An Open Letter to Newman Development Group

Now that PDDG’s efforts to obtain the ten missing documents, or further evidence of the Town’s efforts to locate them, have been dismissed by Justice Taddeo, the logical next step is to go directly to Newman. After all, they are the one party involved in this affair that is not subject to the Freedom of Information Law but that sent or received most of the missing documents.

Newman also has an interest in trying to clear up any doubt that surrounds their project and in demonstrating their commitment to Geneseo. I have drafted the open letter below in the hope that representatives of Newman, particularly legal counsel and Geneseo project manager Ken Kamlet, will read and respond to it.

Should anyone else wish to send this letter to Newman, a formatted, unsigned copy is available as a pdf here. Just print, sign, and send.

A brief reminder of the purpose and significance of this request: the documents we are seeking were produced and/or reviewed by representatives of the people of Geneseo and paid for by the taxpayers of Geneseo. They are documents that should have been retained by the Town but which were apparently destroyed. They concern a matter of vital public interest and importance and a matter about which there is considerable controversy.

Mr. Kenneth Kamlet
Director of Legal Affairs
Newman Development Group
3101 Shippers Road
Vestal, NY 13850

Dear Mr. Kamlet:

As you know, representatives of Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) have been pursuing a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the Town of Geneseo to obtain ten items of correspondence (listed below) between the Town and Newman Development Group and its development partners.

The Town of Geneseo has certified that its copies of these documents are missing and probably destroyed. In dismissing PDDG’s Article 78 lawsuit against the Town to obtain these documents, Justice Taddeo concurred that the Town has demonstrated its copies of these records no longer exist.

I am writing to request that Newman and its partners check their records to see whether they retain copies of these documents. The documents in question (listed below) cover the entirety of Newman’s involvement with the Gateway Town Center project, from prior to the passage of the Planned Development District (PDD) law, to the period when your application was accepted by the Town Board and forwarded to the Town Planning Board, to the present period of the Town Planning Board’s SEQR review of your application.

As a result, these documents may provide critical information about the disputed circumstances at each of these decision points. Providing these documents to the community of Geneseo would represent an important act of good faith in a community in which your proposal has generated considerable controversy.

Should you be able to produce copies of any of these documents, please send them to the Town of Geneseo, 4630 Millennium Drive, Geneseo, N.Y. 14454 and to PDDG, PO Box 236, Geneseo, NY 14454.

Thank you for your attention to this request.

Sincerely,

Bill Lofquist

The Ten Missing Documents

These are the ten missing documents, as described in the billing records of Town attorneys Underberg & Kessler.

1. March 24, 2005: Email correspondence from James Coniglio to T. Ferrera and D. Jerum regarding formal submittal;

2. March 26, 2005: Email from James Coniglio to D. Jerum and T. Ferrara regarding submittal issues;

3. April 21, 2005: Correspondence from Ken Kamlet to James Coniglio;

4. April 21, 2005: Correspondence from James Coniglio to Ken Kamlet;

5. October 21, 2005: Correspondence from Ken Kamlet to James Coniglio;

6. October 25, 2005: Correspondence from Ken Kamlet to James Coniglio;

7. December 2, 2005: Correspondence of James Coniglio with Neal Madden;

8. December 13, 2005: Correspondence of Ken Kamlet to James Coniglio;

9. May 17, 2006: Correspondence of Ken Kamlet to James Coniglio;

10. July 19, 2006: Letter from Tom Lucey of APD Engineering.

Grading Geneseo

Bad news, folks. As I mentioned in last week’s column (below), the site selection folks from Applebee’s have identified Geneseo as a “C” community. They gave Henrietta an “A” and Canandaigua a “B.” We got a C, barely passing in this era of rampant grade inflation.

According to the standards established by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Geneseo’s Route 20A gets a “C” level of service grade between intersections and a C, D, E, or F at most intersections.

Though the National Park Service does not give grades, it is concerned enough about the health of our National Historic Landmark District that we have been placed on its “watch” list. Likewise for the Environmental Protection Agency, which has identified Conesus Lake as an impaired body of water.

Add to these evaluations the County’s rejection of the Village’s proposed master plan and the strong opposition and open threats of litigation toward that plan by commercial developers, all resulting from that plan’s effort to rein in large scale retail development.

Running through these different evaluations is a clear pattern: retail developers and their supporters evaluate Geneseo based on its ability to deliver traffic (customers, dollars, sales tax revenue) to them. The consequences of this – for the quality of life of Geneseo residents, for the capacity of our infrastructure and the downstream costs of repairing it, for our historic heritage, for the health of our environment and our drinking water – are not their concern.

Retail developers want us to be Henrietta. Their vision of our future is a new big box replacing the Ames Plaza, a new big box between there and the Super Wal-Mart, and a new big box or two in the Gateway District. Their promise to us is that it will look nice. Miles of aisles, acres of free parking, gridlocked roads, but attractive facades and nice landscaping.

It was said again at Tuesday’s public hearing on the master plan that we needn’t worry, that Geneseo’s limits of growth had been reached, that the market had found its level, that there would be no more big boxes. I don’t believe it.

If Applebee’s thinks we’re a C market, it must also believe we’re on our way to earning a B or better. The vehement opposition of developers to our master plan suggests the same. They see a big “upside” to Geneseo, and they are willing to threaten and sue to realize that upside.

Sprawl begets sprawl. Sprawl chases cars, cars chase sprawl, and before you know it you’re in Henrietta. Read the road signs; we’re getting closer.