By David Tyler
After months of public meetings and almost a decade of planning and discussion, the Manlius Town Board voted Wednesday to deny a zone change that would have paved the way for the 3Gi inland port adjacent to the DeWitt Railyard.
In a last-ditch attempt to salvage the project, the applicant, 3Gi, sent a letter to the town board earlier in the day asking the town to consider the zone change request on only a two-acre parcel adjacent to Fremont Road. The board, however, voted down the original application that included a zone change on a much larger parcel of land.
The vote was six to one against the zone change with only Town Councilor Heather Waters voting in favor.
Over the past several months, the board has held several public sessions on the project. Representatives from 3Gi and its partners explained to the board and the public that the port would help regulate the oncoming wave of traffic associated with the new Amazon facilities in Clay and DeWitt. Without a port, the traffic would flow unregulated from the CSX facility in DeWitt as well as from the Port of New Jersey, 3Gi officials argued.
Chris Beck, of 3Gi, said the port would not only help regulate the traffic, but would be environmentally-friendly as well, because international cargo coming from the Port of New Jersey would come north on trains rather than on thousands of tractor trailers.
“I know getting trucks off the road from the Port of New Jersey to the Port of DeWitt would reduce CO2,” Beck said.
Those arguments didn’t sway residents of the Fremont Road area, many of whom have vocally opposed the project over the past few months.
“I’ve had nothing but concerns,” Councilor Katelyn Kriesel said of her interactions with residents of the area. “Not one person has reached out in support.”
Board members also expressed concern about the unknown impacts of other projects in the area, including the Route 81 overhaul, and how the inland port would fit with those changes.
“This is really a regional issue,” said Councilor Sara Bollinger. “While the site happens to be in the town of Manlius, it’s really much bigger than that.”
Bollinger said she wants to see a more cohesive strategy that would include participation from the town of DeWitt, perhaps the town of Clay, and others before making a decision on the inland port.
Beck, of 3Gi, agreed that the town had been let down by a lack of leadership at other levels of government.
“I agree with all of you…the problem is moving up the chain – it’s the county, and it’s the state,” he said. “Because you all got to get to the table and get a plan, because you’re going to have a traffic problem like you’ve never seen.”
At times the meeting became testy as Vita Demarchi of 3Gi quarreled with Kriesel about the project.
“You will never, ever run, if you can’t stand or crawl with a two-acre zone change,” Demarchi said, citing a number of state studies that vetted the inland port and expressed support, including providing grant support for the project. She then criticized the board for considering the “community uproar” over the project, which she compared to bowing to people who don’t wear masks despite scientific evidence that wearing masks helps reduce the spread of disease.
At that point Kriesel interrupted, calling her disrespectful to the board.
When she was again given the chance to speak, Demarchi only said, “It falls on deaf ears.”
