Decision on 27 Market Street Postponed Until October

By DARLA M. YOUNGS
ONEONTA

On the evening of Tuesday, March 26, at a special meeting of the Common Council, City of Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek proposed that any action regarding the sale of city-owned property at 27 Market Street be postponed until October. The mayor’s suggestion comes on the heels of heated public opposition to a housing unit proposed for the property by Rehabilitation Support Services Inc.

“Having watched the spirit of our community fracture during these past two months, and holding, as I do, the ideal of collaboration and respect for one another, I was forced to a difficult decision,” Mayor Drnek said in an e-mail on Wednesday, March 27.

“I firmly believe in the value of 27 Market Street’s development by RSS, but I believe even more strongly in the need for a united and trusting community. It’s one of the reasons that we’ve written and posted nearly 150 answers to questions from our town hall, and why we have placed the full timelines for the development of the Dietz Street Lofts and 27 Market Street on the city website.

“On Tuesday evening, I addressed the attendees of the special meeting of the Common Council. Having reiterated my point-by-point advocacy of the development, I finished my presentation with a proposal to delay until October any consideration of purchase and sale of the property,” Drnek continued.

“In the interim, I will be asking the Common Council to determine the minimum expectations for any development of that parcel. I will also ask that they provide a strategy through which the city can advertise the property for development. RSS and its advocates, which includes me, will benefit from that delay in the continuing pursuit of community education regarding both the building and its proposed developer. With several months in which to take a collective breath, I hope that conversations become less passionate and that consensus has an opportunity to develop and gain the support necessary to build a better Oneonta,” Drnek said.

Luisa Montanti, one of the organizers of a group opposed to the RSS project who call themselves “Citizens that Care,” commented on Tuesday’s meeting.

“We are extremely concerned about the financial state of Oneonta and the future of economic growth,” Montanti said. “Although we appreciate Mayor Drnek’s decision to postpone the vote until October, it was clear that the mayor did not have a majority vote from the Common Council to sell the 27 Market Street to RSS of Altamont. The united city taxpayers also [feel] that City Administrator Greg Mattice is failing the city, and we are in a state of crisis. Mattice and his ‘elite professional staff’ wasted time on developing a low-income housing model and have neglected to clean up and fix the root cause of the city’s problems.”

Of the eight Common Council members Iron String reached out to for comment, only Don Mathisen, representing the Eighth Ward, responded by press time.

“Mayor Drnek did the right thing. The issue divided the city. Delaying a decision until October was the right thing to do,” Mathisen said.

Drnek said a Common Council vote to solidify the postponement could be held but he does not believe it is necessary, “as there seemed to be an informal consensus.”