Attend the hearing

Springfield’s Town Board has scheduled a public hearing regarding its Comprehensive Plan for June 1, 7 p.m. at the Springfield Community Center located in Springfield Center.

The Plan was compiled, through diligent efforts on the part of the eight-person Comprehensive Plan Committee, using information and data gathered about the Town of Springfield, as well as input from the Town residents through the Resident Survey, the Planning and Visioning Workshop, public attendance at monthly meetings, and previous public hearings on the draft document.

I wish to commend my fellow committee members for their public service, commitment to the plan, and for their efforts to create a plan that represents the wishes of the citizens. The Planning and Visioning Workshop was well organized, well attended, and openly run. The survey questions were carefully considered, the survey broadly distributed, the returns closely monitored and independently tabulated, and the level of community response statistically valid. While working over particularly difficult sections of the plan, the committee would often refocus itself with the idea that our task was to develop a plan that reflects the results of community polling and not by our own personal feelings or agendas. I am proud to have taken part in the development of the Plan and I feel that its adoption by the Town Board is critical to Springfield. The Plan provides a clear vision and goals and suggests strategies and action plans to reach those goals.

I am very excited about the opportunities afforded by this plan to the populous for community service and civic involvement. The Plan calls for the establishment of various committees to focus on and support economic development, recreation, historic preservation, community events coordination, and agriculture.

I strongly encourage all who have participated in this most democratic process — the folks who at- tended the workshops, the meetings, all residents and landowners who completed and mailed your surveys — to demonstrate your support for the Comprehensive Plan by attending and speaking at the Town Board meeting.

David Staley

Springfield Center

Staley is Co-Chair of the Town of Springfield Comprehensive Plan Committee and member of the Town Planning Board.

Board thanks its residents

The Cooperstown Central School Board of Education would like to thank the community for its support of our recent budget proposal for the 2009-2010 school year. As you know, we have all been faced with the challenges of local, State, and national economic conditions. The recent federal stimulus funds enabled the New York State legislature to reinstate school aid funding to levels comparable to those in 2008-2009. While this is very helpful and appreciated, it is important to note that stimulus funding will continue for only one additional year beyond the coming year. This means we will continue to have difficult fiscal decisions facing us in the near future.

It is our intent to continue to monitor district expenses very closely, strive to maintain programs that are valued, maintain our facilities, and work diligently to negotiate contractual agreements that provide a fair wage while being sensitive to ever increasing health care costs. This will not be easy, but with your input and understanding we hope to continue to develop fiscal plans that the community feels it can support. Again, please accept our appreciation for your support of Cooperstown Central Schools.

CCS Board of Education Members

Listen to the experts

The foremost experts concerned with monitoring and maintaining the water quality for Otsego Lake have now weighed in on the proposed Walker development off of Browdy Mountain Road, and they have urged the Town Planning Board not to allow it to go forward.

At the May 5 public hearing, Dr. Willard Harman of the SUNY Biological Field Station, and Win McIntyre, speaking for the Watershed Advisory Commission, made it clear that this development will not be good for the lake. It will allow run-off containing nutrients like phosphorus to enter the lake, and the lake is already struggling with more nutrients than it can handle.

These two Otsego Lake experts made it clear that Mr. Walker’s stormwater run-off mitigation system, however conscientiously designed, will not be sufficient to fully protect the lake, because the technology doesn’t exist to completely and effectively contain run-off from a steep-slope development over time.

In addition to the environmental aspects, Mr. Walker’s scheme to build three new houses and connect their driveways to his private road, violates Town regulations regarding roads. It violates four different road laws designed to ensure safety and ready access by emergency vehicles. So the Planning Board would have to waive four different laws in order to approve his proposal.

The final public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2 at 7:30 pm, giving concerned citizens another opportunity to voice their desire to see the lake protected and the laws upheld, not waived.

The lake is an invaluable resource, not only as an aesthetic and recreational treasure for residents and the source of drinking water for Cooperstown, but also as an attraction for vacationers and tourists; it is a foundational support for the local economy. Yet regulations to protect the lake from the effects of steep-slope development are virtually non-existent, and development is outpacing the lake’s ability to handle the environmental consequences.

The Planning Board must stand in the gap.

If Mr. Walker’s proposal is approved, it would set a dangerous precedent with far-reaching, long-term, negative consequences for the lake and the community. The Planning Board should listen to the experts and vote ``No’’ on Mr. Walker’s proposal.

Marilyn L. Bradshaw

Cooperstown