Canus Withdraws Application For St. Paul's
By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

The Committee to Save St. Paul's/Canus Corporation proposal for St. Paul's has officially been withdrawn, announced Mayor Peter Bee at the October 18th Garden City Board of Trustees meeting.

"For better or for worse, this Board has selected AvalonBay as the entity in which to proceed," he said. "I hope that all of the parties can now move forward...I look forward to the process unfolding with all eyes now on where we are going from here."

Deputy Mayor John Mauk, who serves as chairman of the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's, acknowledged that the process is now moving forward as both sides work to develop a memorandum of understanding. The document will not be legally binding, but will detail expectations on both sides.

At the October 4th meeting of the Board of Trustees, the Board voted 5 to 3 to ratify the decision made by the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's to designate AvalonBay Communities. as the exclusive developer of the St. Paul's property. They also voted to drop the Committee to Save St. Paul's/Canus Corporation from consideration, calling the potential risk e "unacceptable."

Since that decision, representatives of the CSSP have met with "people close to the issue." "We haven't closed any doors," said Maureen Traxler, the organization's administrative and communications director. "At this time, we don't know all the particulars of an Avalon proposal, but we remain firmly fixed on our goals: keeping the property under Village control, restoring and preserving the historic interior and exterior features, creating meaningful community space in significant areas of the Main Building and staying within the footprint of St. Paul's...Despite the naysayers, we have demonstrated that those goals are achievable, and we will continue to work to make sure they are a part of any solution to the St. Paul's challenge. The residents deserve no less."

Both proposals are available for review at the Garden City Public Library.

AvalonBay representatives will be reaching out to smaller community groups within the next few weeks. Deputy Mayor John Mauk said the Mayor's Committee hopes to have a public presentation by the end of November.

Mayor Bee announced that a public meeting on St. Paul's scheduled for October 24th was cancelled. Karen Backus & Associates, the Mayor's Committee's consultant, was scheduled to analyze both development proposals. Bee said the Board agreed with AvalonBay's assertion that it would be "inappropriate" to re-examine the proposals after a developer has been designated.

In other St. Paul's news, Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti commented on the process that preceded the Board's vote on October 4th to extend consultant Karen Backus' contract through December 2008. The Board approved a slight increase in her hourly fee and set a limit for additional expenditure at $60,000.

Lamberti was one of three trustees who voted against the extension at that meeting. He claims there was a violation of the rules and procedures the Board is required to follow since it was put on the meeting agenda after the deadline listed in the procedures manual.

He said he was deprived of the choice to thoroughly read and understand the contract. Lamberti claims "somebody" wanted it to happen, and the majority of the Board did not.

"I suggest to you, ladies and gentlemen, this is a violation of process." Lamberti said he is always true to himself and will object if something does not meet his standards. "If you acquiesce in it, this is the government you deserve," he said.

"Trustee Tom Lamberti makes an excellent point about the importance of following our procedural rules and I have already asked the Village Administrator to re-circulate copies to all trustees," Mayor Bee told The Garden City News in an e-mail after the meet-ing. "While those procedures may be suspended by a simple majority vote, it is something that we should not do lightly."