and whether it would change the standards and discretion the town has for whether to approve the projects. Cavanaugh said after the meeting that the town would not be providing comment on the pending application at this time, answering also for Planning Board Chair Reggie McGuinness.
According to the latest available town zoning map, the parcels owned by Abner Doubleday LLC at Cooperstown All Star Village are a mix of PDD and residence agriculture.
Some members of the community expressed mixed feelings about the proposal. Jennifer Murphy was one of a few town residents to attend the meeting to hear details about the expansion.
“I want them to succeed,” she said. “I’m very delighted that they hire local people, that they support local businesses like the renters and the cleaners and the lawn care people,” Murphy said, and at the same time “there are like way too many parking issues right here in little old West Oneonta.”
Murphy said she liked the proposal for a pedestrian overpass, but that it was insufficient for all the entrances to the facility. She added that she would like to see sound mitigation for the fields.
McGuinness said during the meeting that the board had received two letters in opposition to the expansion. The meeting was informational and would not include public comment, McGuinness said, but the next meeting on Aug. 17 would have it.