Morgan Management, the developer for the planned 250-unit Fayetteville Village Apartments on 547 E. Genesee St. in Fayetteville, has responded to the Fayetteville-Manlius School District’s recent concerns regarding the project in the form of a letter to Craig Tice, superintendent of F-M schools.
In the letter dated Sept. 29, Kevin Morgan, vice president of Morgan Management, said his company believes the enrollment increase projections for Fayetteville Elementary were not accurate because they were based on a the 34-house Ryan Homes development in Manlius, which brought an increase of 28 students to Enders Road Elementary — an overall rate of 82 percent.
Tice sent a letter dated Sept. 14 to the Fayetteville Planning Board, stating that a study was done regarding the impact of the Ryan Homes housing development which showed a total of 28 new students enrolled at Enders Road Elementary School in the village of Manlius and that if the Fayetteville Apartment project were to be approved, there would be a significant influx of students in the village of Fayetteville and taxes would likely have to be increased to accommodate this change.
“It would be fair to say this is a very high enrollment rate, and one that is representative of a development that is populated primarily by families with young children. By basing your projections of our development solely on these figures, you made the assumption that our development will enroll approximately 200 total students,” the Sept. 29 letter from Morgan Management stated.
The 250-unit complex is planned to be made up of 60 percent two-bedroom units, 30 percent one-bedroom units and only 10 percent will be three-bedroom units — a typical size for a family with multiple young children. In addition, Morgan Management believes some of the residents of the development may be moving from nearby Fayetteville homes that are already in the district’s area.
When the project was proposed earlier this year, developers said the complex would be targeted to a group mainly made up of “empty-nesters and young professionals,” who are typically not people that have children living in their homes.
“Therefore, it would be incorrect to assume our development will lead to an enrollment rate similar to that of Ryan Homes. In fact, we estimate our new development will lead to an enrollment rate of no more than approximately 110 new students in the school district.”
“We neither for or against the project, all we’re looking for is to be part of the conversation” said Tice after reading the letter from Morgan. “I think with the population density of the proposed project, we’re concerned it may put a strain on the district.”
Tice said while the projections stated in his Sept. 14 letter were solely based on the Ryan Home Development, the district has looked at similar complexes, such as the Suburban Park Apartments (contains one- and two-bedroom units) in Manlius, which brought about .6 students per unit, and the Wildwood Ridge Apartments (contains one-, two- and three-bedroom units) in Fayetteville, which brought about .4 students per unit. Tice said the increase with the Fayetteville Village Apartments may bring a lower influx somewhere between 110 and 200 units.
“The reason we projected an influx of 200 students in the letter was because we want to prepare for the worst,” said Tice. “I think we’re getting closer to determining what is right for this community.”
Sam Spokony, a spokesperson for Morgan Management, said the company believes Tice should retract his original letter to the village planning board.
“Superintendent Craig Tice’s response to our data-driven argument shows that his original projection of new students at our development was inaccurate. In the interest of maintaining a fair and fact-based dialogue, we urge Mr. Tice to retract his letter to the village which contained that inaccurate projection,” Spokony’s statement said.
In addition to the concerns posed by the F-M school district, a petition with over 350 signatures was submitted to the Fayetteville planning board, stating concerns of the scale of the project and the traffic increase.
In the most recent plans, the Fayetteville Village Apartment project will contain a total of 250 units comprised of six three-story apartment buildings, 14 two-story townhouse and brownstone-style apartments with interior garages as well as a community center with outside pool. The project will have to obtain a zone change and a building height variance, as well as site plan approval by the planning board before any work could move forward.
