A 12-year-old development quagmire, once thought a dead issue, has again arisen for residents of Bingham and Martin streets.
Kenmar Development purchased a plot of land near Martin Street in 1994, as part of the same transaction that brought them the stretch of land on East Avenue that now accommodates three duplexes. There is currently no road running to the plot, which is approximately 250 feet by 100 feet, and the land drops sharply from the road frontage. Untouched for more than a dozen years, there are now plans to build a single duplex on the corner lot.
This has been a dead issue. Now they’re painting lines across my lawn, said Martin Street resident Ray Nichols to the City Council at its Aug. 1 meeting. Some residents are advocating the purchase of the land by the city to stop future development.
Nichols said the wooded plot should be preserved, as it gives residents a country feel in the heart of the city.
Resident Carol Saunders agrees. `We have deer, rabbits, all types of wildlife there,` she said of the plot that sits less than a quarter-mile from County Route 9.
Nichols also said it was once a clay bank for the Saratoga Raceway, and between the soil condition and the slope of the land, he doesn’t understand why anyone would want to build there. `You couldn’t put a tent on the amount of space you could build on there,` he said.
He also wondered when the duplex, if built, would be occupied. `Maybe in August because of the track, if you’re lucky, but what happens in September?` he asked.
Saunders said when she called the city two weeks ago, Mayor Valerie Keehn said she knew nothing about the development. When Saunders again asked about the development at the Aug.1 City Council meeting, Keehn said she spoke with planning board Chairman Lew Benton regarding the petition and would have him call Saunders.
`Mayor, I think that’s a cop-out,` director of Public Works Bill McTygue said at the meeting. McTygue sent a memorandum to his fellow commissioners and Keehn regarding open space property acquisitions earlier that day. Attached to the memo is a petition signed by 76 area residents who are opposed to the development. The council received the petition on May 1, McTygue said.
`Please be aware, I believe this is a reasonable request from this entire neighborhood and is consistent with the city’s open space needs,` McTygue wrote. `Preserving this side-hill property, in its current wooded state, is vitally important to the preservation of the entire Spring Valley from Warren Street to the similar hillside wooded areas just east of East Avenue.`
McTygue said he is surprised by Keehn’s lax approach to the situation. `I’m kind of surprised she hasn’t advanced or advocated this purchase,` he says. `She ran for office on open space issues. I would hope she does do something.`
He also said the purchase shouldn’t be seen as giving the city free rein in purchasing undeveloped plots of land. `I’m not going to pretend that it’s the responsibility of the council to buy up every underdeveloped property in the city, but we have special case here. This plot of land should be preserved,` he said. `It’s important for all to understand small neighborhood open space parcels are just as important to preserving the special character of our city’s neighborhoods as are the bigger parcels we have focused on in recent months.`
Keehn, however, said the majority of the community would not benefit from the purchase of this particular parcel. She also said it wouldn’t be wise to make such a purchase without guidelines from the Open Space Advisory Committee. The committee has draft criteria for the procurement of land, but has not yet finalized them. `I think we need to be very diligent, very thoughtful, and we need to go through the legal process of determining what an open space area is,` she said.
Even lacking guiding criteria, Deputy Mayor Eileen Finnernan said the committee considered the Martin Street property `off their radar.` Both Keehn and Finnernan question the validity of the petition presented to them, saying it includes names of people who do not live on either street.
Commissioner of Public Works Thomas McTygue said the mayor is completely ignoring an entire neighborhood, and he refutes her claim that the area wouldn’t be beneficial to a majority of the community, as other proposed open spaces are more remote than this one.
He is calling for action on the issue at the very least. `We’d like to see the property appraised, have the Open Space Committee review it, and have the city council say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’`
McTygue said expedience is key, as Kenmar Development has approached the city about selling the land. `He came to us months ago,` McTygue said of Bob Kenyon, a principal in Kenmar development. `He has asked us to move this along.`
Kenyon said quite the contrary. `Hell no. We have a permit, and we plan on building soon. It’s cost us a lot of money to be held up like this.` Kenyon said he offered to sell the land to Saunders and her husband when it was first subdivided over 10 years ago, but they refused. `I didn’t want to fight. I was trying to get along with everybody, but it’s been one thing after another.`
Kenyon also said it is McTygue that has been holding up the development, and that the bid for open space is just a means to stop construction. `I don’t know how this one guy can keep this in the air for so long,` he said.“