POTSDAM -- Several members of the public are voicing concern over the St. Lawrence Health Systems plans to purchase a section of Cottage Street next to the Canton-Potsdam Hospital.

The village held a public hearing on the proposal Monday, Oct. 5. The meeting at the civic center meeting hall was broadcast over Facebook Live and Zoom.

SLHS seeks to purchase the street section which connects Leroy and Waverly streets. The hospital plans to utilize the space for additional parking spots for in-patients and visitors, and the space may figure into future expansion plans for the facility.

SLHS plans to initially gate off access to Cottage from Leroy to cut out thru-traffic past the building, while still allowing access to a PET scan trailer there, and they plan to install a crosswalk and walkway for students passing through to Potsdam Central on Leroy Street.

"Adding this space would allow us to spread the campus, potentially placing an event tower off Cottage," said Eric Burch, SLHS chief operating officer. Burch said the structure would allow for a new emergency department and main entrance as well as private in-patient rooms.

"We are trying to spread out the parking. Right now everyone is vying for the same front door. We have a lot of blacktop but everyone is trying to get to the same place. So our thought is that if we had an orientation off Cottage Street, that would take the in-patients and visitors that way," Burch said.

Village residents who attended the hearing and viewed online were concerned about the impact the hospital's continued expansion is having on the neighborhood around the building. Several also voiced concern that SLHS plans to purchase the street section seemed sudden and that they were not aware of the move. However, the hospital has discussed the issue for some time. North Country This Week reported on the proposal early this year. The story can be found on North Country Now at https://www.northcountrynow.com/news/st-lawrence-health-system-seeking-approval-potsdam-village-close-cottage-street-0273705.

Tammy McGregor-Twiss, who has lived on Cottage Street for the last 18 years, said she had just heard about the hospital's plans to acquire the street and she questioned why the residents who live on the street were not directly notified of the proposal.

She said, while she supports the hospital and understand its need to expand, over the last ten years there has been a "huge increase" in traffic, business, and light and noise pollution from the campus.

"What is the capacity of growth the hospital is looking for?" she asked. "At what point is it saturated for the population?"

Resident Katie Deuel said the hospital's acquisition of the street will have "significant impact" on the village. "The hospital has not readily shared its long term strategic plan with the village," she said. She said the village selling the street to the hospital is "short-sighted with no broader context."

Deuel said the hospital needs to share its overall plan for expansion with village residents.

"I think most residents, myself included, want to see the hospital succeed and thrive. But we want insight to the goals as it relates to the footprint in the village center," said Deuel.

Several other comments voiced at the public hearing by attendees questioned safety for students walking through parking lots on their way to school, concerns about plummeting property values for residents in the neighborhood, and what some residents felt was a lack of transparency on the issue.

There as also discussion of the issue in the Facebook Live comment section during the meeting.

"Instead of taking up the entire space around the hospital, building a parking garage. Simple," wrote Karen A Besaw-Pimentel on Facebook.

"If you take the time to read the full comment that Eric Backus has posted on the other thread, you'd note that the costs are prohibitive," replied Sean Corbett.

"As for conversations around structured parking (e.g. about “going up instead of out” as indicated in several comments on this thread), let me offer some perspectives," continued Backus. "Nationally the cost of building a surface lot parking space is about $3-4k per parking spot. The cost of a parking garage/structured parking spot, you ask? At least $50k per spot. And before you say, 'not our problem the hospital has the ability pay for that, after all they’re constructing buildings left and right,' remember that all gets paid for in our medical bills, so be careful what you wish for. And, by the way, the cost of maintaining structured parking is in the order of 20 times that of surface parking too, so it’s the cost that keeps on costing more over time."

"Well, I don’t live on Facebook," replied Besaw-Pimentel, still on Facebook. "I don’t get to read every single Facebook comment. Also. I am not a person to say the hospital is not my problem. I was born in that hospital and I have much respect for the hospital. I am just concerned with how this might change the village of Potsdam. It could impact us positively or negatively. Anyone that’s lived in Potsdam their whole lives, worries about their village. It’s a village, not a city. A lot of people will agree with me that they worry about how it could impact their hometown. If it impacts them positively, great, but if it impacts our village negatively, then what?"

No action was taken by the village concerning the issue following the hearing during the village board's regular meeting. The next step for the proposed acquisition is a SEQR (environmental quality review study) needs to be completed, viewed and considered by the village board. Following that the village planning board is expected to review the proposal before the village signs off on the purchase.