To the editor:

Last week I invited our village trustees and emergency service personnel to come sit on my porch for light refreshments and conversation with interested village residents about the 33 Petrova project (across the street from my house).

Not many Saranac Lake residents may be aware of the board’s plan to build a very large (we’re not being told how large, but the initial drawing was the size of three Civic Centers) emergency services facility at 33 Petrova Ave., accessed by residential streets within two school zones. The project is now in its second phase with a $345,000 down payment toward the $1.78 million design and project management costs. (Total estimated cost is $27.5 million.) This neighborhood’s residents recognize the need for improved and expanded space for our services personnel, but have many questions about this project’s impact on their neighborhood, environment and their pocketbooks.

About 20 folks answered my invitation, including every village board member. Mayor Williams made sure that all who wanted to ask questions at the gathering, asked them. His answers shed little new light on the secretive planning process. The one new piece of information we did learn was that fire and rescue vehicles would exit and enter the facility along Bay Boulevard, a narrow residential lane. Police would still enter and exit by Petrova Avenue.

At the board meeting following the porch gathering, other village residents expressed doubts about the Petrova project, some asking the board to rescind the design contract until necessary reviews have been completed. The mayor ignored these concerns as well.

One of the defining qualities, one of the joys of life in Saranac Lake, is our sense of neighborliness. We are a community of neighborhoods. The mayor lives outside the village, far enough from neighbors that this point may be lost on him. It may explain the indifference to the concerns of longtime village residents like myself who fear that the oversized emergency service complex (which is more than three times the size of the 16 neighboring houses, mine included, combined will destroy the close-knit character of our streets and homes.

Last December Mayor Williams and Deputy Mayor Scollin promised to answer questions about the project submitted by village residents before moving ahead with their plan. Of the 103 questions posted on the village web site only two were answered. It seems they have

given up even pretending to care.

Elizabeth Kochar

Saranac Lake