The city of Oneonta is expecting a crowd for Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, announcing Monday that the meeting has been moved from City Hall to a larger venue.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 5 at the Anderson Center for the Arts, 43-61 Clinton St., on the campus of Hartwick College.
Included on the agenda is a public hearing regarding the proposed sale of 27 Market St. — a step required by the city code before a council vote can happen on a property sale.
City officials are drafting a purchase and sale agreement for the council to consider at a future meeting.
City Administrator Greg Mattice said Monday that details of ongoing contract negotiations can’t be shared publicly, but that the city has been transparent about being in talks with Rehabilitation Support Services Inc. regarding potential development plans.
An offer from RSS has not been presented to the council yet.
“We’ve had some back and forth with RSS about what a purchase and sale agreement would look like,” Mattice said, “and when they’re ready we will bring it to council for discussion, although as a contract negotiation I’d imagine that discussion would occur in executive session at first.”
RSS provides community-based mental health and substance abuse services, including housing and employment assistance.
The plan proposed by RSS would develop the slightly larger than a half-acre of property at the corner of Chestnut and Market streets into a $25 million mixed-use building with low-income housing and units set aside for RSS clients.
Some Oneonta residents, downtown landlords and business owners object to the plan.
At past public meetings, letters to the editor of The Daily Star and comments on social media, many feel there is a perceived rush to sell before RSS must meet its deadlines to apply for state aid.
Many also don’t want RSS clients living downtown, assuming an increase in crime and a decrease in business would be the result.
Others said they would have liked to have seen local property owners have a chance to pitch their vision for the property.
The property at 27 Market St. is the site of the former Oneonta Sales Co. building. The city acquired the property in 2020 and demolished the derelict building in September of last year. The full parcel consists of 23, 25 and 27-33 Market St.
Mattice said that the city would not have purchased the parcel and paid to demolish the building if private developers on their own wanted to develop it at their expense — the city wanted a say in how the downtown parcel is redeveloped.
“It would make no sense, in my opinion, for the city to purchase the parcel, demolish the building and then sell it to the highest bidder with no idea what the buyer intends to do with it,” he said. “By coordinating with a developer such as RSS, the city can ensure the development fits within the context of the city’s overall vision for downtown.”
The city hosted a town hall meeting Feb. 27, during which city officials attempted to explain its rationale for pursuing a purchase agreement with RSS by going into exhaustive detail about this vision and where it came from.
“Many studies and plans done by the city and county, not to mention RSS, have indicated there is a need for this type of housing, as well as housing for all other income levels, in the city, as is the case pretty much nationwide,” he said.
Feeling unconvinced and unheard after that meeting, a group of city residents gathered Sunday to express their concerns about the proposed sale ahead of the public hearing.
Luisa Montanti, Fourth Ward resident and Southside Mall general manager, said Monday that about 60 people attended Sunday’s meeting, which went for about an hour and 40 minutes and was also held at the Anderson theater.
She said that people spoke both against and in favor of the project, but one point was clear: don’t bring more people who need social services to Oneonta with there is no support for them here.
“I’m very proud of our community for finally getting together and voicing their concerns,” she said. “They definitely had a democratic approach, and I commend our moderator Dan Butterman.”
The speaker order was drawn at random from names written on index cards. That way, Montanti said, there was no favoring people and no censoring of questions.
This was in contrast to the way public comment was handled at the city-sponsored town hall, which she said was “controlling and patronizing us in a way that’s not acceptable.”
“We’re responsible people,” she said. “We’re not loudmouths, we’re not NIMBYs. We’re proactive, fiscally responsible and we want the city of Oneonta to succeed.”