Al Parisian and the Oneonta clan that bears his name will receive the 2011 St. Mary’s School Distinguished Education Partner Award, it was announced Tuesday, Feb. 1, in his room at Fox Nursing Home. (Details, A2)
LOTS OF RIDES: OPT’s buses are providing almost 700,000 rides a year, more than any city of similar size in New York State, OPT Director Paul Patterson mentioned the other day.
NO SHAVES: The finest mustaches and beards will be on display at Beardoff 2011, beginning at 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, at the Autumn Cafe, to benefit the Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Jump. Plus four musical acts and a comedian.
OLD SCENES: Stare at scenes of old Oneonta on stereo-opticon cards at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6, at the History Center, as Richard Loren lectures on, “A Brief History of Stereoscopy.”
Thursday, February 3, 2011
goin’polar
 |
| Judging from the Sunday, Jan. 30 MCS, Chinese auction to benefit the Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Jump, the Welcome to the 2011 Polar Bear Jump – it begins at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19 – will be bigger than ever. The event will aid eight ailing youngsters, plus Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care, and a local Milford church. For details, or to register to jump, visit www.pbjump.com. At left, Milford’s Charlotte Bernhardt and sisters Destiny and Faith Marshal posed with the mascott. |
Rezoning Will Help Business, Neighborhoods, Planner Says
Look At Map, Discuss Regs Weekly This Month
By JIM KEVLIN
Given the buzz of excitement from the 80-some people gathered in the Atrium at the Foothills Performing Arts & Civic Center the other night, who would have guessed the draw was ... zoning.
But so it was.
The hottest topic among the four breakout tables Monday, Jan. 31, was Suncrest Terrace, that vista-filled neighborhood that rises high into the hills to the left as you head out of the city on West Street.
“That hill is fragile,” declared Jim Baker, a Suncrest Terrace neighbor, as a chorus of concern arose from his neighbors about a new “U” – for “university” – zone that would allow property owner Hartwick College considerable leeway if it chose to develop the hilltop.
Peter Friedman was back in his element: The city’s zoning enforcement officer for 24 years – he retired in 2008 – had somehow been tempted out of retirement in November 2009 and onto the city’s ZTF – zoning task force.
Since then, Friedman has been meeting weekly, sometimes twice weekly, with other ZTF members – businessman Ed May, Opportunity for Otsego’s Gary Herzig, Otsego County Chamber President Rob Robinson, and several others – to bring zoning regulations and the zoning map into line with the new Comprehensive Master Plan completed a couple of years ago.
And the work’s not over. From 4 p.m. on every Tuesday in February, ZTF members will be available in City Hall, where you can review the new maps and ask questions.
After revisions, a final hearing is planned in March or April, with Common Council action on the result, perhaps in May.
The morning after the Atrium hearing, Friedman reflected on the night before, the months before that and what’s to come.
The Suncrest Terrace residents will probably be unhappy with anything short of no development on the hill behind them, he mused, but he was very bullish about what the ZTF hath wrought.
“I’m very happy with this,” he said of the proposed map and regulations. “I’m very comfortable with this. If the economy improves, we’ll be poised for some advances in the quality of the community.”
During his year as the city’s ZEO, the Brooklyn native – he spent six years in construction in New York City before moving to New Berlin – observed that many worthy projects simply got bogged down in the city’s review process or were stymied by niches of opposition.
“The city, for all practical purposes, was prohibiting housing and severely limiting the possibility of businesses starting or businesses coming to town,” he said.
Under the old code, housing is prohibited on most of the city’s vacant land, primarily seven acres between River Street and West Broadway and four acres around Silver Creek.
“The zoning process was too open or too sensitive to the opposition of small minority factions to projects that would have had a substantial benefit to the overall community,” Friedman said.
He ticked off a half-dozen proposals that faltered: Jim Baldo’s on River Street; Jim Reeks’ around Silver Creek; Don Lindberg’s near the Old Main Apartments; Fred Bresee’s on Wilcox Avenue, and Mike Ranieri’s on upper East Street.
“And then, of course, there’s the enormous piece of vacant land on top of the ridge north of Hartwick College,” he said. “That’s probably more than 100 acres. It has been zoned as one-family housing only, 40,000-square-foot lot-size minimum.”
