The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Moose Lodge rezoned for commercial
ONEIDA, N.Y. >> One year after owner Russell Blanchard brought it before the city council; the former Moose Lodge has been rezoned from residential to commercial.
Blanchard, co-owner of Wolf Oak Acres in Oneida with his wife Katrina, purchased the 42.3-acre property to build a sporting goods store and wedding venue on the property. The proposal required a zoning change and was met with serious push-back from the surrounding community.
At the Common Council meeting on Tuesday evening, local residents packed the council chambers.
For the past year, the council has heard from residents during three separate public hearings. Residents in the area expressed worry that their property values would be affected while others put forth the possibility of something other than a small business ending up on Route 5.
“I don’t take my job lightly and give much consideration to votes I must cast,” Ward 4 Councilor Helen Acker said. “With this particular issue, I have spoken to a great many of you here tonight and a great many throughout the city. My vote tonight will make some people happy and others not. I just want you to know that I have thought long and hard on this issue.”
Acker said the property has been vacant and up for sale for the last 25 years. And in the 20 years she has managed Smith’s Flooring and Paint on Lenox Avenue, Acker said she’s spoken to many contractors and developers over the years on the subject of the old Moose Lodge.
“I asked if they would purchase and develop that particular piece of land for a housing development,” Acker said. “Each and every one has said that the cost to this is prohibitive for several reasons.”
The topography, a once former golf course, makes it difficult to put a housing development on, Acker said, adding the cost of infrastructure for roadways, utilities and housing itself would be a great cost.
“They would not realize a profit that would be acceptable to themand the cost to sell each
house would be close to between $750,000 and $1 million,” Acker said. “They all felt that Oneida would not be able to support the cost of the land and the housing itself. So, each one of these developers has passed on it.”
After the meeting, Acker said she had spoken to around 10 different contractors and developers on the matter.
Ward 5 Councilor Jim Chamberlain echoed Acker’s statement, saying he thinks the council needs to look at the city as a whole and what the city needs.
“I think this project is important to bringing in more jobs and more revenue we need,” Chamberlain said. “A lot of people are going to be disappointed, and a lot of people are going to be happy. It’s a hard decision I compare to the fluoride issue. Ultimately, we made a decision that was overall, what the people wanted. And that’s the way we voted.”
Acker added that Blanchard is the first person in more than25 years to put his money and financial backing on the line to bring businesses to that property.
“We need our city to grow and prosper,” Acker said. “We need business. We have to stop being known as NO-neida. We need to encourage business to our city; not discourage business. We need to help people invest in our community and not scare them away. Oneida needs positive growth. With that being said, I am voting yes.”
In the end, all city councilors except Ward 2 Councilor Mike Bowe voted ‘yes’ on the issue.
Bowe has expressed concerns with the project and hoped for a win-win but said he couldn’t see it at the last council meeting. Bowe had said at the meeting that while the project sounds great, he did not think the city was protecting the neighbors of 409 Genesee St. enough.
Bowe asked the council to amend the language of the SEQRA findings to reflect there are residential houses alongside the northeast and northwest side of the property.
This was the SEQRA findings for the zoning change — not the project itself.
Blanchard said the plans for phase one, the sporting good store, will be presented to the Planning Department soon.
“This [zone change] was the biggest hurdle,” Blanchard said. “We’ll probably be before the Planning Board within the next 90 days, depending on what the city has going on.”
The best-case scenario, Blanchard said, is to get approved this winter and bids out soon after. “It would be really nice to break ground come spring and start building,” Blanchard said.
Quick Hits
• The City of Oneida will be one of the co-sponsors for the Oneida Rotary Club’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner, offering the use of the Kallet Civic Center at no charge to the Oneida Rotary.
• Parks and Recreations Director Luke Griff approached city councilors to go out to bid for a new roof for the Recreation Center.