Letter from Ron Bishop
Perspective on Brookwood Point
The Otsego Land Trust’s plan to relocate and improve public access to Otsego Lake at Brookwood Point has illuminated differing views on how that property should be managed, and I want to contribute some of my own. As a member of the small group of concerned locals who blocked the sale of part of that property to a private developer in 2008, I’ve watched events unfolding since then with great interest. Now I want to share details I believe have been conspicuously absent from the public discussion.
Brookwood Point operated as a corporate entity since the incorporation of the Cook Foundation in 1985. The deed transferring Brookwood Point to the foundation board (Otsego County, NY Deed Book 703, pp 645-648) states:
“The property conveyed herein is subject to the following restrictions which shall be observed by the Cook Foundation and any of its successors-in-interest, and shall run with the land:
- The property shall not be subdivided or sold for commercial or residential purposes.
- No buildings of any sort shall be erected on the property which shall materially affect the natural beauty of the site.
- Nothing shall be per-mitted to take place on the property which would constitute a public nuisance either visually or audibly.
- The preceding covenants may be waived, but not extinguished, on particular occasions by the written approval of at least 80% of the total number of trustees then serving on the Board of Trustees of the Cook Foundation.”
By 2008, the Cook Foundation faced a crisis of mounting maintenance costs and dwindling funds that exposed what proved to be an impractical corporate model. Our blocking the private sale only intensified their dilemma until the Otsego Land Trust agreed to assimilate the Cook Foundation board and take over stewardship of the property. Since then, I think they have diligently balanced the competing interests of being a good host and a good neighbor, overseeing just enough commercial activities to pay the bills.
I urge the Otsego Town Board of Zoning Appeals and Town Board—and all engaged parties—to consider these facts as they consider their next actions.
Ronald E. Bishop
Cooperstown