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Plattsburgh Leaders Debate Potential Purchase Of Marina And Waterfront Property

File photo of sailboats at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin
Pat Bradley/WAMC
File photo of sailboats at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin

A proposal to buy nearly 12 acres of land along the city of Plattsburgh waterfront that includes a marina was before a key common council committee Thursday night. The mayor cast the deciding vote to move it forward.

Plattsburgh Mayor Chris Rosenquest, a Democrat, is proposing the city buy the Plattsburgh Boat Basin and surrounding property for $7.3 million. It is adjacent to the city-owned marina.

The Finance and Community Development Committee, which is composed of all city councilors and the mayor, met Thursday evening to decide whether the proposal should move to the regular council meeting next week for final authorization.

The resolution states "It’s in the best interest of the City of Plattsburgh to reclaim 11.86 acres of centralized waterfront property in our downtown district as well as expand its own city owned marina facilities for residents and visitors in a fiscally responsible and sustainable way.”

Ward 2 resident Denise Nephew disagrees. 

“I do not think this is feasible at this time," Nephew said. "We have lots of waterfront.  Seven million can fix up what we have. Yes it would be nice. Yes long range. But we did this already. We lost money!”

Downtown business owner Kim Manion is excited about the idea. 

“There have been constraints on the city marina to expand and grow as it was originally planned and this would provide an opportunity for expansion," Manion said. "It absolutely needs to be vetted but at this time I say it’s a tremendous opportunity for Plattsburgh and why not move forward and move to the due diligence.”

The debate among councilors reflects public opinion. Ward 2 Democrat Mike Kelly is adamantly opposed, saying the city would be repeating its own history if the purchase is allowed to move forward. 

“A previous mayor said oh my goodness we’re going to have a city marina and it’s going to do wonderful," Kelly said. "We’re going to make a ton of money. So we’re like oh OK. Ended up being a hundred thousand dollar loss. Before we do something like this that benefits maybe a couple hundred boaters every year that we look at what can we do to help out thousands of people.”  

Ward 1 Independent Jaime Canales says this is a rare opportunity for the city. 

“Saying that we’ve done this before, what was done before was poorly done," Canales said. "This is being done properly. This is a revenue producing business. The return on investment will be immediate. The cost is going to be 7.25 whatever it is. There’s grants federal grants out there for municipalities that own marinas to help rebuild the boating infrastructure, docks, everything else.  So the pros definitely outweigh the cons. A portion of the finances from this can go to our parks and our recs to rebuild all the other portions of our city that need to be built up.”  

Ward 6 Democrat Jeff Moore said his constituents have raised a number of concerns about the proposal. 

“Some of the issues that were brought forward to me were: why are we removing the property from the tax rolls when we complain constantly about all of the tax exempt properties? They were very concerned about the impact on city, county and school district taxes," Moore said. "The other thing I heard a lot about was our track record on maintaining infrastructure. We don’t do a good job with what we have.  These are just a few of the things that people brought to me.”

Mayor Chris Rosenquest broke a tie vote and the resolution now moves to next week’s regular city council meeting.  The Democrat acknowledges there is work to be done to assuage concerns. 

“When we look at the bigger picture, when we look at the vision in 20 years’ time when we are in sole control of our municipal downtown waterfront with a thriving marina that is not only attracting people from all over the region, Montreal and Burlington and places south, and you’re generating a significant amount of revenue for the taxpayer whether they have a boat there or not that is significant for us," the mayor said. "And that is the picture that we cannot lose sight of. Yes we need to fix our parks. We need to maintain our buildings. And we can also look at opportunities like this all at the same time.”  

The Plattsburgh City Council is scheduled to meet next Thursday beginning at 5 p.m.