By Lauren Young

Staff Writer

After repeatedly claiming that the Fayetteville-Manlius school district has enough capacity to handle more students that would come from a proposed apartment complex construction project in Fayetteville, the project developer admitted last week — in the face of school district complaints — that their capacity claims were not based on any discussions with or information from district officials.

The admission came during a March 5 Fayetteville Planning Board meeting about the proposal, during which the board itself also announced a number of concerns it has about the project, such as the true student capacity of the F-M school district and whether the proposal is a true “mixed-use” facility.

The project is “a big deal,” said Planning Board Chairman Jane Rice. With a proposed five, three-story apartment buildings and ten townhouses, equaling to 200 units, with 400 parking spaces and two-story mixed used buildings with approximately 20,000 square feet of leasable areas for office, retail, restaurant and commercial use on a 32-acre site, she’s certainly not wrong.

One of the most pressing concerns is the potential for an increased volume of children, namely those entering the Fayetteville-Manlius school districts. According to F-M Superintendent Craig Tice, the developers’ claims were misinformed, and the district “cannot accommodate” at the elementary level.

Kathleen Bennet, of Bond, Schoeneck & King, on behalf of Morgan Management, acknowledged that the developers had received a letter from the F-M district stating that they have “capacity at the middle and high schools, but not at the elementary schools,” said Bennet. At prior meetings, representatives from the development had stated multiple times that area schools had “indicated there is capacity,” but did not elaborate on their data.

On Monday night, Bennet stated that their initial data was based off of the district’s lower graduation rates from 2014. F-M superintendent Dr. Craig Tice clarified in a letter that while their enrollment has dropped by about 500 students over the past decade, they have transitioned to full-day kindergarten, which makes enrollments look higher when in fact they “do not have capacity at elementary level” for more children.

After receiving word of the project’s claims, Tice issued a letter to Mayor Mark Olson of Fayetteville, Mayor Paul Whorrall of Manlius and Manlius Town Supervisor Ed Theobald, as well as the chairs of respective village and town planning and zoning boards, to vocalize the district’s “doubts” about admitting an influx of new children to the elementary level, adding that they would be “remiss” not to voice their concerns. Tice, however, noted that the district would be “happy to collaborate and be of service” to the boards and their determinations in the project.

In the letter dated Feb. 13, Tice stated that the three elementary schools within the F-M district are “at (or nearing) capacity.” In particular, their three elementary schools “ran out of excess space when the district moved to full-day kindergarten while ever-increasing government mandates required that smaller classrooms be reserved for required programs,” such as ENL – English for New Learners.

The letter does not directly name the housing development, but sought to clear up “misconceptions” about their capacity. “We want to ensure that the town and village planning and/or zoning boards are able to make informed decisions, especially when developers and/or their representatives repeatedly make claims that they are in receipt of information from the school district that the district has the capacity to accommodate an influx of students,” said Tice. “Such statements are simply not accurate.”

Tice mentioned that if the multiple proposed village and town developments are approved, they anticipate “having to ask taxpayers to support the construction of new spaces at our three elementary schools.” While the district was recently approved for a $45.2 million capital building project, it will only add four classrooms to Enders Road Elementary, as most of the planned work is “dedicated to updating the aging infrastructure at Wellwood Middle School,” said Tice.

However, developers of the Fayetteville Village Apartments predict only a small percentage of elementary age children will actually enter the complex. Bennet, who practices in the areas of environmental and property law, said that while the project’s initial data was based on graduation rates from the F-M website, it was also verified by several other sources.

According to the State Education Department website, cited by Bennet, enrollment for kindergarten through fifth grade was shown to have declined from a high of 1,981 students in 2005 to 2006 to 1,794 students in 2016 to 2017. The website additionally showed that when the district transitioned to full-day kindergarten in 2015 to 2016, kindergarten enrollment rose by 32 students from 238 to 270, but declined again in 2016 to 2017 by 12 students from 270 to 258. According to Bennet, the project is expected to add “only three to four elementary age students – based on numbers of elementary school age children at other Morgan developments in Onondaga County.”

Mayor Mark Olson of Fayetteville attested to this projection, adding that after the board had contacted two Morgan Management properties to inquire about resident age ranges, they discovered that only six or seven children were of elementary age at the properties. While further information is being compiled on the matter, the mayor added that the village is working together with the school district and developers to ease concerns.

The project’s integration of mixed-use buildings was additionally questioned by trustees, as some wondered if it could be considered a “true” Planned Unit Development (PUD) proposal. While there is only 20,000 square feet of mixed-use, the board questioned its apparent lack of integration into the project, which compares to roughly 200,000 square feet of residential areas. While the village code does not require a certain percentage of a development to be commercial, the board questioned its PUD status and its comparison to other typical PUD classifications.

“I think [the application] does meet the purposes and objectives of the PUD district, but I have serious concerns about the proposed concept and whether it’s truly a mixed-plan development,” said Rice.

“I just don’t find this to really be mixed-use in the sense that a typical urban designer would think of mixed-use,” said trustee Jennifer Bybee. “To me, it seems that the whole project could just be handled with a re-subdivision and different zoning districts.” She added that a typical PUD proposal features mixed-use businesses on the ground floor and residential spaces above.

Trustee Sara Bollinger questioned the density of the project, namely the three-story apartment units. “I think that two-stories is more typical of the village,” she said, clarifying that a three-story building on Brooklea Drive is allowed as it is “more typical of that area.” “The general configuration with the apartments, townhouses, commercial and park spaces seems like a theoretically good balance, but I just think that everything is denser than what we typically have,” said Bollinger.

“Three levels is not consistent with the village, it’s just not,” said trustee Scott Dumas. “I’m still not sold that commercial space is necessary there at all.”

The Village at South County Commons was a development referenced by Bybee as she discussed the potential of a PUD project. The complex in Rhode Island was a once-vacant site that has since evolved into a thriving urban development, which is “more like what the PUD district zoning is intended to achieve,” said Bybee. She added that the project as proposed is too large in scale for the size of Fayetteville — the development includes small-scale urban streets of two-stories with residences interwoven, which, Bybee said, “actually does feel like a tiny little village.”

“The opportunity here is to create something unique, and also appropriate for the village and space,” added trustee Dan Reisman.

“To me, it feels like you have a couple of buildings that are the storefronts to an apartment complex in the back,” said Rice. “We have an opportunity here for an urban layout with a mixture of uses and I just think that mark has not been achieved yet.”

The board will submit a recommendation for the PUD application as it moves forward with the Fayetteville Village Board, and cited the following conditions to be considered: its impact on the F-M school district, impacts on surrounding roadway and highway systems, a 35-foot height restriction and to create a “more creative integration of the proposed mixed-use buildings, into the overall complex by requiring the project include a minimum of 20 percent non-residential use, and 50 percent of the non-residential uses to be well-integrated into the overall complex, creating a mixed-use complex,” said Rice.

After a recommendation is received from the village board, the proposal will return to the planning board for final review where site layout will be evaluated.

The traffic study for the project is expected to be available mid-March.