The town of Oneonta Planning Board set a date Monday, Nov. 18 for a public information session on a request from the Cooperstown All Star Village to increase the number of fireworks displays to 16 annually — two more shows than currently allowed.
Hunter Grace, the ballpark’s baseball administrator, said the additional fireworks displays would be during Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.
The park wants to add new tournaments during the three-day holiday weekends and include fireworks shows to ensure all attendees receive the same high-quality experience, he said.
“What we’re looking to do is pretty straightforward,” Grace said. “We want to make sure that they get the same experience that everybody else does.”
The Memorial Day tournament probably would be a girls’ softball event, and the Labor Day tournament would be for the All-Ripken Games, Grace said.
The informational meeting to update the public is planned for 7:05 p.m. Dec. 2, the date of the next Planning Board meeting.
Grace said that the fireworks would end by 10 p.m., consistent with the other fireworks displays, and the same fireworks type would be used.
The last time the All Star Village sought to make changes to its fireworks schedule in 2022 — when the day of the fireworks went from Thursdays to a different day each week — the meeting was standing room only, board member Rob Lishansky said.
“I’d like to think that some of that opposition has changed, in light of the way things have been run over there,” he said.
Board member Reggie McGuinness asked if there had been any complaints about the fireworks during the recent season.
Board clerk Wendy Cleaveland said that no complaints had come through the town Code Enforcement Office, but she had heard about one complaint made to the park administration directly.
“We definitely want to make sure we’re meeting what they need to see and to meet everybody’s concerns, and making sure they’re heard and we’re abiding by the rules,” Grace said.