Fayetteville Village Board rejects Waterside Commons plan

VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE-After years of consideration, review of pertinent letters and a public hearing held April 12, the village of Fayetteville’s board of trustees decided unanimously to nix the proposed Waterside Commons development.
The planned unit development application at hand detailed plans for a four-story, mixed-use building at the vacant corner of West Genesee and Highbridge streets complete with apartments, a restaurant and two other tenant spaces—the occupants never to be determined.
This week’s public hearing, the second and final one relating to the project, was held over Zoom to accommodate the anticipated number of attendees due to a capacity reduction for in-person meetings and a dearth of alternate venues.
Mayor Mark Olson read aloud a timeline of some of the village’s history with developments presented for the site.
In September 2005 an informal meeting about a potential Walgreens project took place between Fayetteville officials and the developer. Almost four years of back and forth ensued until that application was withdrawn.
After a period of dormancy, a site plan application found its way to the planning board in 2015, but progress on that installment stopped at the request of the applicant.
In June 2018 the board of trustees received the PUD application from Point Five Development Fayetteville LLC and Falls Bridge Development 1 LLC. The application was transformed in substance and then reviewed by engineers following the public hearing last August.
The board’s meeting on March 22 included the passing of a negative State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) declaration in connection to the development.
Allotted three minutes of speaking time each, participants in the most recent Waterside Commons-related public hearing raised their hands in clear view of their computer cameras in order to voice their thoughts.
“We do not need such a tall, massive, huge structure looming over us,” Fayetteville citizen Marguerite Ross said.
One resident, Jason Feulner, said the construction of the development would cause the village to carry the cost and various headaches “forevermore.”
“I don’t think the developer has met you halfway,” Feulner said. “The kernel of the idea is good. I just don’t feel that this project application has been tweaked enough to really meet the concerns that have been outlined from the very start.”
Another resident, Sarah Pralle, questioned the idea of developing in a flood zone, adding in a presumption that climate change would worsen the flood risk. She suggested that the 1.8-acre area at the Genesee-Highbridge intersection could be made into a green space instead as a way to absorb flood waters.
Other concerns expressed by Fayetteville residents touched on parking deficiencies, effects on automobile traffic and as a result walkability in the area, perceived unaffordability of the building’s luxury housing, the necessity of another dine-in restaurant in the village and the possibility that the development will be out of step with the character of its vicinity from an aesthetic standpoint.
Olson said he had been unsettled by the prospect of how to deal with snow and garbage removal as well as fire department access to the site upon the project’s completion.
Trustee Michael Small said he would have liked to see an accurately scaled model of the development to better gauge its size.
“This board of trustees and myself have always tried to do what is right for the public,” Olson said. “Before we even had this hearing, all of us have thought long and hard about this proposed development in our village.”
After listening to input from others who live in the village at the meeting attended by over 50, the board voted to reject the Waterside Commons proposal.
In other news
The Fayetteville board held a public hearing on the preliminary 2021-2022 budget, which contains a tax rate of $7.20 per thousand, a figure identical to that of the 2020-2021 budget.
Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) funding will be used to continue the Brookside project, Mayor Olson said.
According to the mayor, the trustees will take a $500 pay cut while he will be taking a $1,000 pay deduction, all to help support a new program called Fayetteville Cares.
The board also approved the tax cap override, the subject of a third public hearing.
The grand reopening of the Fayetteville Senior Center has been scheduled for May 3 at 9 a.m.