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Volume 13, No. 41
City of The Hills
13
th anniversary
20
08 - 2021
Summer
Dreams Festival retools for 2021 season
VISIT www.
Glimmerglass outdoors!
AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, July 15, 2021
COMPLIMENTARY
AllOtsego people: Mattice excited about new city role
Animal shelter to host open house of new facility
By KEVIN LIMITI
ONEONTA — Oneonta native Greg Mattice has begun his new role as Oneonta’s city administrator. The Susquehanna SPCA Mattice began his new position July 1, is having a ribbon-cutting leaving his job as city engineer. ceremony at 10:45 a.m. Mattice, who said he enjoys playing basSaturday, July 17, in order to ketball and spending time with his celebrate the completion of its family, earned a degree in engineering from animal shelter and campus. Syracuse University in 2009. The ribbon-cutting will be “We’re a small city,” Mattice said. “I do a followed by an open house lot of technical work.” until 4 p.m. Mattice said that his main priority is going Contributed to be increasing communication throughout The new shelter is at 5082New Oneonta City Administrator Greg Mattice, 5088 State Route 28, just the various departments. center, and Mayor Gary Herzig present Parks south of Cooperstown. “The first step is to make sure everyone Director Lou Lansing the ‘Employee of the is on the same page.” Quarter’ award Tuesday, July 6, at City Hall. Foothills to host The city administrator’s job will to be to
summer workshop, ‘Mary Poppins Jr.’
“Mary Poppins Jr.” will be performed at 3 p.m., Friday, July 16, Saturday, July 17, and Sunday, July 18. The show will be performed by the young actors, who are taking part in the Orpheus Theatre Summer Musical Workshop. The shows will take place at Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center at 24 Market St. in Oneonta. Go to www.orpheustheatre. org for more information.
By KEVIN LIMITI
Greg Klein/The Freeman’s Journal
Gavin Fetterman displays his cow, Harley, who won the Master Showman for the Hereford breed during The Farmers’ Museum Junior Livestock Show on Monday, July 12, in the town of Middlefield.
Cooperstown Trustees approve Chestnut Crossing project Special-use permit granted unanimously for 13-apartment, 21-bedroom complex, Chestnut Crossing By GREG KLEIN
COOPERSTOWN — The village’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved a special-use Follow Breaking News On permit for the 13-apartment Chestnut Crossing at 10 Chestnut St. during a special meetOTSEGO.com project ing Monday, July 12, at Village Hall. About 20 people witnessed the hour-long ►TRAILBLAZER AWARDS: City honors top women contributors deliberation as the six trustees — Joe Membrino was not at the meeting — meticulously went for 2020, 2021. through the 16 criteria they needed to evaluate in ►COMMON COUNCIL: Oneonta held its first in-person meeting order to issue a special-use permit to allow the since March 2020 last week at density of the project. However, the decision seemed obvious by the City Hall. ►Hall of FAME PARTNERSHIP: second criterion, which dealt with land uses and Museum launches education addressed the question as to whether the develinitiative. opment would fit with its surroundings. Deputy
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oversee the various operations and coordinate between different departments in the city. The common council voted last year to amend the position following several unsuccessful attempts at fielding a city manager. The administrator position will have less autonomy than the city manager and will report to the council. George Korthauer resigned as city manager in January 2020. City officials have said they had not had a good track record with managers and wanted to reform the position. Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig said Mattice’s “knowledge and knowing people in the city” made him a great candidate. “He has a good vision for where the city needs to go in the years ahead. See PEOPLE, Page A3
Junior Livestock Show returns with a barnyard of fun
MIDDLEFIELD — The first thing noticeable at the 73rd Farmers’ Museum Junior Livestock Show is the noise. Monday, July 12, there was loud mooing from all angles, a result of the cow show going on all morning. The cow’s demeanors varied, with some placidly walking around the judging tent where they are judged, while others struggled with their handlers or stubbornly dug in. However, none of them liked to be separated from their calves. Because of COVID, the museum made the decision to not allow any visitors to the show, INSIDE opting to instead record it via Zoom and broadcast ►EUROPEAn PLANS: it via its website, www.farmersmuseum.org. Cooperstown teacher launches The show included handlers, ages 8 to 18, new spring break trip. Page A8. presenting animals they have raised personally. ►OPTING in: Otsego County Gavin Fetterman, 18, who won the Master Showagreed to participate in pilot man Award for the Hereford breed, also did a show hunting program for kids. in Brookfield recently and said that he has a lot of Page A10. fun at these events. ►HOOPS HOME: The Clark “It’s definitely fun. It’s a different type of hobby,” Sports Center becomes the Fetterman said. “It’s not about the winning, it’s summer training spot for just about everything we’ve accomplished over the college, high school basketball years.” players. Page A7. Fetterman showed Harley, a well-behaved, ►Post-Season Honors: Allmild-mannered cow. State softball awards go to The announcer judged the cows as if judging Schenevus trio, Worcester, See ANIMALS, Page A2 Morris, Cooperstown players. Page A7. ►GARLIC SEASON: Columnist Richard deRosa celebrates the mid-summer harvest. Page A4. ►A PRISONER OUT OF PRISON: Columnist Terry Berkson revisits the story of a Russian dissident during his final days in the Mohawk Valley. Page A4.
ONEONTA
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Mayor Cindy Falk explained two possible views of the neighborhood, which is zoned R3 for mixed-use residential. She said most of the immediate neighbors are single-family homes, but if you look at the blocks of Pine and Chestnut on a whole, there are hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and some office spaces. “This really is a multi-use area and in that sense I feel it is in harmony with the neighborhood surroundings,” she said. The trustees imposed multiple stipulations on the projects owners, Josh Edmonds and Francesca Zambello, whose company, ZAED Properties LLC, owns two adjoining plots of land on Chestnut Street and a third behind those plots, on Pine Boulevard. All rentals must be long-term with leases at least one year long and no sublet-
ting or short-term rentals are allowed, including for the Hall of Fame Induction. The developers must pave the Fenimore Lane access road that runs between Chestnut and Pine and must take action to fix the drainage issues on the property. “In this case, the project is a huge plus for that,” Trustee Richard Sternberg said. The developers must make an ADA-compliant sidewalk that allows access from the ADA exits to the street. They also have to do a lot-line adjustment to shift four parking spaces on the property at 17 Pine to the main Chestnut Street lot, so there is no confusion about who owns the spaces if the Pine property is eventually developed and sold. See PROJECT, Page A3
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD