By ARIEL ZANGLA
Freeman staff
azangla@freemanonline.com; twitter.com/ArielAtFreeman

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — A proposed indoor sports complex at Cantine Field would attract tourists and benefit the town, according to the man who wants to build it, but town Supervisor Kelly Myers says she  has “major concerns” about the venture.

John Barese says his proposal would put an unused piece of property to good use, cost local taxpayers nothing and put Saugerties “on the map.”

Barese, the owner of Pizza Star and the Starway Cafe in Saugerties, has proposed building a 200,000-square-foot facility at the town-owned Cantine Veterans Memorial Complex, commonly called Cantine Field. His plan is to  lease the town property for $1 per year for 99 years and, in exchange, buy two parcels nearby and donate them to the town.

The donated land would total about 7 acres, which is how much town-owned land Barese’s project would occupy. Barese also has proposed building an access road to the facility at a cost of about $1.2 million.

The indoor sports complex would include, among other amenities, a swimming pool, a soccer field, a 200-meter track and four basketball courts inside the track, Barese has said. The facility also is to include a restaurant and conference center.

Barese has said high school students would be able to use the facility during school hours at no cost and could form a swim team that could use the pool. He also said the school district could use the complex for high school graduation ceremonies.

Saugerties Junior-Senior High School is across Washington Avenue Extension from Cantine Field.

For the sports complex to become a reality, however, Barese and his development team need more than local approvals. They need state approval because the plan calls for parkland to be used for non-park purposes. That process, known as alienation, requires approval from the state Legislature and the governor.



The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which is involved in alienation requests, issued a handbook on the process that can be found online at bit.ly/Or4Pc7. Continued...

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The first three steps outlined in the handbook deal with determining if a requested use is an alienation action, options to avoid using parkland and ways to involve the public in the process. The handbook says the alienation process can be complex and time-consuming.

“There’s so many hurdles we have to go through,” Barese said, noting that even with state approval, the town still must review the project and could keep it from going forward.

For the time being, the proposal remains in the initial review stage. The Town Board has asked for additional information and a memorandum of understanding with the developer. Barese, for his part, has been growing more and more impatient as time passes and he is unable to apply to the state for needed approvals.

Last month, Barese told the Town Board he wanted a simple “yes” or “no” from the board about whether it would support the project. He said he expected an answer at the board’s next meeting, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday at the senior center on Market Street.

Barese said he hopes supporters of the project will come to the meeting.

Myers said the Town Board has decided it will not act on Barese’s plan until concerns outlined in the memorandum of understanding have been addressed. She said if Barese is unwilling to comply with the memorandum, it would be his choice not work with the town and to end the process.

“We are not going toward alienation right away,” Myers said.

In April, the Town Board approved a resolution authorizing Myers and the town’s special counsel, attorney John Mineaux, to negotiate and prepare the memorandum of understanding. At the time, Myers said the memorandum would hold the town harmless from studying the project further and stipulate that all feasibility study costs and other fees would be paid by the developer.

Myers said the town has gotten feedback from people who do not want the project to be built at Cantine Field — not because they oppose  the project, but because they object to it being built on town-owned parkland. She said the public wants Barese to take his own risk with his own property and capital investment.

What Barese is requesting, Myers added, is not currently a legal use of the parkland. She said she also is concerned that Barese has not divulged who his investor is and that allowing a sports bar in the complex would contradict the town’s policy of not allowing alcohol in its parks. Continued...

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Myers said she additionally is worried about parking areas at Cantine Field being used by the proposed complex, explaining she does not want to see town activities at the park having to compete with a private business for parking.

She also noted that admission to the park is free but the proposed sports complex would be a private “pay to play” facility.

Barese said his fees are not set in stone but that  people who can afford a cell phone can afford to join the sports complex.

Regarding Barese himself, Myers said she does not think he would make a good project partner.

“He’s ... been quite belligerent with the board,” she said.

Myers said she would encourage Barese to go forward with his project on private land, noting a large parcel is or sale at the end of Washington Avenue. The Town Board would fully support Barese pursuing the project on private land, she said.

Barese said he has been communicating with the town for 2-1/2 years regarding the project and has been researching it for 10 years, but that since Myers took office in January, the town has not been communicating with him.

He said the supervisor is holding up the project instead of putting the issue to a vote. (Myers said the town has ordered its attorney to communicate with Barese’s lawyer.)

Barese also said he has received more than 1,000 signatures from people who support his project; that it was his attorney who recommended the memorandum of understanding with the town; and that he completed a feasibility study, at the request of former town Supervisor Greg Helsmoortel, consisting of a written proposal, drawings and a metes and bounds survey of the property to be swapped for the parkland. He said he was also told to give the town a $3,000 deposit.

“They still have my check,” Barese said. Continued...

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Barese said he is considering buying an alternate piece of property to swap for the town’s parkland because some concerns were raised about the parcel he was going to buy consisting of a rock ledge. Additionally, he said, he would agree to pay a minimum amount to the town each year in lieu of taxes but that the town would be receiving fees from parking at special events, like concerts. Those fees would bring a minimum of $200,000 a year for the town, Barese said.

He said the parking for the indoor complex would be separate.

“We’re going to have our own parking,” Barese said, adding that he plans to ask the school district to use parking at the junior-senior high school complex for overflow of vehicles.

Barese said he has communicated with Saugerties school district  Superintendent Seth Turner and high school Principal Thomas Averill about the project.

Turner declined to comment about the proposal.

Barese at first said the complex would cost about  $15 million to build, but that number has likely increased with the passage of time. He also said he has an investor lined up, but he has declined to identify that person. Barese said he would not identify his investor until the alienation of parkland was complete.

“If the town of Saugerties wants me, I am here and will not disappoint them,” Barese said. And if the town does not want him, he said, he has other opportunities.

Barese said he has some alternate locations in mind, including TechCity — the former IBM complex in the town of Ulster — but that he wants to keep the complex in Saugerties, where he lives and does business.

“It’s going to put Saugerties on the map,” he said.

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