Catholic Charities will hold a community forum on its plans to build the Granite Drive Apartments, low-income housing at the corner of Campus and Granite Drives, this Thursday, May 3, from 6-7:30pm at St. Vincent de Paul’s, Cobleskill.
The forum is a follow-up to a heavily-attended Village of Cobleskill Planning Board public hearing in April where opponents—no one spoke in favor of the project—shared fears that it would mean lower property values, crime, and drugs.
The proposal is for two six-unit apartment buildings with each unit two or three bedrooms.
Catholic Charities has said families will pay rent and have a lease and will be screened prior to leasing.
The site—a 1.4 acre vacant lot--was chosen based on its access to transportation, services, and other rental developments and it’s a permitted use under village zoning.
Citing missing information on who’ll be staying at the apartments, where they’ll be coming from, and how long they’ll be staying, the Schoharie County Planning Commission has yet to rule on the project—something they hope to do at their next meeting May 7.
The Planning Board is keeping its public hearing on the project open until its May 9 meeting when it could accept the CPC recommendation or over-rule it with a supermajority—four out of five members.
According to comments from Catholic Charities spokesman Tom Coates at the April 11 meeting and a flyer published since then to help allay fears, the project won’t be a homeless shelter, but rather permanent, affordable housing for families.
Six of the units will be available “for resident families of Schoharie County who have experienced a housing emergency and are currently being housed in motels in the area.”
What’s a housing emergency? “The loss of a job, a fire or flood, or the death of a primary income provider can all lead to a housing emergency.”
Currently, people with housing emergencies have no place to go for permanent, affordable rental housing, Catholic Charities said; at the April 11 meeting, Mr. Coates said the Department of Social Services is currently housing 28 people in housing emergencies in hotels.