Latest Riverside Drive Proposal Falls Flat with Caz Residents

Additional traffic, lack of parking top concerns

By Aaron Gifford

Cazenovia village residents said Monday that a proposed senior apartment/medical complex on Riverside Drive is too big and would generate traffic and parking problems in a residential neighborhood.

The developers, Ed Green and Scott Shannon, fielded several questions about their proposed 73,000-square-foot building at the site of the former town highway garage.

But the concerned residents didn’t like their answers.

The project would include about 100 parking spots, but it’s still unclear how many of those spaces could be accessible to library patrons and how many would be for the apartment residents and medical office staff. Green and Shannon also could not say precisely how many apartments would be in the four-story complex, though they estimate it would be fewer than 36.

The medical offices, Green said, would likely be staffed by St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center doctors.

Bob Hood, a local businessman, said he loved the mixed-use concept, but putting a building that size in the area between Chittenango Creek and the library is like “stuffing a size-12 foot in a size-6 shoe.”

He suggested putting the medical offices east of downtown on Route 20 and scaling the Riverside project back to apartments and public parking.

“Why would you consider putting any type of project of this scale on a [potential public parking] lot before you take care of existing business owners?” Hood asked. “You only have one chance to do that.”

Mill Street resident Bob Constable said many years ago, town officials promised the rapidly expanding library that more land would be available to accommodate public need if necessary. If the town sells the land to the village and the village to the developer, that promise would be broken.

George Schmit, a Cazenovia resident who is in charge of activities at the Boy Scout house across the street from the library, said the building would encroach upon the scout house lawn, a green space that the organization has allowed the public to use. The project’s proposed creek trail could encourage an abundance of people to use the scout lawn, potentially contributing undue garbage, dog waste and left-behind fishing tackle on the property.

Schmit is also worried about heavy traffic in a residential area frequented by children.

Green said the idea for a senior apartment/medical complex was the result of previous public meetings and community value surveys. The concept is popular, he said, for senior citizens who want to sell their homes but remain in the community. It’s also a way to put new property on the tax rolls and promote economic development, he said.

“We’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “We want you to know that. The intent is to make something that is viable, desirable and fits into the community.”

In other business

The board continued a public hearing on a proposed “social host” ordinance but did not take any action. Under the latest draft of a “social host” ordinance, adults who allow underage drinking parties to take place on their property would be penalized. Under the proposal, violators would be fined $500 for the first offense, with that amount increasing with additional violations. Critics said the law, as it is proposed, does not go far enough to differentiate situations like a few college kids splitting a six pack of beer while watching a football game and younger teen-agers who have a keg party when someone’s parents are out of town.

Proponents included Madison County STOP DWI Coordinator Steve Goodfriend and representative of the Little Falls Village Board, which previously passed a social host law and reported that incidents of underage drinking has decreased at least 17 percent.

In Little Falls, Goodfriend said, the police chief finds out about parties through sources in the community and on social networking sites like Twitter, and shows up at the home for which the party is being planned.

“He says, ‘Let me tell you what will happen if you have that party,’” Goodfriend said. “This is an opportunity to say we want to curb this. We want to slowly diminish the [underage] alcoholic parties.”

The board also scheduled two public hearing on parking issues for the Jan. 4 meeting. The first will be to discuss the creation of a parking violations bureau, which would allow the village clerk and deputy clerk to accept parking fine money from those who choose not to have their case heard in court. The second is for a proposal to allow all-day parking on several streets outside of downtown where parking is currently restricted to two hours.

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Latest Riverside Drive Proposal Falls Flat with Caz Residents

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