By Alexis Pencar
SHARON SPRINGS — The Village of Sharon Springs Board gathered for their regularly scheduled monthly board meeting on Thursday, March 21st at 6:00 PM in the Sharon Community Building. Many of the regular Village residents were present with a larger audience than usual on this evening of scheduled Public Hearing.
After the Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Denise Kelly moved through a few items quickly in anticipation of the Public Hearing scheduled to start promptly at 6:15 PM.
The Public Hearing was for “review the property assessment list and to get citizen input and comments relative to the application for financial assistance under Restore New York”. The two property sites in question were: Pavilion Cottages at 125 Pavilion Ave and Chalybeate Park at 199 Main Street.
The Owner of the Pavilion Cottages at 125 Pavilion Ave, Mr. Nick Drummond spoke in length about the need to “save the Cottages” and to “stabilize, restore, and revitalize the property back into an integral part of the Village, as it once was.” He continued to provide that they are working under Pavilion Cottages Enterprises LLC with a phased approach to developing the property into a “premier, private, queer-centric, hotel resort community”. This is regarding the 5 historical townhouses known as the cottages and the work needing to be done on them for consideration by Restore New York.
Through the presentation, Drummond specified the importance of the “queer aspect” and it is “a critical part on why this is such a good idea for the Village.”
The hope of this project is to create a “safe space and a sense of family, togetherness, and community” through a “private membership model.” The paid membership is open to queer people and queer allies to apply and there is ‘no cap to members.”
Drummond followed up with “It's never been exclusively queer, it has from day one, always been queer-centric.”
There was mention of the Village history and that was another reason why “this project will work here.”
It was also noted that there are a variety of other grants that are in consideration for this project. The initial idea for the project was the townhouses being made into single-family residences and has since shifted into the resort hotel concept with the ability of long-term residences.
The other project brought forward was Chalybeate Park (also submitted for NY Forward and still pending) for the changing building and temple, both in need of fixing. The Village can submit two ‘intent to apply’ and one project final. The suggestion by Mayor Kelly was to submit them both but not make a definite decision, allowing for more time for feedback from New York Forward.
Drummond answered a few further questions about the project and covered many different parts of the business model. There were more than a few questions regarding the proposed private membership model.
Members of the community also had questions on how and why these projects were chosen over others. Even after the public hearing, there was continued talks over the Sidewalk Project and additional unfinished work.
This meeting was extensive at over 2 hours long with many topics covered including the regular board meeting agenda. If you’d like to watch it for yourself, SCHOPEG was present recording this meeting. Please check out Schopeg On Demand at www.schopeg.vids.io for the full video available now.
The regularly scheduled Village Board Meetings are on the third Thursday of the month at 6:00 pm, located in the Sharon Community Building at 129 Main Street, Sharon Springs, NY 13459. Please call (518) 284-2625 for more information.
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