On December 8th, developer David
Wegman pitched a project proposal to the Yates County Legislature.
The Yates County Legislature
holds their meetings at 1 o'clock in the afternoon - at
a time when virtually NONE of their constituents can attend
- so virtually no neighbors adjacent to the project
site and virtually no concerned citizens (with one
or two exceptions!) were in the audience.
Here are some of the things Mr.
Wegan proposed: Click HERE
to see his Conceptual Plan. (Adobe Acrobat file)
-
A development covering 20
acres alongside the channel inside the village of Penn
Yan on property that is zoned "Waterfront Development"
(14 acres of the proposal is on the former "Penn
Yan Marine Manufacturing" property - now county owned
- and 6.5 acres of the proposal is on land currently owned
by the Ribble family).
-
A new road would be built
to the project site from Lake Street
-
A 50,000 square foot grocery
store (which could turn out to be 65,000 square feet)
would be built
-
A 50,000 square foot "Dry
Goods" store (which could turn out to be 45,000 square
feet) would be built
-
7,000 - 8,000 square feet
of retail/restaurant space would be built alongside the
channel
-
A pedestrian boardwalk would
be built along the waterfront, and behind the boardwalk
15 to 30 homes.
-
A drive up ATM machine would
be near the retail buildings
-
6,000 square feet of retail
office/restaurant space (two buildings at 3,000 square
feet each) would be built on Lake Street
-
Projected groundbreaking
would be in the fall of 2004 or spring 2005
-
Wegman would purchase the
land "as is" (currently the property is a "Brownfield"
and former EPA Superfund site)
-
Preliminary concept plan
showed 715 parking spaces on the project site
-
Project includes a spot for
the Finger Lakes Boating Museum, but with NO water access
to the outlet.
-
"Homes" are shown
within the wetland buffer zone; a boat dock is shown jutting
out across the navigation pathway of the channel.
Questions to ask:
- Do these plans for huge parking lots (715
spaces) and retail businesses fit in with the village
of Penn Yan master plan for an area which is zoned "Waterfront
Development"?
- What about concerns related to building
15 to 30 homes in the wetland buffer zone, combined with
drainage problems in the area?
- What about the fact that the parcel to
be developed is identified by New York State Museum's
Prehistoric Site File as a prehistoric archeological site
of significance - possibly a Native American Burial Ground?
How will construction proposals meld with New York State's
determination that the site has a high probability of
producing prehistoric archeological data?
- What about the fact that the plans don't
allow the Finger Lakes Boat Museum to have access to the
water -an absolute necessity for demonstrating their antique
boats?
- Penn Yan currently has three grocery stores,
with a fourth to open soon. Big chain grocery stores (such
as Wegman's or Tops) have a history of driving competitors
in their community out of business. (Look at what happened
in the the cities of Geneva and Canandaigua). Elected
officials who approve plans for this project must bear
the weight of responsibility for the consequences that
their actions may have upon current merchants in our community.
Also at this same December 8th
legislative meeting, six men from "The Boatworks"
made a presentation, headed by developer Jim Hoagland. This
presentation was met with eye rolling and smirks from legislators
and power players in the audience, and judging from the negative
reaction, the Boatworks proposal seems to have little if any
chance of even being considered.
Read more about the presentation
in a recent article in The
Finger Lakes Times.
Interested or Upset about this?
Contact your legislators! Let them know how you feel! Start
attending meetings! Let the legislators know that they will
be held accountable for their decisions on this project! Tell
them to stop meeting at a time when no public can attend,
and start holding their meetings in the evenings!
The ultimate decision on the fate
of this project will have long term consequences for our community.
If you care, get involved. We have watched many of these same
legislators make decisions - regarding the airport, regarding
the new courthouse - which were at odds with public opinion.
Let's not let them get away with it again.
Note: the property in question
is part of the view across the Marsh from this web site's
daily "Web Cam" picture. The small white building
that sits on the waterfront is an old boathouse and is on
the project property. Under Wegman's proposal this boat house
would be demolished.
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