Developer and former Cobleskill Mayor Mark Nadeau has the answer to local economic woes:
A lake, maybe at the old Boreali’s ball field in Howes Cave, maybe in Lawyersville.
Mr. Nadeau believes a 50-70 acre lake would bring in tourists and even residents looking to improve their quality of life and he said it’s just one step the Schoharie County Economic Development Committee should be looking at.
Mr. Nadeau made his recommendations Monday after the Town of Cobleskill approved his petition to annex a slice of property--.91 acres—he owns along Mineral Springs Road to the Village of Cobleskill.
Though he wasn’t at Monday’s meeting, Supervisor Leo McAllister said previously he wasn’t opposed to the annexation—though he does worry about what could happen if the town loses more land to the village.
“With this, we’re just talking, what? $150 in taxes? But if we see more of this, it could get into the thousands.”
Mr. Nadeau said Monday that he has answers to that too.
He wants the town and the village to consider combining their Planning Boards as a way to eliminate duplication, cut taxes, and make economic development easier.
“For the village to grow…it’s running out of land,” Mr. Nadeau said. “The town has land, but it needs water and sewer.”
The Economic Development and Route 7 Corridor Committees need to look at a more proactive approach, he said; as more and more people move out of the state because of taxes, local government needs to do what it can to lower them.
Mr. Nadeau suggested the county hire an event specialist. “The hotel will come,” he said.
He also pointed to the creation of a manmade lake as a way to capitalize on something we have: Water.
“The biggest lake they can with a big shoreline,” he said, to encourage development around the lake.
Asked whether the lake would be built, Mr. Nadeau said it would be up to the county and Army Corps of Engineers, but offered his two suggestions, one along Route 7 in Howes Cave and one along Route 145 in Lawyersville, across from the Vet Clinic.
“I moved 16 families in last year, but twice as many moved out,” he said.
“There are people who want to live here. People who want our quality of life.”