Developer says apartment buildings will not diminish home values
Rotterdam Town Supervisor Frank Del Gallo followed through on his vow to meet with residents as he pulled into the Contompasis family’s driveway on Thursday, March 17.
During a recent Town Board meeting, a number of residents said they were opposed to the proposed zoning change off Fuez Road to R-3 Multi-Family Residential to make way for Bill Barber’s proposed apartment housing project.
Del Gallo said that by talking to residents about their concerns and discussing options with Barber, it appears a compromise is possible, but it has a long way to go before any construction begins.
I do see your point, but if everybody came into Town Hall that didn’t like a project the town would die and nothing would ever get built, said Del Gallo to Phil Contompasis while sitting in his truck parked in the County Walk Road resident’s driveway.
Contompasis’ property overlooks the proposed rezone site. He said the apartment would change the neighborhood, and while it might only directly affect a few residents, there are many community members that also do not support the zoning change.
`It is going to change the neighborhood,` said Contompasis. `Rotterdam is not going to be a nice place to live to these people, it is going to be a nice place to stay. We want vested people.`
His wife, Elizabeth, said there are just too many apartments being built in Rotterdam and the apartments are not needed at the proposed location. Also, she said, their property value would be affected negatively by the development. The apartments wouldn’t be located within ideal walking distance to nearby areas, but there is a bus stop residents could use if they didn’t own a vehicle.
Barber said that if he builds good apartments, then they would actually raise, not lower, surrounding property values.
`There is no intelligent argument that kind of backs up the fact if I build an apartment building, the value is going to go down,` said Barber. `It is very difficult to intelligently debate people when they don’t have any legitimate and factually based concerns.`
Barber said residents are waging an emotional debate about the proposed apartments and the Town Board should look past emotional concerns of a select few residents.
`Not only are you blown away by the vigor of these people there is not a lot of factually based arguments there. The board is supposed to separate out the emotional concerns of one-tenth of 1 percent of the population,` said Barber.
Even though Barber might not agree with the residents’ concerns, he said he is willing to reach a compromise on the apartments. One suggestion he is open to would be restricting the apartments for senior living.
`I’m trying to build a relationship, not this adversarial situation. I would entertain any reasonable discussion on how they would be happy with me moving forward there,` said Barber. `I would work with them to try to make them happy.`
Had Barber been able to stick with an earlier plan to build single-family homes, residents would have had fewer concerns, but that plan was denied by the Town Planning Commission.
`Everybody in the town when I first went to the town they said, ‘No, we would not approve a single family residence there,’` said Barber. `The only use the town would approve the land for is multi-family.`
Due to its drastic elevation changes, the property would have to be excavated to remove the large slope to build any housing, but the planning commission said there would be no backyard and the house would be pushed close to the yard, said Barber.
`You have a piece of land that the town is not generating revenue of off, and I am saying, ‘Here is a good idea.’ To me, it is a no-brainer,` said Del Gallo.
Del Gallo said nothing further would be done with the property until April, and he wants to get Barber and concerned residents together to discuss options to reach a compromise.
`I was hoping people would be patting me on the back but at the root I want a great property there. I am doing this for my retirement,` said Barber. `At the heart, I am a business person, but my intention is to build a portfolio of good properties for people to live in.`
Del Gallo also touched upon the upcoming election and how he hasn’t received support from a party, but said he continues to strive to do things his way while running the town.
`I wasn’t happy with what was going on in the Town of Rotterdam, and I wanted to change it and I’m doing that,` said Del Gallo. `I’m running it like I would run my business and I’m running it that way for you and you and everyone else here. I probably won’t be back next year. They are trying to get rid of me anyway, because I won’t roll over like a dog and jump through hoops.“
