Now that the Village of Sharon Springs’ dilapidated and dangerous Comfort House is gone, Mayor Doug Plummer and trustees are asking:
What’s next?
Both for the now-vacant Washington Avenue lot and for other similar properties in the village.
The 1905 Comfort House came down in December, thanks to a Restore NY grant.
The site still needs to be graded and seeded, Mayor Plummer said Thursday, something that will now have to wait till spring.
Next-door neighbor Slater asked about plans for the now-village-owned lot; she’d like neighbors to have first-crack at purchasing the site.
But Mayor Plummer suggested holding a public hearing where all village residents could weigh-in.
“Now that it’s owned by the village, it belongs to all of us,” he said.
Additionally, he said, one condition of the grant it that the site’s use be “optimized.”
“We had a zombie property. We don’t want a zombie lot.”
Trustee Denise Kelly also pointed that if the village sells the lot, it would have to be bid, and the ultimate goal would be getting it back on the tax rolls.
The Comfort House is down, two other distressed properties are being renovated, and the village is researching possible other “zombie” properties to forward to the Schoharie County Blighted Property Selection Committee.
“We’re on a roll,” Mayor Plummer said. “Give us a couple of years.”
Also Thursday, Ron Ketelsen, owner of the Roseboro and president of the Sharon Springs Chamber of Commerce, said he’s been contacted by the company UniGuide, which offers a free, mobile app that features audio walking tours of museums, parks, and other landmarks, and is interested in including Sharon Springs.
There’s no charge to be part of the app, he said, and it could be a good way to add to the historic plaques around the village.
Mr. Ketelsen said he’ll forward the email to Mayor Plummer and trustees.
Finally, the village could soon be getting its own solar-EV car charging station.
Adding the station would qualify the village as a Clean Energy Committee and make it eligible to apply for a $50,000 NYSERDA grant—money that would have to go to other “green” energy, possibly solar panels on the south-facing DPW barn.
The clock is ticking on applying for that money, though.
Just 10 grants are available, Mayor Plummer said and four have already been awarded. And like Sharon Springs, other communities are lined up to get in under the wire.
It’s unlikely the charging station would come in time to meet a deadline for an $8,000 DEC grant that would essentially pay for installing the station—money the village has already set aside—mostly because DEC’s own process is so cumbersome.
Mayor Plummer, Ms. Kelly and Clerk Margi Neary attended an information session that discussed the DEC grants last week, but noted the info packet on the application is 105 pages long, and municipalities essentially have to apply to be able to apply for the grant.
Then, DEC will mail out the application a few weeks later, putting it beyond the NYSERDA deadline.