TOWN BOARD WON’T

BID ON BROOKWOOD

By JIM KEVLIN • for AllOTSEGO.com

FLY CREEK – The Otsego Town Board this evening agreed to back away from the idea of creating a town park at the Otsego Land Trust’s 22-acre Brookwood Gardens.

Town Board members took the lead from Councilman Bennett Sandler, who read a detailed statement into the record moments after the 5 p.m. meeting began, where he concluded, “I am disinclined to submit a proposal on behalf of the town for any portion of Brookwood Point, not because I don’t think the property should be a town park, but because I believe the OLT is the most qualified and capable organization to steward Brookwood Point into the future.”

READ COUNCILMAN SANDLER’S FULL STATEMENT

FULL REPORT IN THIS WEEK’S FREEMAN’S JOURNAL

At meeting’s end, the board voted unanimously, with Town Councilman John Schallert absent, to send Sandler’s statement to the Land Trust as an indication of the sense of the board.  In recent days, Land Trust Board Chair Harry Levine and Executive Director Virginia Kennedy had been meeting with Town Board members two at a time to discuss the OLT’s plans.

During the public comment period, Planning Board chair Joe Protikus supported the Town Board’s action, as did incoming supervisor Meg Kiernan and resident Vera Talevi.

However, Pat Thorpe, Brookwood caretaker for its former owner, the Cook Foundation, declared it “an abuse of their organization (for the Land Trust) to be using part of their property in this way.”

She said some Land Trust board members were surprised to learn the northern 11 acres of the Brookwood property had been put up for sale for $75,000 even before the RFP process – requests for proposals are being solicited by Sept. 30 – had run its course.

“I think people should be more alarmed,” Thorpe said.