In his wrap-up comments to the Atrium meeting, Mayor Dick Miller said that, when he was Hartwick College president, the school had determined the code limited it to building two dozen $400,000 homes.
The city, Hartwick concluded, didn’t have sufficient demand for that many houses at that price, so nothing resulted.
But housing isn’t the only concern of the new code, Friedman said, and he mentioned:
• Simplicity – the new code clarifies the language and the process, and also consolidates uses. For instance, the old code has 13 separate zones in the downtown; the new code has one.
• Neighborhood protection – Conversions of single-family homes into multiple units or student housing will be prohibited in the city’s most residential areas: the East End, the West End, most of River Street, Suncrest Terrace/Ravine Parkway, and the downtown mansion district.
• Encouraging business – In particular, the new code contains “gateway” zones, Chestnut Street through the West End and Route 7 through the East, where businesses and homes could be mixed. And some business used will be allowed on West Street between Chestnut and Center, where property owners have historically resisted investing, and it shows.
By JIM KEVLIN
Given the buzz of excitement from the 80-some people gathered in the Atrium at the Foothills Performing Arts & Civic Center the other night, who would have guessed the draw was ... zoning.
But so it was.
The hottest topic among the four breakout tables Monday, Jan. 31, was Suncrest Terrace, that vista-filled neighborhood that rises high into the hills to the left as you head out of the city on West Street.
“That hill is fragile,” declared Jim Baker, a Suncrest Terrace neighbor, as a chorus of concern arose from his neighbors about a new “U” – for “university” – zone that would allow property owner Hartwick College considerable leeway if it chose to develop the hilltop.
Peter Friedman was back in his element: The city’s zoning enforcement officer for 24 years – he retired in 2008 – had somehow been tempted out of retirement in November 2009 and onto the city’s ZTF – zoning task force.
Since then, Friedman has been meeting weekly, sometimes twice weekly, with other ZTF members – businessman Ed May, Opportunity for Otsego’s Gary Herzig, Otsego County Chamber President Rob Robinson, and several others – to bring zoning regulations and the zoning map into line with the new Comprehensive Master Plan completed a couple of years ago.
And the work’s not over. From 4 p.m. on every Tuesday in February, ZTF members will be available in City Hall, where you can review the new maps and ask questions.
After revisions, a final hearing is planned in March or April, with Common Council action on the result, perhaps in May.
The morning after the Atrium hearing, Friedman reflected on the night before, the months before that and what’s to come.
The Suncrest Terrace residents will probably be unhappy with anything short of no development on the hill behind them, he mused, but he was very bullish about what the ZTF hath wrought.
“I’m very happy with this,” he said of the proposed map and regulations. “I’m very comfortable with this. If the economy improves, we’ll be poised for some advances in the quality of the community.”
During his year as the city’s ZEO, the Brooklyn native – he spent six years in construction in New York City before moving to New Berlin – observed that many worthy projects simply got bogged down in the city’s review process or were stymied by niches of opposition.
“The city, for all practical purposes, was prohibiting housing and severely limiting the possibility of businesses starting or businesses coming to town,” he said.
Under the old code, housing is prohibited on most of the city’s vacant land, primarily seven acres between River Street and West Broadway and four acres around Silver Creek.
“The zoning process was too open or too sensitive to the opposition of small minority factions to projects that would have had a substantial benefit to the overall community,” Friedman said.
He ticked off a half-dozen proposals that faltered: Jim Baldo’s on River Street; Jim Reeks’ around Silver Creek; Don Lindberg’s near the Old Main Apartments; Fred Bresee’s on Wilcox Avenue, and Mike Ranieri’s on upper East Street.
“And then, of course, there’s the enormous piece of vacant land on top of the ridge north of Hartwick College,” he said. “That’s probably more than 100 acres. It has been zoned as one-family housing only, 40,000-square-foot lot-size minimum.”
In his wrap-up comments to the Atrium meeting, Mayor Dick Miller said that, when he was Hartwick College president, the school had determined the code limited it to building two dozen $400,000 homes.
The city, Hartwick concluded, didn’t have sufficient demand for that many houses at that price, so nothing resulted.
But housing isn’t the only concern of the new code, Friedman said, and he mentioned:
• Simplicity – the new code clarifies the language and the process, and also consolidates uses. For instance, the old code has 13 separate zones in the downtown; the new code has one.
