Old and Everlasting to be reimagined as The Housewren Schools get highway garage, EV charging feasibility study grant

By kAtE Hill Staff Writer

Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD) was recently awarded $25,000 in state funding to support a shared highway garage and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure feasibility study.

The funding, which was awarded through the Local Government Efficiency Grant program (LGEG), will be used by the school district, the Towns of Nelson and Cazenovia, and the Village of Cazenovia to undertake a $50,000 study to investigate opportunities to consolidate bus and highway garage infrastructure and resources.

The study will also examine the feasibility of shared EV charging infrastructure.

The grant requires a minimum local match of $25,000. The district match is $15,625, and the three municipalities are each contributing $3,125.

The annual competitive LGEG provides funding to counties and municipalities across the state to fund projects that reduce government costs through consolidations, shared services, or internal efficiencies.

“We are trying to be as friendly to our taxpayers as possible,” said CCSD Superintendent Christopher DiFulvio.

The grant application was prepared on behalf of CCSD by the Cazenovia Area Community Development Association (CACDA) last July.

According to DiFulvio, CCSD served as the official applicant at the suggestion of CACDA Executive Director Lauren Lines, who reached out about the program and suggested that the district might qualify.

“School districts and governments across the state will all need to invest in infrastructure to allow for electric charging,” said Lines. “In small rural areas, it may be more efficient to share resources rather than replicate the same very expensive infrastructure in each municipality. If the study finds there are efficiencies, this model could be replicated in other parts of the state.”

According to Lines, the LGEG is a reimbursement program.

“We’ll need to hire a consultant, conduct the study, and then get reimbursed,” she said.

By kAtE Hill Staff Writer

This spring, the former Old and Everlasting shop on Ballina Road in Cazenovia will be brought back to life as The Housewren, a new business offering antique and restored furniture alongside curated gifts and home decor.

Instead of maintaining regular retail hours, owners Anya Woods O’Neill and Adam O’Neill are looking forward to holding occasional open houses/sales and doing most of their business online.

“Adam and I have always loved renovating and working on old things, so last summer I started dabbling in refinishing old furniture,” said Woods O’Neill. “I sold a couple of pieces online and decided it would be great to turn the shop into a little showroom so that anyone local who wanted to see a piece before they committed could pop in and take a look. From there, I thought it would be great to open the shop perhaps three to four times a year for pop-up-type events where people could browse not only [furniture but also] a curated selection of home goods — décor like vases, florals, bas- kets, throw blankets and pillows, etc.”

The Housewren’s first pop-up is scheduled for Mother’s Day weekend. The shop will be open Friday, May 12 through Sunday, May 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Woods O’Neill said her hope is that people will stop by to pick up a Mother’s Day gift, check out the new shop, and enjoy a beautiful spring day in the country.

According to Woods O’Neill, the initial sale, which will feature a lot of gardening and spring-themed items, will be followed by a fall event with cozier items and seasonal décor, and then a holiday pop-up.

“That’s the plan as long as this first one is a success,” she said.

Marianne and Rob Barry, the property’s former owners, opened Old and Everlasting in 1988 and expanded the original building in 1996. Filled with home goods, antiques, gifts, and women’s clothing and accessories, the shop was a popular and well-known local attraction for nearly three decades.

In 2018, after closing the business, the Barrys sold their 19th-century farmhouse, barn, and shop to Woods O’Neill and O’Neill.

Since purchasing the property, the couple

Submitted photoS has been eager to breathe new life into the shop and continue the legacy of its previous owners.

In April 2019, Woods O’Neill approached the Town of Cazenovia Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to express her desire to reopen a retail store in the space.

The ZBA determined that due to the expiration of the property’s special use permit, the building was no longer authorized for retail.

The board referred to retail as a “nonconforming use,” a use that was allowed under zoning regulations at the time it was established but that is no longer permitted under current regulations. According to the town code, legal nonconforming status is lost when the active operation of the nonconforming use is discontinued for a period of one calendar year. Any subsequent use of the structure must comply with the district’s existing use regulations.

By the time Woods O’Neill and O’Neill purchased the property, Old and Everlasting had been closed for more than a year and the special use permit had expired.

Woods O’Neill said that since the ZBA

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Lines added that, as of March 21, the study had not yet begun. Before action can be taken, the district must receive a grant contract from the Department of State, which administers the LGEG.

CCSD plans to continue its investigation into options for a new district-only bus garage/transportation facility while the feasibility study is ongoing, according to DiFulvio.

“We have to look at both,” he said.

CCSD was one of seven awardees that were selected among 20 applicants for the 2022 LGEG funding. Applications were submitted through the state’s Consolidated Funding Application process and graded on various criteria, including return on investment to taxpayers, project scale, scope, municipal readiness, public engagement, work plan and budget detail.

The award recipients were announced in a March 16 press release from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.

“Having served in local government for over a decade, I know what localities need to reduce costs and get projects over the finish line,” Hochul said in the press release. “These grants will help streamline local government projects and services — better serving New Yorkers by staying lean and efficient, while creating more prosperous communities across the state for years to come.”

For more information on LGEG or any other grant programs administered by the Division of Local Government Services within the Department of State, contact localgov@dos.ny.gov or call 518 473-3355.