Corning City Council shoots down plan for apartments at former St. Vincent church site

The Corning City Council denied a zoning change Monday night, effectively ending a plan for 43 apartments targeting low-income families at the former St. Vincent de Paul Church campus.

The council voted 5-4 against establishing a "planned development district" at the former church site, which was needed for the project to proceed.

“I'm shocked and elated,” said Georgina Santilli, a Princeton Avenue resident who helped design a venue for residents to watch the council’s zoom meeting together at the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “I can’t believe that we did this. We fought hard. We all came together as a community. It’s not that I don’t want housing. I just don’t want it in my backyard.”

Councilmen Mark ReSue, Betty Coccho, Frank Muccini, Marshall Hyde and Kate Paterson voted against the zoning change after a lengthy public hearing on the proposed plan.

A large group of Northside residents who joined the online meetings at the Corning VFW, along with others, expressed to the council the negative effects they thought the project would have on the neighborhood.

Others at the meeting supported the project, many pointing out the benefits of a small, 25-child, licensed daycare center planned for the site.

ReSue, who represents the city’s 7th Ward where the church property is located, said just prior to the vote that he had not spoken with any nearby residents who were in support of the proposed project.

“You do not increase economic growth when you increase subsidized housing,” ReSue said.

Coccho questioned the need for additional affordable housing in the city’s Northside, where currently there are seven apartment complexes housing nearly 400 apartments, along with dozens of homes that have been subdivided into apartments. She also questioned the effect the project would have on parking.

“While making a decision, please look at these issues as if it was going to be built in your neighborhood,” Coccho said to the council just prior to the vote. “Would you want this next door to your property?”

Hyde said as he walked around the streets near the proposed project and talked to people in the area, many were against the proposed apartment complex.

Paterson, who also voted against the project, said in the future the council should have more time to hear residents' thoughts during the public hearing portion before making a final decision.

Mayor Bill Boland, Deputy Mayor Alison Hunt, Jeffrey M. Clark and Diane Telehany voted in support of the proposed apartment project. Hunt was the only council member in the city’s Northside to support the project proposed by Housing Visions of Syracuse.

This article originally appeared on The Leader: Corning council shoots down plan for apartments at former church site