• Neighborhood protection – Conversions of single-family homes into multiple units or student housing will be prohibited in the city’s most residential areas: the East End, the West End, most of River Street, Suncrest Terrace/Ravine Parkway, and the downtown mansion district.
• Encouraging business – In particular, the new code contains “gateway” zones, Chestnut Street through the West End and Route 7 through the East, where businesses and homes could be mixed. And some business used will be allowed on West Street between Chestnut and Center, where property owners have historically resisted investing, and it shows.
Novena Recited To Guide Decision
By JIM KEVLIN
The Sacred Heart Home Schoolers, 50 pupils in all, may come to the rescue of St. Mary’s School, which faces the possibility of closing.
A Novena – a nine-day cycle of prayer – was begun Monday, Jan. 31, seeking guidance on what to do, according to Michael and Jean Naples, who are active in the Oneonta-area Home Schoolers group.
“It’s got to be based on prayer,” Mike Naples said of any decision on whether the Home Schoolers should collaborate more fully with the parochial school on Route 7 east.
The Napleses and other Home Schoolers members attended a briefing on the possible closing Wednesday evening, Jan. 26, at St. Mary’s, and came away impressed.
“These are good people here, committed to the school,” Jean Naples’ said of the impression she and Mike received.
The following Friday, Owen Kennedy, a St. Mary’s alumnus and a member of the Home Schoolers, stopped by the school and alerted Principal Patty Bliss to the Novena.
After nine days, the organization will make a decision, he told Bliss, who said later, “I believe there’s no such thing as a coincidence.”
The principal said members of the school community will also participate in the Novena, a practice that echoes nine days of prayer conducted by the Apostles after the crucifixion, according to the New Testament.
In recent years, St. Mary’s enrollment has shrunk to just 50 students and, as a result, they have been consolidated into three classes – Grades 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6.
The Rev. Joseph Benintende, pastor of St. Mary’s Church and president of the school board, said the school board voted in December to recommend to the Diocese of Albany to close the school.
The diocesan school board couldn’t reach consensus on forwarding the recommendation to the Bishop Howard Hubbard, so the decision was returned to the local school board, which briefed parents at a meeting Monday, Jan. 24.
The parents met two days later with Bliss, and vowed to raise sufficient funds and find enough students to keep St. Mary’s open.
The diocese recommends a parochial school needs to have a minimum of 12 students per grade to be successful, and Bliss said the census must be raised to 70 for St. Mary’s future to be assured.
Tuition runs from $1,700 to $4,000 but, according to Bliss, money is not an object, as the school has a healthy endowment and can subsidize the tuition as necessary.
However, Father Benintende said there is no firm number, either on enrollment or fundraising.
“I don’t know where it’s going to go,” he said.
If St. Mary’s – it was founded in 1923 – were to close, there would be no parochial school between Albany and Binghamton. It is the only such institution in Otsego and Delaware counties.
The Sacred Heart Home Schoolers, 50 pupils in all, may come to the rescue of St. Mary’s School, which faces the possibility of closing.
A Novena – a nine-day cycle of prayer – was begun Monday, Jan. 31, seeking guidance on what to do, according to Michael and Jean Naples, who are active in the Oneonta-area Home Schoolers group.
“It’s got to be based on prayer,” Mike Naples said of any decision on whether the Home Schoolers should collaborate more fully with the parochial school on Route 7 east.
The Napleses and other Home Schoolers members attended a briefing on the possible closing Wednesday evening, Jan. 26, at St. Mary’s, and came away impressed.
“These are good people here, committed to the school,” Jean Naples’ said of the impression she and Mike received.
The following Friday, Owen Kennedy, a St. Mary’s alumnus and a member of the Home Schoolers, stopped by the school and alerted Principal Patty Bliss to the Novena.
After nine days, the organization will make a decision, he told Bliss, who said later, “I believe there’s no such thing as a coincidence.”
The principal said members of the school community will also participate in the Novena, a practice that echoes nine days of prayer conducted by the Apostles after the crucifixion, according to the New Testament.
In recent years, St. Mary’s enrollment has shrunk to just 50 students and, as a result, they have been consolidated into three classes – Grades 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6.
The Rev. Joseph Benintende, pastor of St. Mary’s Church and president of the school board, said the school board voted in December to recommend to the Diocese of Albany to close the school.
