By Lauren Young

Staff Writer

The Fayetteville Board of Trustees held its last public hearing for the N. Burdick Street development proposal’s zone change request on Monday, June 11 — scheduling their final decision to be made at their next meeting on June 25.

Mayor Mark Olson additionally announced that a petition from concerned residents signing against the development, dated May 20, 2017, will remain valid, despite having previously said the petition was invalid following changes to the developer’s proposal.

The project proposal by developer Mark Shattuck calls for a 5,800-square-foot one-story plaza with a parking lot for 30 cars on two parcels of land on N. Burdick Street on the south side of Limestone Creek. The property is currently zoned at R2 (Residential 2) and O (Open Land), the developers have requested a zone change to TB (Traditional Business) with the remaining property donated to the village as open land.

Olson said the development will be a professional office building, like a dentistry “or something that’s very low-impact when it comes to noise.”

Property neighbor Brian McAllister, who has watched the project progress over the past four years, said that, in addition to flooding concerns, which he has voiced in the past, changing the zoning to commercial might invite developers into the neighborhood, which is not a neighbor he wants.

“I don’t want this down there, I’m dead-set against this. You’re opening up a can of worms for us who live down there” said McAllister. “Nobody has told me, in the past four years, how they’re actually going to control that water … they’re displacing a lot of water.”

“I’m very aware of this, trust me, I’ve had meetings and have flown drones over it — they need to clean [the dam up],” said Olson. “Everybody needs to do their part, even though it’s not technically [the village’s] responsibility — the Town of Manlius, Town of DeWitt, City of Syracuse … anybody that has anything going in that or has any part in that, needs to help and get it cleared.”

While most residents assume the village owns Limestone Creek, Olson clarified that it does not — the state does.

“I’m down there every time [it floods],” said Olson. “We have done more, as a board, than any board has in the past, to try to mitigate the concerns of the … things going on in there and the flooding.”

“If it does flood, how are we going to prove that it was that development’s fault?” asked resident Carmela Peters. “I’m not an engineer, but it’s beyond my comprehension to how that much water can be accommodated in a detention basin.”

“Nothing will prevent Mother Nature from doing what she wants to do,” said resident Millie Richmond. “I have lived here since ’84 — the water goes over there and floods, and then it comes to us. If you take away that space for the water, we’re done, we’re doomed.”

“I’m very neutral about the project, however, for the record, I just want to state that there has been a change of circumstances from the time the SEQR [State Environmental Quality Review Act] was done to when the DOT approved the traffic study,” said Tina Fietta, of Fietta Realty Corp., the company that owns land adjacent to the Shattuck proposal. Fietta Realty Corp. was working on a development of its own on land next to the Shattock project, in the town of Manlius, but COR Development recently pulled out of the project. “Since the SEQR and DOT approval, COR has since withdrawn, officially, from [our] project completely, and the DOT also said they are allowing them to withdraw the traffic signal on N. Burdick Street.”

The traffic light in question was originally planned to be built across from the Shattuck development’s property path, Driveway Two, until COR requested to move it to the other side of Carrabba’s Italian Grill between Kohl’s, or Driveway Three, to better benefit its project.

“That’s not true,” said Olson, explaining that, per a written statement from Marty Voss, commissioner of the Onondaga DOT, the county DOT is requiring COR Development to fulfill its agreement, and if they do not, the DOT has the right to close off Driveway Two, which lies between Carrabba’s Italian Grill and JoS. A. Bank at the Towne Centre.

Olson closed the public hearing without acting on the local law, scheduling to vote on it at their next meeting on June 25 at the Fayetteville Village Hall.

“There’s been some good comments, and I think all the trustees need to listen and hear about the impacts that could happen from the project and make a decision at our next meeting” said Olson.

The approval for this local law requires majority plus one, which means four out of six trustees must vote “yes” for it to be approved.