Photo by John Ellis Kordes Garden City Mayor Barbara Miller, whose term ends in April, pushed through a motion at the December 16th meeting of the Board of Trustees which would likely make it harder for future boards to use any part of St. Paul’s for private use. The motion, which took many by surprise, was to designate the entire St. Paul’s property as “parkland”, a designation which could only be lifted by the New York State Legislature if a future board decided to allow private development.

Prior to the motion, the land had been in a “public trust”, a designation which is less defined and understood than parkland, according to Village Counsel Gerard Fishberg. Mayor Miller said one of the reasons why she wanted the change was to clear up any confusion residents had and make it clear that the property would be controlled by the Village. Either way, restrictions on land use can only be changed by the state legislature.

However, in a later telephone interview, Fishberg said that the new designation may make the legislature less likely to make a change after learning that a fairly recent Board of Trustees voted in favor of making St. Paul’s parkland.

Mayor Miller and Trustees Jon Segerdahl, Peter Negri and John Watras voted in favor of the parkland resolution and Trustees Gerard Lundquist, Peter Bee, John Mauk and Robert Rothschild voted against the measure. Under Village code, Mayor Miller was able to cast an additional vote to break the tie. The Mayor said she feels strongly that the approximately 48 acres of land should remain in the public domain and was disturbed by trustees considering the possibility of selling the land to a private developer.

The Mayor’s move especially angered Trustee Mauk, who said it was “disingenuous” to introduce the resolution after a compromise resolution introduced by Trustees Segerdahl and Bee was unanimously approved at the October 21st Board meeting.

“You talk about your dismay about not being able to do anything, when in point of fact, Mayor, you have been one of the biggest obstacles to doing anything with respect to St. Paul’s,” said Mauk. “To present this at the last minute as though somehow you’re trying to move this along when in fact what you’re really doing is setting up a situation which takes us further away from any resolution of this.”

He said Miller and her supporters on the Board were not being fair to the public or other trustees since they offered no practical solution for fully utilizing the building. The Mayor and trustees who believe in public use also have not come up with a way to finance the cost. Mauk also said the way the Mayor improperly exercised her right to an extra vote and accused her of “bullying” her parkland resolution through.

The Oct. 21st resolution called for the preparation by Village staff of a needs assessment for the use of public building space within the St. Paul’s building, and the development, with professional assistance, of a request for proposal (RFP) for private-sector, residential development for space comparable to the existing square footage of the existing buildings. Responders to the RFP will be notified to any preferences of the Village for partial public use. After the needs assessment and RFP are completed, the resolution called for steps to be taken to stabilize the building and a request for enabling home rule legislation to be presented to Senator Kemp Hannon and Assemblywoman Maureen O’Connell to permit non-public use of the property.

Russell Matthews, executive vice president of the Albanese Organization, Inc., a real estate development, investment and management firm based in Garden City, was not happy with the decision. “There really is no hope of this property ever being developed or invested in by the private sector. You have effectively foreclosed that option for the future,” he said. Matthews added that it would be a waste of time to continue working on a Request for Proposal (RFP). “No credible developer would risk the time and resources necessary to respond to an RFP that really has no hope of being implemented.”

Trustees Bee and Segerdahl introduced resolutions that failed, although Trustee Segerdahl’s resolution is expected to be reintroduced at the next meeting on January 13th. Dismayed at the Mayor’s resolution, Trustee Bee introduced his own resolution to move forward with the one he had offered to the Board on Oct. 21. The resolution appointed Village Administrator Robert Schoelle to take whatever steps are necessary, including the hiring of a professional, to draft a Request for Proposal (RFP). Trustee Bee emphasized that developers would be told that the Village prefers a public use so whatever plan they submit should have space set aside for that purpose.

Voting fell along similar lines as Mayor Miller’s resolution: Trustees Bee, Lundquist, Mauk and Rothschild voted in favor of the resolution; Mayor Miller, Segerdahl and Negri voted against it and Trustee Watras abstained.

Trustee Segerdahl said his goal is to push the St. Paul’s issue forward and offered a resolution that builds upon the original one he co-introduced with Trustee Bee on October 21st. Segerdahl’s resolution called for development of a more expanded and thorough needs assessment, with community input. It also called for the Board to request Village staff to draw up an RFP for the joint public/private use of the Historic Main Building at St. Paul’s subject to the following provisions:

• The Village maintains ownership of the building and the land.

• With regard to private use, the RFP should not exceed the footprint of the Historic Main Building and be contained to those portions not designated as public which is listed.

• Private use shall also indicate property needs sufficient to accommodate parking and public use portion is defined as the entire first floor and the chapel portion of the second floor.

Segerdahl’s resolution also calls on the Board of Trustees to authorize an expenditure of money from the existing St. Paul’s Main Building Maintenance Code to authorize an architect to draw up plans and specifications for the stabilization of the Historic Main Building based upon the Sullivan and Nickel Cost Estimate Analysis.

It is expected that Segerdahl’s resolution will be reintroduced at the next Board meeting on January 13 since Trustee Watras asked to change his vote after the measure had been defeated. Trustees Segerdahl, Miller and Negri voted for the resolution; Mauk, Bee, Lundquist and Rothschild voted against it; and Trustee Watras abstained but then changed his mind after the vote was taken and said he wanted to vote in favor of the measure. Village Counsel Fishberg said that technically trustees could not take a revote until the next meeting.

Angry and frustrated after hours of debate, the tension between trustees sometimes erupted into bitter exchanges. At one point, tensions rose so high the Board went into executive session. Eileen Collins, a former trustee, scolded the Board for being disrespectful and uncivil. “We need calm heads and clear minds,” she said. Collins also said the resolutions should have been shown to the public before the meeting. Robert Bolebruch said he had never seen people in a public forum act with such little respect for others. Trustee Mauk apologized for his behavior.

Resident Jonathan Schwieger is in favor of a public use for the building and land. “I can’t see why the residents of this Village would want to give up five to 10 acres of the most valuable real estate that we have in the Village.”

He has asked trustees at past meetings to consider a “no wings” approach by keeping the central portion of the building but demolishing the east and west wings. According to Schwieger, the Village can then renovate and use the building as a community center for a total cost of $20 million. He recommended a gradual approach to the total project: in 2005 he suggested removing the wings and Ellis Hall for a cost to taxpayers of $25; in 2006, he suggested protecting the building façade at a total cost of $103 per taxpayer; in 2007, he recommended doing the necessary electrical and heating work at a cost of $152 per taxpayer; in 2008 he suggested finishing the internal part of the building at a cost of $240 per taxpayer. In total, the cost to taxpayers for a community center at St. Paul’s would be $521.

Schwieger said some of the money could possibly come out of the Village’s budget or could be partly funded by charging a fee to residents who use the community center. This would be similar to the way the Village funds the pool.

Mayor Miller had hinted that some action might be forthcoming in her Dec. 10 column in The Garden City News. “Quite frankly, the longer the Board of Trustees takes no action on this compromise resolution the more I am compelled to find a way to reassure the residents that this Historic Main Building/10 acre site remains in Village control like the 38 acres of playing fields--one of the common themes I hear from just about every resident I talked with, listened to at Board meetings, or read letters sent to me,” she wrote.

In other news, Trustee Segerdahl announced that the traffic light at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Fourth Street should be operational by the second week of January. He also said the Kanner house on Tenth Street should be moved in early February.