2014 CONTROVERSY RECALLED

Revised Zoning Law

Would Allow Dorms

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

COOPERSTOWN – “I haven’t heard anything about a dorm?” said attorney Linden Summers, who lives at 1 Elk St., a half-block from Bassett Hospital, as this evening’s hour-long presentation and discussion on the village’s proposed revised zoning code neared an end.

He recalled that five years ago, the Village Board’s effort to adopt a “hospital zone” to give Bassett flexibility collapsed over whether the hospital was planning dorms in the one-family neighborhood surrounding it.

Deputy Mayor Cindy Falk, who led this evening’s presentation, acknowledged there is a provision in the revised code for dormitories

She read the definition in the law:  A dorm is six or more people living in the same building and sharing a kitchen.

Responding to a question after the meeting, she said she does not know of any Bassett plans to build dorms.

This evening’s meeting in the fire hall, an informal prelude to a formal public hearing that may occur as soon as October, dealt primarily with a provision that would allow any house within any zone in the village to be broken into apartments through a “special-use permit.”

Earlier, via another question from Summers, Falk said, “We did not do an economic-impact study of what the zoning change might do.”

During the presentation, several slides dealt with information gathered through a Bassett housing employee questionnaire that found there is a big demand local housing among hospital staff.