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The board of trustees has decided to hire an engineer to review the work of CLA Site, the firm hired to do the site assessment and design work for the Village Gateway Project _ now known as the Cooperstown Intermodal Transit Project. That review will cost up to $12,000.
At the same time, the Town of Otsego Planning Board has asked an engineer to review the design as part of its site plan review of the project, which is located outside the village in the town. The planning board wants the village to pay for that engineering review _ in the same way other applicants are required to pay for services required in the review of a site plan.
Town Planning Board Chair Paul Lord said Tuesday that he has been asked to demonstrate where the town derives the authority to require an applicant to pay. The town has required applicants to do so in the past, but Lord has so far been unable to find it in the land use law or elsewhere and is continuing to research the issue.
It is common practice to require applicants to pay for the cost of additional help in reviewing projects and the mayor and village board should know it. The village planning board does exactly that _ just ask Bassett Hospital how much it paid when the village hired an engineering firm to review its parking project plans.
Instead of stepping up to the plate and doing what it, too, requires of applicants, some board members don’t seem to think the village should be held to the same standard.
During a special meeting July 7 to discuss hiring an engineer to review CLA Site’s work, Gateway Project Chair Chuck Hage commented, ``I don’t think the town will require the village to pay. I don’t think the village should pay the town.’’
We are at a loss to understand why the village should not be required to do what it requires others to do, but then we don’t understand the need for extra engineering review in the first place.
The village has frequently hired engineering firms to do the design work for projects without hiring someone to look over their shoulder. There have been vague comments about the quality of CLA Site’s work by the mayor and some trustees who admit they don’t have the knowledge themselves to review the work. Supporters of the proposal say having another engineer review the design will enhance the chances of qualifying for the next round of funding, but don’t explain why it would enhance the chances.
To us, it appears to be a redundant layer of review for a project that will also be looked at by the town planning board’s engineer and engineers for the NYSDOT when the design is submitted to that agency.
It also seems somewhat ironic that the village has hired Clough Harbour Associates to do the review. Clough Harbour was one of the firms that originally submitted a proposal to do the design work for the project, but was rejected in favor of CLA Site.
If there are legitimate, quantifiable concerns about the quality of CLA Site’s work, they should be clearly stated to justify the expenditure of additional taxpayer funds for the review.
