The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
City plans next move for Hotel Oneida
City to get search warrant for Hotel Oneida to inspect interior
ONEIDA >> The City of Oneida is ramping up its efforts to clean up downtown after the owner of Hotel Oneida did not show up for a public hearing about the building.
The building was one of five the city targeted recently for codes violations and has been an oft-named eyesore among members of the community. Assistant Fire Marshal Dennis Fields Jr. said the city sent notice to Bob Sullivan, a contractor out of Sauquoit who bought the hotel in 2009 for $25,000. The building has eight violations against it, including sanitation and property maintenance code violations, issues with the sidewalk and prob- lems with its exterior walls.
Fields said he hasn’t heard from Sullivan, and Oneida Mayor Leo Matzke said his phone calls haven’t been returned, either.
“I think we’re going to have to go to court,” Matzke said. “We will never get downtown completely addressed unless we address that building. It’s critical.”
No one from the city has been allowed inside the Hotel Oneida since 2016. City Engineer Jon Rauscher said a structural engineer reviewed the exterior of the property and based on his observations there wasn’t anything that would lead to structural deficiencies, but without getting inside the building the city can’t make a determination on the hotel’s structural integrity. So Common Council agreed to have the
city draw up a search warrant to get inside in order to move forward on the property.
“Even if the inside is good, the exterior is still a concern,” Ward 1 Councilor Al Cohen said.
The city is also pursuing a search warrant for 507 Stone St. after owner Randy Kistner did not appear at Tuesday’s public hearing on his property.
City Attorney Nadine Bell said there’s been “absolutely no communication” between Kistner and herself after the property owner requested the city postpone talk on his property so he could show up with a lawyer.
“At the last meeting, the deal was that he’d be here tonight with his lawyer, but obviously that’s not happening,” Matzke said. “That building has been that way for – honestly I can’t tell you howlong. We have houses in that neighborhood that are up for sale. We owe it to that neighborhood to do something.”
The Common Council agreed to hold off on a Linden Street property while the city tries to get in touch with the previous owner’s family members.
“We have a little time for this because the property is in the Flats,” Matzke said.
Discussion over a proposed “Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Reduction” local law turned somewhat contentious when several Baker’s Reservoir residents voiced their concerns over Article 2 of the law. The article allows the city to enter into land lease agreements for the same length of time as an energy performance agreement, since the city charter only grants a 5 year term.
Bell used as an example a solar facility that invests millions of dollars into a site. Financing companies have concerns when such an investment only has a five year lease, because then it doesn’t allow the company to recoup its cost, nor does it let the taxpayers see any savings in the long term.
“Everybody wants to save money and nobody is trying to challenge that premise; it’s the method by which you obtain that goal,” said Michael DeBottis, one of several homeowners who sued the city over its gro-Solar solar array agreement at Baker’s Reservoir. The city and company are now set to move that array to Hubbard Place near Walmart, but can’t move forwardwith- out the local law’s lease language, city officials said.
DeBottis said his main concern, and that of others, was that the language in Article 2 would allow the council to make these decisions with only a majority rule, rather than the current three-fourths supermajority the council currently works under.
“You put into place a local law, that law sits on the books and has to be interpreted and acted upon long after you’re sitting here,” said Jill Christian-Lynch. “I’m wary of anything that lessens your voices, because your voice is in part our voice. So from going from five votes to only needing three, what that does is opens up a window of opportunity for people who might be politically motivated to really sway things in a particular manner.” “What you’re asking is putting so much power in one person’s hand,” countered Cohen, noting that under the currently threefourths rule for council, one person can hold up any law. “Personally I like the democracy of majority rules, and I think quite frankly we need to stick with what we’ve got.”
Ward 2 Councilor Mike Bowe argued the council didn’t really have enough time to really look at the law, but the city is under time constraints to pass it because of upcoming construction deadlines. If gro-Solar is to continue its project at Hubbard Place, it must remove trees by March 31. Delaying the vote on the local law could mean the company moves the project back to Baker’s Reservoir, “which nobody wants,” he said.
The law is also subject to permissive referendum, which means it cannot go into effect for 45 days after it’s adopted. “They are taking a risk, if you will,” Bell said of groSolar, which plans on making interconnection payments to National Grid and clearing away trees while the referendum is in effect.
“The kids would say we’re caught between a rock and a hard spot,” Matzke said. “Hubbard place is best for you and the city, and one of the things we have to have in place is this law.”
Council adopted the law 4-2, with Ward 4 Councilor Helen Acker and Ward 6 Councilor Tom Simchick voting against it. The city also agreed with meet with residents to discuss possible amendments to the law, as well as work with the city on any future issues.
“We want to volunteer our time to work with you so we’re all happy,” DeBottis said.