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Oneonta Common Council has voted to allow demolition of the closed municipal parking garage at Market Street.
State Department of State Downtown Revitalization initiative grant funding would have provided $95,737 up to $110,000.
Both rounds of voting, Len Carson from the R-Fifth Ward and Scott Harrington from R-Sixth Ward voted no. Kaytee lipari Shue voted yes. Emily Falco of the D-Eighth Ward was not in attendance.
The garage demolition was put on hold by the City Administrator Greg Mattice due to the vote of the council against the moving NYSEG’s equipment.
Carson, after the special council meeting on June 15, initially opposed the agreement between NYSEG and Carson because he felt there was a discrepancy with the minutes.
A $30 million concept plan was presented to the Council on the 15th of June by representatives of consulting firm Wendel Companies. This included replacing the garage parking and creating a hub for public transportation.
Carson claimed Wednesday he thought that the council approved the demolition of the parking garage. He believes the vote was actually on SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review), which is also pronounced as “seeker”, and a bid for doing the demolition work, without authorization.
Video recording from the 15th of June meeting shows unanimous approval for a resolution stating that there was no need to conduct a further environmental evaluation since the site will be used only as parking.
Mattice said, “Demolition is next” in discussing the motion for demolition authorization.
To proceed, you will need to issue an invitation to tender, a written contract, a formal motion for awarding the contract and a set budget.
Kerri Harrington, the City Clerk reads out the Motion a few minutes after.
The Common Council needs to authorize demolition of municipal parking garages and tell city staff that they should finalize design documents and bidding documents as soon possible.
Mattice explained that it was not a motion to authorize the replacement of a garage, or the use of a new parking lot. It was a bid for the demolition work and other “ancillary” works necessary for the site’s security.
Harrington cast a no vote on the motion. John Rafter had resigned from the D-Seventh Ward and no new member of council had been named.
Carson suggested the city also seek out an independent second opinion by a different engineering company on the current condition of garages and costs of options.
Gary Herzig, the former mayor, wrote a note to council asking for a second view. Wendel Consulting provided three different reports saying that the garage could be “restored” and then sent a single-page document stating it was torn down.
In addition, the engineer said he did not know that Wendel released a complete engineering report prior to Tuesday.
It’s not until we get a second expert opinion and know that the garage is in fact needed to be removed, I would support its demolition. We’re asking tax payers to pay for the cost of a parking lot that costs tens or even hundreds of millions.
Harrington and Shue were not convinced by Carson’s recall of what happened on June 15, but rather their own recollections.
The city was also concerned with the costs of relocating NYSEG’s electric distribution system and its concurrent demolition of a nearby abandoned building on Market St.
According to Lipari Shue, both buildings will be demolished simultaneously.
Mattice stated that Market St. 27 would be destroyed in two to three month, while the garage was to be removed during the winter.
Lipari Shue is most concerned about the timeline. The project is not needed at the moment, as the demolition of Market St. must be completed before NYSEG begins.
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