Update set in Schoharie on village senior housing plan

PHOTOGRAPHER: Edward Munger Jr.

Residents in Schoharie will get an update Wednesday on a senior citizen housing development being considered for Main Street.

Kingston-based Birchez Associates is pursuing village Planning Board review for the 72-unit development on a parcel just south of the former Great American grocery store on Main Street.

Village Planning Board member John Poorman said the informal hearing is planned to give residents information and the review is “early in the process.”

The new development recently received approval for state funding in the form of $3.2 million in loans from the Low-Income Housing Trust Fund Program as well as $1.6 million in tax credits.

The village also added an incentive in the form of a PILOT agreement that would extend 30 years and start at $23,400 in revenue, increasing by roughly 2 percent each year.

Village Mayor John Borst said there has been some opposition to the development expressed by individuals but no major outcry.

He described as “extensive” the environmental review that’s ongoing for the proposal, a review that entails a detailed look at a major facility’s impact on flooding.

“The biggest concern is either drainage or, of course, flooding,” he said.

Borst said some adjoining property owners are concerned with how the facility might change the impact of storm water on their parcels.

“The thing is, if there’s an impact, you don’t want it affecting somebody else’s property,” he said.

There’s another slight drawback, Borst said, that has some in the village concerned: the need to draw in young families, which the senior citizen housing project doesn’t address.

“I’d like to see kids and young people,” he said, adding that the Fire Department and ambulance corps both need new members.

Poorman said there’s another entity eyeing the village’s future and need for youth — the Long Term Recovery Committee, of which he is also a member.

Depending on the input it receives, it’s likely this committee that will consider ways for the community to draw in some young families.

Comprising local residents, officials and business owners, the steering committee is surveying residents and proprietors to establish goals and then pursue plans to accomplish them.

More about the Long Term Recovery process, including surveys for residents and businesses, can be found online at www.planningbetterplaces.com/schoharievillage.html.

Wednesday’s neighborhood meeting on the senior housing project will be held at 7:15 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church Hall, 314 Main St.