Waddington Holds Off On Leishman Point
BY DICK STERLING
WADDINGTON - What a difference a month makes.
Less than one month ago town of Waddington leaders seemed dead set on plans to sell off
Leishman Point, a 45-acre parcel of prime riverfront property on the St. Lawrence River
that was recently given back to the town as part of the New York Power Authority's (NYPA)
relicensing agreement. The town board had decided to parcel off the property into 16 two
to three acre building lots and go into the real estate business by selling off the lots
for an estimated $75,000 to $100,000 each. At Monday's Waddington Town Board meeting the
board did an about face and decided to wait until spring before going ahead with the plan.
The thought of building 16 luxury homes didn't sit well with a group known as the
Waddington Redevelopment Association (WRA), which was formed in February. Mark Scott and
Mark Brady, both Waddington residents, are spokesman for WRA and attempted to make a
presentation at the October Waddington board meeting. When Waddington Town Supervisor
Reggie Greene cut the presentation short a disagreement between Brady and Greene resulted
in a brief shouting match.
WRA claimed that they just wanted the town board to look at some other ideas for Leishman
Point. Several different ideas were presented from building a marina to campsites, a
hotel, an amphitheater and several other options that WRA members thought would better
serve all the people of Waddington, and not just a select few. Despite the pleas of Brady
and Scott the board gave their unanimous approval to hire the engineering firm Bernier and
Carr, Watertown, to begin site work at a cost of $50,000.
With 80 people surveyed, and many joining forces with WRA, the group has gotten stronger
with each passing day. A informational leaflet was sent to nearly every resident in
Waddington recently informing them of an informational meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m. at
St. Mary's Parish Hall. The group was asking people to come and listen and form their own
opinion on what they feel should be done with the property. "Even if the people
decide that the best thing is to build those homes, fine. All we want is for the political
leaders in Waddington to listen to the people," said Brady last month. "We
really want to work together with them. We've done a lot of work preparing these studies,
we hope they, at the very least, listen to us."
Monday night Greene surprised nearly everyone in attendance, including several WRA members
when he stated at the beginning of the meeting. "Due to the recent developments, the
board has decided to take some extra time to see what to do with Leishman Point. We will
not make any final decisions until spring. What I want everyone to understand is that we
need tax dollars. We need something in there that will raise some real cash. I'm not
interested in any pie in the sky ideas. The bottom line is dollars. We have to generate
money from that property. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens between now
and spring," said Greene.
The supervisor said after the meeting that the engineers from Bernier and Carr had been
told to stop working and come back in the spring. They are no longer working at the site.
Brady invited Greene, or any other town representatives to come to the meeting on Thursday
night. Greene stopped short of saying that he would attend. Brady and Scott were both
pleased, and cautiously optimistic about Monday's development. "It's a real good
sign. All along we've wanted to work with the board and do what's best for the people of
Waddington. This will give us a little more time to get prepared and find out what the
people really want to see done at Leishman Point. I'm very pleased that they took the time
to listen," said Scott.
In other news at Monday's meeting the board approved the 2003 Waddington town budget. The
$850,075 spending plan will mean a tax levy increase of 92 cents per $1,000 of assessed
value. The tax rate for 2002 was $2.36 per $1,000. The rate for 2003 will be $3.28 per
$1,000. Greene said that the tax rate 11 years ago stood at $5.66 per $1,000 of assessed
value. The tax rate dropped steadily to a low of $1.96 per $1,000 in 2001, and has
increased over the past two years. "The cost of everything has gone up, I'm sure
everybody is aware of that. It costs more to do business than it did two or three years
ago. We have to prepare these budgets as best we can. Nobody wants a tax increase, but you
still have to pay the bills," said Greene.
The board also gave it's approval to change insurance companies to Teamsters Insurance.
The change will save the town $29,000.
News 11-5 ras Waddington
Publication: Ogdensburg Journal Category: LOCAL News
Pub. Date: 11/02/2002 Pub. Page: 7
Used with permission