The diocesan school board couldn’t reach consensus on forwarding the recommendation to the Bishop Howard Hubbard, so the decision was returned to the local school board, which briefed parents at a meeting Monday, Jan. 24.
The parents met two days later with Bliss, and vowed to raise sufficient funds and find enough students to keep St. Mary’s open.
The diocese recommends a parochial school needs to have a minimum of 12 students per grade to be successful, and Bliss said the census must be raised to 70 for St. Mary’s future to be assured.
Tuition runs from $1,700 to $4,000 but, according to Bliss, money is not an object, as the school has a healthy endowment and can subsidize the tuition as necessary.
However, Father Benintende said there is no firm number, either on enrollment or fundraising.
“I don’t know where it’s going to go,” he said.
If St. Mary’s – it was founded in 1923 – were to close, there would be no parochial school between Albany and Binghamton. It is the only such institution in Otsego and Delaware counties.
‘Master Gardener’ Classes Begin This Month At Extension
Otsego County Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardeners are planning four gardening workshops, as follows:
• Saturday, Feb. 12 – “Starting Your Garden from Seed.” (Register by 2/9)
• Saturday, March 12 – “Starting a Vegetable Garden.” (Register by 3/89)
• Saturday, April 9 – “Vegetable Gardening in Containers.” (Register by 4/6)
• Saturday, May 14 – “Caring for the Vegetable Garden.” (Register by 5/11)
All workshops will be at 10 a.m.-noon at the Cooperative Extension Education Center, 123 Lake St., Cooperstown. $5 each; attend one of all.
For more information and to pre-register please call 547-2536.
• Saturday, Feb. 12 – “Starting Your Garden from Seed.” (Register by 2/9)
• Saturday, March 12 – “Starting a Vegetable Garden.” (Register by 3/89)
• Saturday, April 9 – “Vegetable Gardening in Containers.” (Register by 4/6)
• Saturday, May 14 – “Caring for the Vegetable Garden.” (Register by 5/11)
All workshops will be at 10 a.m.-noon at the Cooperative Extension Education Center, 123 Lake St., Cooperstown. $5 each; attend one of all.
For more information and to pre-register please call 547-2536.
Municipal Efficiency, Enforcement, Planning Classes Due
The Otsego County Planning Department has scheduled three training sessions for municipal officials Tuesday, March 8, at the FoxCare Center, Route 7, on Oneonta’s east end.
There are no fees, but advanced reservations are required. Call Meghan Lottridge at 547-4225 or e-mail lottridgem@otsegocounty.com. Seating is limited to the first 80 registrants.
The sessions are:
• 4-5 p.m., Local Government Efficiency, advising officials how to get grants, save money and improve efficiency through shared services, cooperative agreements, mergers, consolidations and dissolutions.
• 5:30-6:30 p.m., Enforcement of Zoning and Local Laws, reviewing the association between the enforcement officer and review boards, appeals, judicial enforcement and related issues.
• 6:30-8:30 p.m., Rural Planning, an overview of how comprehensive planning and land-use tools can help preserve rural landscapes and revitalize villages and hamlets.
There are no fees, but advanced reservations are required. Call Meghan Lottridge at 547-4225 or e-mail lottridgem@otsegocounty.com. Seating is limited to the first 80 registrants.
The sessions are:
• 4-5 p.m., Local Government Efficiency, advising officials how to get grants, save money and improve efficiency through shared services, cooperative agreements, mergers, consolidations and dissolutions.
• 5:30-6:30 p.m., Enforcement of Zoning and Local Laws, reviewing the association between the enforcement officer and review boards, appeals, judicial enforcement and related issues.
• 6:30-8:30 p.m., Rural Planning, an overview of how comprehensive planning and land-use tools can help preserve rural landscapes and revitalize villages and hamlets.
McReynolds Tapped
Erna Morgan McReynolds, a managing director, financial adviser, portfolio manager and financial planning specialist in the firm’s Wealth Management office in Oneonta, has been invited into Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s Business Owner Executive Council.
Reserved for the top 2 percent of the company’s financial advisers, the Executive Council is an invitation-only program focused on helping small- and middle-market business owners.
Reserved for the top 2 percent of the company’s financial advisers, the Executive Council is an invitation-only program focused on helping small- and middle-market business owners.
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