Platform Information Meeting Scheduled
By DARLA M. YOUNGS
COOPERSTOWN
On Monday, November 25, the Village of Cooperstown will hold an informational meeting at 5 p.m. with Michael Haas of Delta Engineering, prior to the village’s 6 p.m. board meeting. Haas will review plans for the proposed viewing and fishing platform to be installed at the northern terminus of Pioneer Street, in Lakefront Park.
According to Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh, the project—some eight years in the making—was conceptualized as a result of public input, including the village’s 2018 Parks Survey and numerous public charrettes for the 2016 Comprehensive Plan, which emphasized the need for greater ADA-compliant accessibility and access to Otsego Lake via Lakefront Park for non-boaters, including a walking/fishing pier.
“It was from the [Comprehensive] Plan and the survey that the idea of an accessible, ADA-compliant viewing platform arose,” Tillapaugh said. “As a result, the village applied in 2018 for a planning grant for the development of the concept, which will provide better visual and pedestrian access to waterfront within the Village of Cooperstown for non‐boaters of all ages and abilities.”
“We received that grant, which funded an architect/designer, and the village selected Michael Haas of Delta Engineering,” Tillapaugh continued. “Michael designed the Lucy B. Hamilton Amphitheater along the Otsego Lake shoreline at Fenimore Art Museum. We also utilized Michael for the wholly village-funded redesign of Pioneer Park—brick pavers, lampposts, stage area, etc.—which made that park accessible in 2019.”
Haas attended a recent Parks Board meeting at Tillapaugh’s request.
“Realizing that there have been changes in Parks Board leadership and members in the six years since efforts to create an accessible viewing platform began, Michael Haas attended the October 7 public meeting. I have also asked Michael to review the project prior to next Monday’s board meeting,” Tillapaugh said.
Several Pioneer Street residents have criticized the viewing platform project, and village transparency, recently.
Village officials have indicated that the information meeting is not a public hearing, but rather an overview of the project and an opportunity for comments and questions from the public.
The Village of Cooperstown’s “Phase II: Comprehensive Plan & Downtown Revitalization Strategy” can be found at https://www.cooperstownny.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/village-of-cooperstown-comprehensive-plan_final.pdf.
Regarding the proposed Lakefront Platform, my concern is purely aesthetic. I would remind everyone that along the entire Cooperstown waterfront there are only two access points available to the general public, and one of them has a drop of a couple of dozen steps, making it inaccessible to many. All of the rest is private. Hence the critical need to get it right on the remaining spot.
I urge you and everyone else to take a walk down to the waterfront and sit on each of the roughly 10 benches arrayed starting on the rightmost bench. What do you see? The first few benches present the viewer with three long docks lined with boats and grasses growing about 5’ tall. Not much of a view. Continue down the walkway heading west. Eventually you’ll reach a point where the grasses are shorter. By the last two benches on the Garden Club-maintained buffer strip you can finally take in the grandeur of the entire lake. But the very best seats are directly at the end of Pioneer Street.
Now sit and take in the view: the Sleeping Lion, a sailboat or two slicing the surface in the distance, ducks feeding and fussing at your feet. Tranquility itself.
Okay, now imagine sitting on that same bench and staring instead at a 5” wide brushed aluminum railing directly at eye level. Maybe a couple of 2×3’ signs explaining what you’re looking at. Plexiglass panels scarred by the elements, dingy and opaque as they surely will become, and ask yourself what was the point? Instead you could have it all: access for all, of course, a pretty planting, AND a beautiful view. You just need a better design.
For example, how about extending the riprap (boulders) that currently exists in front of the buffer strip across the end of proposed platform? Presumably the railing is there for safety but the boulders themselves keep pedestrians back from the water as they already do on the buffer strip. If that is not enough, a loose row of short bollards connected by a thick chain should do the job.