After receiving a request from the Cobleskill Exchange Club to acquire the former Assembly of God property, Mayor Mike Sellers and trustees agreed the site has “a lot of possibilities” and they need some time to look into them all.
As part of a FEMA buyout the village now owns the flood-plagued South Grand Street land.
Assembly of God is sharing space at other churches while working on plans to build a new complex on Mineral Springs Road; the old church was demolished and burned by firemen in a training exercise earlier this month.
Under the FEMA buyout, there are a number of restrictions on how the land can be used now.
Uses must be compatible with open space, recreation, or wetlands management and generally include things like parks, nature reserves, unimproved parking lots.
New structures are prohibited with the exception of public rest rooms or something like a pavilion, though there appears to be some “wiggle room” with FEMA permission.
In a letter from the Exchange Club, President Anthony Hall points to the organization's long history—57 years—of sponsoring Little League and keeping it affordable for families.
The Exchange Club has improved the field, which is next to the old church site, by purchasing soil, batting cages, pitching machines, and new scoreboards and has also purchased a portable scoreboard for girls softball and improved the girls softball fields.
“We have also improved the organization of the leagues which now consist of a Major League, Minor League, Farm League, Tee Ball and Girls Softball,” Mr. Hall wrote.
“Our facilities and finances are stretched.”
The Exchange Club is very interested in acquiring the old church land from the village, he continues, and combining it with the Little League field.
“We feel that this would enable us to improve our practice facilities with the addition of a couple of pitching mounds and perhaps even site a tee ball field or two on that property.”
The village didn't discuss the Exchange Club in depth, but pointing out Scouts had asked for permission to run a Christmas tree chipping operation at the site, Trustee Bob LaPietra suggested turning it into a recycling center.
Agreeing they shouldn't rush a decision, Trustee Sandy MacKay said another idea might be to rotate it among community organizations who could use it for parking cars during Fair Week.
“That’s a fortune,” he said.
Trustee Mark Galasso suggested “doing a little of both” and Mayor Sellers said the best course of action would be to start gathering ideas.