We have to get the Village out of the real estate business. We buy these things and then are prevented from doing anything with them. Schedler, horse farm, Town garage, Elk’s club. Those alone are nearly $10m of real estate the Village has bought not to mention millions in studies and plans for each.
Think about this: if you had let them be bought by market forces you’d have:
Horse farm–8 houses worth $750k each. thats $6m in taxables
Shedler–Strip mall with highway access–$5m? in taxables
Elk’s club–Could be offices or bar–$1m
Town garage–retail or restaurant with parking–$2m
so $14 million in lost taxable land. So we spent $10m, fail to collect on $14m per year AND all it causes is headaches with neighbors complaining if anyone wants to do anything with these properties. Not saying everything needs to get developed. I love trees and those neighborhood parks can be great. I am just saying that as a tax payer I hate paying for these things and then having every attempt to make them usable be shot down, criticized and attacked. Just look at the BS about the horse farm since they actually got a paying tenant. Disgraceful.
A paying tenant at the horse farm would be a nice family coming into a residential area. Not a business that runs 6 days and a few evenings a week with buses ! It is a disgrace what they did to that peaceful neighborhood and all unsupervised by the village. Out of sight out of mind. At least the elks club is in full view when that lease is broken it will be seen. At the gate house the tenant violates the lease over and over BUt out of sight….
“At the gate house the tenant violates the lease over and over…”
I live a few blocks away from Gate House. Can you provide a few examples of how the tenant (Stacy Antine) is violating the lease? If this is the case, then these violations should be documented and presented to the relevant governing bodies. She should be fined and the lease should not be renewed. Please elaborate further…
hopefully she will. If you are truly concerned get a copy of the lease and keep your eyes open!! It is nothing against Stacy antine and her business. It is principle A business does not belong in a neighborhood park funded by green acres.
Health barn needs to go…maybe to a location actually zoned for business.