Dialogue Possible
On Eco-Park Idea
It’s Unclear If City Hall, Otsego 2000 Can Agree
By JIM KEVLIN • from HOMETOWN ONEONTA & The Freeman’s Journal
ONEONTA – Nicole Dillingham, Otsego 2000 president, has sent a preliminary e-mail to Mayor Gary Herzig on exploring whether there is common ground on establishing an eco-commerce park in the former D&H Railyards.
Common ground between economic development and Green initiatives, that is.
“We would be thrilled if a green eco-park could be placed there,” she said in response to a question during an interview. “We would be the first in the state. We would get all sorts of good publicity.”
A rapprochement, however, wasn’t immediately embraced.
If invited, Herzig said he is willing to meet with her – “I’m happy to meet with anyone who has ideas and wants to talk,” he said – but he said the railyards redevelopment is in the early stages, and the land is owned by Otsego Now, the county IDA.
Otsego Now CEO Jody Zakrevsky was more pointed: “I’m not sure what Otsego 2000 would bring to talks other than more misinformation.”
Dillingham was among 30 speakers, several from Otsego 2000, at the public hearing on the GEIS, the Generic Environmental Impact Statement on the railyards, Tuesday, March 5, at Foothills, that was overwhelmingly critical of railyards development.
The following Monday, Otsego Now released a 20-page commentary on the GEIS, that criticized a consultant’s 2006 finding that pollutants in the railyards were not sufficiently high to rule out redevelopment.
The commentary, which now becomes part of the GEIS record, also found undue consideration of protecting wetlands on the 88-acre site, 55 acres of which are being eyed for development.
The idea of an eco-commercial park first surfaced during the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce’s Energy & Infrastructure Summit Thursday, Jan. 31, at The Otesaga, suggested by Hartwick College Professor Mark Davies, who chairs the city’s Environmental Board.
When you’re selling a particular place to a company, if we have a forward-looking idea about development that has an environmental focus, some companies would certainly be intrigued about building here,” Davies said in an interview.
“Low housing prices and quality of life” can help clinch a deal, he said.
While he isn’t sure he’s the person to facilitate such meetings, he said he’s been encouraging Zakrevsky and the Otsego Chamber’s energy committee to take such a step.
As for an eco-park, Herzig said, “There’s nothing not to like about it. But the first question is, what does it mean. Talk to 10 different people, you get 10 different definitions.”
At base, it’s “an ecologically friendly center for jobs,” and that could encompass a lot of ideas, he said.
Job One is to eliminate “confusion” and complete the GEIS before anything can be done. One point of confusion, he said, is the GEIS is not a SEQRA review, the state Environmental Quality Review Act requirement that any project would undergo before it could be built.
“I believe most people are in agreement that we want to stimulate the local economy and we want to do so in the most environmentally friendly way,” Herzig continued. “Some ‘outliers’ are seeking to block anything using any natural gas. That, obviously, would kill the entire region.”
For her part, Dillingham said she’s “optimistic” something can be done. The mayor, Common Council and Otsego Now have to take the lead, but “I’m just one of the people who want this. There are a lot of people who want this.”
She said there are other opportunities for Oneonta to be cutting-edge as its $14 million state-funded Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) moves forward. For instance, a plan to replace downtown sewerage would be an opportunity to create a “geothermal loop” to provide low-cost heat throughout the downtown, another idea that surfaced at the chamber’s summit.
With the state having allocated $1.5 billion for Green initiatives, Dillingham said “there is no doubt in my mind there is funding available for this project.”