By Phil Blackwell
Consecutive meetings of the Clay Town Board touched upon public reaction to a proposed $15.5 million three-story, 24-unit apartment building on the 15 acres of land where Faith Journey United Methodist Church sits next to Morgan Road.
Residents from a neighborhood across the street from the church voiced their opposition to the project at the June 1 public hearing.
Patrick Galvin, who lives on Sweetmill Lane, said that he and other residents did not receive any notification about the project until days before the public hearing, citing, among other issues, traffic concerns.
“With [the Amazon project] going in, we have trouble getting out of the road on busy evenings or mornings as it is,” said Galvin. “Now you’re going to add an average of 72 cars coming out of here at any given time?”
Another resident, Christine Duff, said her opposition was based on environmental quality.
“We have a lot of nice wildlife back there and the traffic is getting loud,” said Duff. “We can’t even enjoy our backyards anymore. It’s going to only get worse.”
In proposing the project, Trey Barbour, senior vice chairman of the developer, MVAH Partners, said that, of the 15 acres of land, only four acres are needed for the apartments and that the building, along with 96 parking spots, will be located well off Morgan Road itself in currently vacant woodlands, independent from the church property.
Noting the community opposition, the board adjourned this public hearing and resumed it at its next meeting two weeks later, with more input from residents and developers.
By this point, the Clay Planning Board had, by a vote of 4-2, approved the permits for the project.
Supervisor Damian Ulatowski said the opposition from neighbors was “parochial” in nature, but still would take it, along with the planning board’s input, into consideration before a final vote is taken at the July 20 town board meeting.
Also, the board spent time at each of these meetings continuing to hear public comments about the town’s proposed one-year moratorium on commercial solar energy projects.
What emerged, said Ulatowski, is a desire to “pump the brakes” on solar projects by gathering opinions from all of the interested parties.
This includes one-time farmers who own hundreds of acres of land and might have interest in leasing it to commercial developers, along with adjacent smaller landowners who might not welcome such projects near their property.
As they do each year, the board okayed a lease agreement of $2,215 with the Liverpool Central School District to use some of the district’s facilities for the town’s recreation programs.
New to 2020, though, is that the agreement is contingent on the school’s facilities opening at some point during the summer. Currently, they are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ulatowski said that, assuming Central New York is cleared to go to “Phase Four” of New York State’s reopening plan, the July 20 town board meeting will be open to the public so long as it meets state and Onondaga County health regulations.
