HOMES

2-5-10

Money isn’t everything, but $5,600 is $5,600.
That’s the amount JGB Properties’ six-home “cluster” development – the first of its kind in the village – would generate annually in property taxes.
(Don’t take our word for it:  $2.5 million market value, assessed at half, $1.25 million; apply the 4.6 per $1,000 village tax rate.  The school district and county take additional pieces.)
Chestnut Crossing, as the developers call it, would consist of six, two-story, stand-alone houses, priced at an average of $400,000.
It would be the first housing development of any size since the 12-home, plus garden apartments, subdivision on Estli Avenue, developed for Bassett Healthcare some 20 years ago.
Doug Beachel, JGB’s director of real estate, appeared before the village Planning Board Jan. 25 for a second preliminary conversation, and plans to submit a formal application at the board’s Tuesday, Feb. 23, meeting.
At that time, a public hearing could be scheduled for the next meeting, March 23, and the Planning Board could grant approval any time after that.
Beachel, based in Syracuse, said he hopes to get a spec home completed in the upcoming building season.
Chestnut Crossing – the idea surfaced more than a year ago now – would stretch between Chestnut Street and Pine Boulevard, just north of the Inn at Cooperstown.  It will require demolition of the former Smith Ford site, a low-slung one-story building that once was a meat cooler.
One home would front on Chestnut, one on Pine, and the other four on Stagecoach Lane, a public right-of-way.
There is actually room on the parcel for seven 5,000-square-foot lots – the village minimum – according to Tavis Austin, village zoning enforcement officer.
However, the developer chose to go with just six lots and the cluster process so as to fit the development on the site in a more “harmonious” manner, he said.
For his part, Beachel said JGB went the cluster route because it allows the development to be planned as an entity and approved in advance, which assists with the marketing.