A local attorney and a former county planning director questioned the town of Oneonta’s process for reviewing a proposal for expansion from the Cooperstown All Star Village at a public hearing Monday, Aug. 31.
The Town Board hearing, which will remain open for comment until the next town board meeting Sept. 9, considered a proposal from CASV to rezone some property it owns from a residential agriculture designation to a planned development district. That legislative action requires approval from the Town Board.
The proposal is part of CASV’s overall expansion plan.
“We want to be able to combine our existing campus with this parcel for tax purposes,” the application stated.
It also stated that the function would be to expand the facility’s parking lot. Other application documents have described two new fields, a pedestrian overpass to the parking lot and other items.
Among the dozen or so community members in attendance were local attorney Doug Zamelis and former Otsego County Planning Director and state Department of Environmental Conservation staffer Diane Carlton.
“As a land use planner who is well versed in (the State Environmental Quality Review Act),” Carlton said, “I can professionally say this PDD application should not be considered on its own, separately from other proposals.”
She said that the use of several state Environmental Assessment Forms for recent CASV proposals and CASV’s appearance 11 times during the last 16 months before the Planning Board for projects ranging from lot line adjustments to a new bunkhouse were “a clear example of segmenting” the development, which “is not permitted under SEQRA.”
“I would suggest the town require one EAF for all aspects of this project before moving forward,” Carlton said, adding that “failure to do such could result in problems for the town if one or more local residents are unhappy with decisions made on this project.”
Zamelis, who said he lives in Milford, but cared about the project because “we’ve got a great deal of traffic and short-term rental activity” related to baseball tourism, said he was concerned about the expansion and cited comments from the Otsego County Planning Department.
That advisory document, signed by county Planning Director Tammie Harris and dated Aug. 19, assessed broader community impacts of the project and recommended approval with modifications for CASV’s proposed expansion.
“The county strongly urges the town to work carefully with the applicant to avoid future segmentation, understand CASV’s long-term plans, and consider the cumulative impacts of the CASV’s development,” the document stated. “Any future planned development of CASV should include a complete vision.”
“This is about as riled up as I’ve seen our county planning department ever get,” said Zamelis, an environmental and land use lawyer who has spoken against development projects in the county in the past. He said he was speaking on behalf of himself.
“I want to see the town of Oneonta do this right,” Zamelis said after the meeting. “I want to see them follow the law, implement the SEQRA process with integrity, and make a reasoned determination based upon the facts.”
County Board of Representatives Chairperson Edwin Frazier Jr., R-District 1, attended the meeting and briefly spoke with CASV representatives Dan Hooper and Hunter Grace following the meeting. Town Supervisor Will Rivera said board members Patricia Riddell Kent and Teresa DeSantis had been excused from attendance.