What Are We Doing? Activity at Averill Road Property Questioned

it’s common knowledge Templeton Foundation seeks to build a large housing development on its property on Averill Road in the Village of Cooperstown. The village zoning law requires a special permit prior to construction and state law requires that prior to granting approval, the Board of Trustees must assess and mitigate the project’s environmental impacts.

Because the project is in an historic district and would alter more than 2.5 acres, it’s presumed to have a significant impact and require an Environmental Impact Statement. The village zoning law does allow a certain amount of tree removal, but state law (6 NYCRR 617.3) logically prohibits a project sponsor from “segmenting” a project into smaller stages to fly under the regulatory radar, or from commencing any physical alteration until environmental impacts have been identified, reviewed, and mitigated.

In January, the Board of Trustees

LegaL nOtice

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Board of Trustees of the Village of Cooperstown will hold the following public hearings in the Village Office Building, 22 main Street, Cooperstown, New York on monday, march 27th, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as can be heard, to discuss the following:

Public Hearing on the Use of Cameras in Public Areas

Policy-The purpose of this policy is to enhance public safety, assist in the deterrence and investigation of crime, and protect critical infrastructure of the Cooperstown Police Department (CPD) and the Village of Cooperstown (Village) through the use of cameras mounted in public areas. It further regulates how the camera system will be deployed, operated, maintained, and monitored at locations within the Village of Cooperstown, as well as how images captured by those cameras will be stored, accessed, disseminated, and retained.

Any resident of the Village of Cooperstown is entitled to be heard upon said proposed policy at such public hearing. Disabled citizens, who require assistance in attending said public hearings, or in furnishing comments or suggestions, should contact the Village Clerk to request assistance.

Dated: march 10, 2023

By order of the Village Board Village of Cooperstown

Jenna L. Utter Village Clerk Village of Cooperstown 22 main Street Cooperstown, NY 13326 (607) 547-2411 (phone) jutter@cooper- identified several significant impacts but granted the special permit without requiring an EIS. m y clients, owners of the residence across Averill Road, were forced to challenge the approval in court. Because they had no defense, Templeton and the village promptly capitulated and agreed the special permit was null and void. But a week or so ago, heavy equipment arrived at the project site and the project’s footprint was quickly cleared. Not a single hay bale or silt fence was deployed to keep the exposed sediment from making its way to Otsego Lake. No new special permit had been granted and the village’s website confirms Templeton hasn’t even resubmitted an application. After our urgent inquiry, the village claimed Templeton was only doing some limited tree removal for the purpose of ascertaining depth to groundwater and suitability for geothermal. Knowing such can be done with a small rig towed behind an ATV, we remained skeptical.

Two days later, our aerial photography confirmed Templeton had cleared the project’s entire footprint, including the road to the proposed water tower, without a proper environmental review or special permit.