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The Knapp
Rezone. Some thoughts.
Frank Hogg 1/14/02 (Draft)
Recap: The reason the Knapp's said
they want to rezone commercial is to get the maximum amount
of money from the state for their properties commercial value.
The appraiser said, at the time, that he had to have it actually
rezoned commercial in order to determine the commercial value.
Then the NY
State Department refuted that and told the appraiser he
did NOT have to actually rezone it to determine the commercial
value. With that in mind one would think that the Knapp's would
drop the rezone and move ahead with the appraisal in order to
get their million
bucks as soon as possible. However that is NOT what has
happened and the Knapp's and the previous administration in
the town voted to rezone anyway. Why?
Why go to this trouble and delay if your goal is what was stated.
We know that the stated goal is not why they are going for the
rezone so what could it be...
I've been pondering that for some time
now and I don't have an answer. However I do have some possible
reasons to consider, perhaps you have some other ones as well.
Let me know.
Here are the possibilities I've come up
with so far in no particular order.
Why do the Knapp's want it rezoned?
- They are under
pressure from 'someone' to do it for unspecified reasons.
I.e.: Rezone this or we won't let you have the money. We have
heard rumors that are supported by some facts that the POB
(Powers That Be) intend to make the entire Rt 281 corridor
from Preble to Cortland commercial. This could be the first
step in that long-range plan.
- They intend
to sell it to 'someone' who requires it to be zoned commercial
before they will buy it. Suppose some company wanted to buy
it for a commercial venture but knew they couldn't get it
rezoned if their name was on it. They could require the Knapp's
to do it first as a condition of the sale. I've been told
that the clause in the rezone law would prevent it from actual
commercial use if it did not go in the Farmland Protection
program but perhaps some very high paid lawyers for that 'other
company' think they have a way around that. I'm not a lawyer
and I don't know if that is possible. However I do know that
a company we all know well has tried to overcome a similar
farmland protection law in California for the last 7 years
and they are still fighting that state over it.
- Poor legal
advise. The Knapp's lawyer may not be giving them the best
advise on this. He might be wrong and not know it. Nobody
is perfect and in every law school graduating class someone
always graduates in last place. I don't know where their lawyer
stood in this case but it is a possibility one has to consider.
Why did Preble's
previous administration vote to do it?
- Poor legal
advise. See the previous argument on this subject.
- Spite. The
word on the street is that Anne Brennan wanted to vote for
this before she left office. I don't have a clue why, but
spite is a possibility. There were some female voices yelling
during the executive session before the vote that could be
heard in the hallway but not understood. It is possible that
the recent election and Brennan's support for certain people
could have been brought up. i.e. In the form... I got you
elected so you better vote for this...
- Different
reason than stated. After executive session it fell on Kate
Edinger to make the motion and she didn't have the reason
down pat so John Steger had to prompt her. It could be that
the previous administration had a different reason than the
one stated for this rezone.
- Last but not
least is the issue of the buffer zone and how a rezone would
overcome that. Flying J is 'supposed' to be gone now but they
might be lured back if the climate was changed. We know that
the BDC/IDA's Slowy and Hartsock were trying to find another
location for them and there has been no recent report about
that. Perhaps they are waiting in the wings to see what happens
in court on the 18th?
Random factoid. John P Sidd, the lawyer
for Flying J in Salina works with Rick Shaffer who is/was the
lawyer for Flying J in Preble. No big deal right? WRONG! Sidd
is also the lawyer for the Cortland Farmland Protection corporation,
the Slowy/Hartsock gang that was pushing Flying J in Preble.
Can you spell CONFLICT OF INTEREST? Didn't they know that this
would come out sometime? What fools!
I'm open to ideas on this.
Links:
John P Sidd Lawyer for Salina Flying J! AND the Farmland Protection
corporation in Cortland.
Now isn't this interesting. Frank Hogg 4/5/1
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