BALDWINSVILLE — The Van Buren Zoning and Planning Board is asking Brolex Properties to go back to the drawing board for the proposed Crego Farm development. At an informal work session Nov. 29, ZPB members asked developer Brandon Jacobson of Brolex Properties to consider eliminating the apartment units from the proposal.

Brolex’s most recent site plan, dated Nov. 28, features the following:

• 336 apartments (eight buildings with 36 units each and two buildings with 24 units)
• 107 townhomes (attached in groups between two and four townhomes)
• 95 detached single-family homes

Jacobson said 80 to 85% of the apartments would be two-bedroom units.

With Micron investing $100 billion in a semiconductor manufacturing campus in Clay, Jacobson said, the population of Onondaga County is projected to increase by 100,000 people over the next decade. The region — already suffering a housing shortage before Micron’s announcement — will need to plan for denser housing.

“It’s our duty as private developers — and public leaders as well — to be a partner in letting these people have a place to go,” Jacobson said.

Jacobson said many people have been priced out of homeownership, while others want the amenities of waterfront living without having to purchase a home.

ZPB members asked Jacobson to decrease the density of the Crego Farm project by replacing the apartments with townhomes.

“We don’t have to build all of Micron’s housing. There’s 19 other towns in Onondaga County,” ZPB member Claude Sykes said.

Sykes, a former town supervisor, said Brolex’s proposal has grown considerably. A site plan dated March 8, 2022, showed 120 detached homes and six 36-unit apartment buildings — a total of 336 housing units. The Nov. 28 site plan shows a total of 538 units.

“People were complaining about the density before,” Sykes said.

Sykes also said the public tends to associate apartments with crime, traffic and an adverse effect on neighboring home values.

The former supervisor was not the only ZPB member with reservations.

Jamie Bowes agreed with Sykes that density is an issue. He said apartments are “out of context” with the surrounding zoning. The area is zoned R-40 and Brolex is seeking a zone change to a planned unit development (PUD).

ZPB Chair Tony Geiss cited archaeological concerns about the site, which was once home to a Haudenosaunee village in the 1400s. A report from SUNY Binghamton, dated Feb. 11, 2022, said some artifacts at the site are even older. A 1997 study uncovered two longhouses and a palisade as well as fire-cracked rock, “post molds, roasting platforms, and a small hearth,” all features associated with cooking. While the report said no human remains were identified at the site, Onondaga Nation Faithkeeper Anthony Gonyea requested excavation of the knoll in the northwest corner of the site before construction to make sure there are no cultural or human remains.

ZPB member James Virginia said the site plan is still “very fluid” and is not ready for public comments.

To learn more about the Crego Farm proposal, visit townofvanburen.com/accordions/proposed-crego-farm-project/.

The next meeting of the ZPB is at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13, at Van Buren Town Hall.