Community Corner

CSSP Updating St. Paul's Plan, Will Resubmit to Board in 45 Days

Mayor urges trustees, residents alike not to speculate.

The Committee to Save St. Paul's (CSSP) is updating its proposal for the former boys school - two weeks after members gave a lengthy presentation to the board and urged trustees to sign a letter of support for a potential $400,000 state grant.

Mayor Don Brudie and trustees received a letter dated Oct. 19, 2011 from CSSP president Peter Negri stating: "This letter refers to the proposal submitted on Sept. 9, 2011 regarding the Committee to Save St. Paul’s and The Garden City Historical Society’s proposal to preserve St. Paul’s for public use. We are in the process of updating our proposal and will resubmit to the Board within 45 days."

In light of this development, trustee Dennis Donnelly made a motion to withdraw an item on Thursday's village board agenda seeking to refer the latest proposal of the CSSP to architects Erwin Lobo Bielinski, PLLC to "review/compare and evaluate the proposal of the Committee to Save St. Paul's with their prior submissions and to report back to the board of trustees their findings."

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"That becomes a moot point since there is no proposal currently in front of the board," Donnelly said. "Hopefully we can work with the committee to come up wth a reasonable proposal we can all look forward to."

Cavanaugh, who is a member of the CSSP and serves as chair of the mayor's St. Paul's Committee, said the parties involved in the CSSP proposal to date "plus additional partners" will be coming back to the board in 45 days. One such party, Cavanaugh said, is Turner Construction, which will be "informing the updated proposal based on the work they've done."

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Trustee Nick Episcopia questioned what the committee intends on doing for the  next 45 days but mayor Don Brudie told him not to speculate. As the debate ensued, Episcopia added, "Any logical person can see there's a credibility problem here. You can't have a plan and take it away, bring it back in, take it away and bring it back again..."

As he stated at the Oct. 6 CSSP presentation in public before the board of trustees, Negri reiterated his statement Friday: "We have a vision - and that is to take the necessary first step towards making St. Paul's a vibrant community and recreation center. We have this vision because we feel that St. Paul's is a lot more than just another building. St. Paul's is the embodiment of a vision that Alexander T. Stewart and his widow, Cornelia, had for this very special village that we call home - Garden City."

Negri said the committee still stands by the statement and he is "extremely proud of the effort that so many have made to help keep this vision alive." He also made clear that the committee did not "withdraw" its proposal.

"Keep in mind that the building, although neglected, remains standing. The efforts of the CSSP and GC Historical Society have had a great deal to do with that, and our efforts have not cost the taxpayers a dime. As stated, over the past years the village has spent over $1,000,000 on various studies and consultants," Negri continued.

"When given the opportunity to express their opinions, the vast majority of residents do not want to see the building come down. They also deserve to have their voices heard in a village-wide referendum at the appropriate time."

Christine Mullaney, who lives in the East, told trustees that it's all just a waste of time if the CSSP fails to answer two questions the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) deems critical: 1) What is the ultimate beneficial use of the entire building that will fund the completion of the required stabilization and restoration? and 2) What is the cost to fully stabilize the building now and maintain the building over time until such a beneficial use is implemented?

"These questions were not answered," she said. "I would suggest if the Committee to Save St. Paul's doesn't answer these questions in the next 45 days it's a complete waste of time."

First Street resident and former trustee Tom Lamberti said he attended Thursday's meeting to speak in favor of the agenda item which was later removed due to the 45-day adjournment.

Speaking as former chair of the mayor's committee on St. Paul's, of which he served during his trusteeship, Lamberti said he was "stunned" and "shocked" by the change of events. "At the last meeting you were urged to write a letter ... I can't fathom what happened," he said.

"There have been three iterations of the Committee to Save St. Paul's plan, starting in June 2010 with minor changes as we've gone along. So what happened?" he continued. "If the Committee to Save St. Paul's is doing another iteration it's a waste of time. I think we're all tired of the headline 'For $100 a family you could have St. Paul's forever.' It's a false promise."

He told trustees they have a "fiduciary responsibility" to vet and validate all proposals that come before the board, referring to Appendix M of the FEIS in which forensic architects and engineers Erwin Lobo Bielinski, retained to, among other tasks, assess the CSSP proposal, state the committee "underestimates the cost and duration of the repairs."

"The major difference now is this is taxpayer money and not developer money," Lamberti said. "This is about $10 million to do a temporary band-aid."


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