The Daily Star | Whitney Bashaw
January 15, 2019
During a Common Council meeting in city hall on Tuesday, the council voted to adopt the draft generic environmental impact statement for the Oneonta Rail Yards redevelopment project.
The assessment will now move into the public comment period from Jan. 16 to Feb. 22.
After the public comment phase, the Delaware Engineering, the firm contracted to conduct the study, will respond to any remarks and provide a final draft of the form.
The city will hold a public hearing Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in Common Council Chambers of City Hall, prior to the Common Council meeting. The public comment period will continue for another 17 days after the meeting.
The statement is accessible on the City of Oneonta’s website and digital copies on CD are available at Huntington Memorial Library. Paper copies can be printed on request at City Hall for a full binder cost of $240.
The redevelopment plans of the Oneonta Rail Yards, located on Roundhouse Road between Chestnut Street and Fonda Avenue, was prompted by the Otsego County Industrial Development Agency, Otsego Now. Oneonta’s Common Council took the lead on the environmental impact review in 2018.
Public comments regarding the statement can be sent to City Hall in Oneonta or via email at npowell@oneonta.ny.us with the subject line “RE: Rail Yard GEIS.”
Representatives from Delaware Engineering presented the results of the draft impact statement to the Community Development Committee last week, indicating that the area is ideal for development, given its proximity to shipping routes by rail and highway and its limited environmental mitigation needs.
In other news:
• The council approved the request for a charity “Donut Dash” run/walk/jog event in Neahwa Park on Saturday, April 27. Proceeds from the race will go the Rebecca Douglas Siegfried Scholarship Fund for local children.
• The Fair Street capital project, which included the reconstruction and improvements of parts of Delaware Avenue and Hickory, Fair, Lewis, Otsego and Tilton Streets in the First Ward, went over budget as a result of unforeseen causes. The Council authorized the movement of excess funds from previous projects to make up the cost difference.
• Mayor Gary Herzig attended Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State Address in Albany on Tuesday and identified the governor’s key issues, including middle-class tax cuts, codifying New York’s health care exchanges, expanding voting rights, protecting the LGBTQ community with legislation and pushing for affordable housing, among others.
• City Manager George Korthauer reported that replacement of a water main along Main Street from the Post Office east to the city line would likely begin by April. There will be street and sidewalk improvements associated with the project. It is a large project, Korthauer said, that will divert traffic either by use of detours or use the stretch as a one-way lane. A public meeting will be scheduled in the coming months.
• The ice rink in Neahwa Park is now open, but a problem with lighting means it will close each night at dusk until the lights can be fixed. The rink opens every day at 9 a.m.
• Council member John Rafter, Seventh Ward, urged the council to use committees as platforms to keep issues from falling through the cracks and to keep the public aware of what the council is working on.
Whitney Bashaw, staff writer, can be reached at 607-441-7218 or wbashaw@thedailystar.com . Follow her on Twitter @DS_WhitneyB .