Cooperstown Board Debates

Whether To Move Bus Stop

Key players at the bus stop before Tuesday's Village Board meeting. From left are County Rep. Rick Hulse, R-Fly Creek, Fire Chief Jim Tallman, OPT Director Paul Patterson and Firefighter Glen Falk. (Ian Austin/allotsego.com) — Key players at the bus stop before Tuesday’s Village Board meeting. From left are County Rep. Rick Hulse, R-Fly Creek, Fire Chief Jim Tallman, OPT Director Paul Patterson and Firefighter Glen Falk. (Ian Austin/allotsego.com)

By LIBBY CUDMORE • for www.allotsego.com

COOPERSTOWN – The law says that there is to be no standing or parking within 20 feet of a fire station driveway.

But when Fire chief Jim Tallman tried to pull the aerial truck into the station on Chestnut Street after a call, he saw an OPT driver smoking a cigarette, waiting for his passengers.

“He saw me,” Tallman told the Village Board Tuesday at its May meeting at 22 Main. “But I wasn’t able to get into the driveway until he left.”

It’s been an ongoing issue – buses parking too close to the fire station driveway even being repeatedly asked to move forward.

And now the Village Board has stepped in, asking the county to relocate the bus stop to the 197 Main St. entrance of the county office building.

“This was addressed in 2010 and 2011,” said Trustee Cindy Falk. “We would ask buses to pull forward, and within weeks, they’d be parking on the apron again.”

But the relocation, some feared, would cause more trouble.

A letter from the Schlather & Birch law firm, located at 192, read, “We would call your attention to the extreme congestion on a daily basis, especially when court is in session,” and suggested that a bus stop be relocated to Railroad Avenue. “A bus stop between the Agway building and the railroad would work quite well,” they wrote.

Paul Patterson, OPT transportation director, was at the meeting, and suggested that, instead, a cement pad be poured a few feet up so that the buses would park closer to the corner of Leatherstocking Avenue, but the shelter could remain in place. “People are familiar with that stop,” he said. “Putting it on Railroad Avenue or upper Main is away from where people congregate.”

“Some people might have trouble walking up that hill to the County Building,” said Paul Clark. “The bus and fire companies should be able to solve this.”

Trustee Jim Dean also had a suggestion. “The bus stop is in the wrong place,” he said. “Move it to the other corner of Leatherstocking. A straight line is the best line.”

But Tallman brought up concerns that buses there might cause problems with people turning right off Leatherstocking, pulling out of the Doubleday Lot or off Fowler Lane. “You’re taking your life in your hands at that intersection,” he said.

The board decided ultimately to table the vote and take it back to the county to continue looking for a solution. “We’re trying to encourage public transportation,” said Dean. “This stop is the face of public transportation in Cooperstown.”