LETTER from JAMES DEAN

Study Before Acting

On New Zoning Law

To the Editor:

Sufficient affordable apartments, which the Village of Cooperstown needs, come from an efficiency of scale in single- and multi-building design and construction, lower cost of larger parcels of land, and lower operating expenses with the newest technologies. All of this comes with building new, planned developments, from the ground up.

Newly built rental housing units, of all types, on sufficient land, are so important to the quality of life, the retention of new residents, and to the local economy, that they could become a driver of growth on their own.

The construction of new, attractive, efficient, apartment and townhouse style quality housing, for different income levels and family sizes, is a major component of filling the existing and long-term housing needs, increasing the local population, and expanding the local economy, without damaging the central core of the village, in my view.

Encouraging developers to bring proposals for new, planned, multi-family, residential rental units will require aggressive and long-term tax abatements, and cooperation by village, town and county governments. It will also require the permitting of planned, multi-family residential development, in and close to Cooperstown.

The Village of Cooperstown is the economic, healthcare and tourism anchor for a wide area of Central New York. The long-term success of the Village of Cooperstown is critical for the long-term success of this area.

Before we start knocking down the walls of our historic homes, let’s step back a bit, and consider what it is that we really need, how much we are willing to cooperate and invest in our own long-term success, and how long we want it to last.

JAMES R. DEAN
Cooperstown