GLITC CUP application decision postponed

A decision by the Oneida County board’s planning and development committee regarding a conditional use permit (CUP) application submitted by the Great Lakes Intertribal Council (GLITC) to construct an adolescent recovery and wellness center (ARWC) in the Town of Cassian has been postponed.

The CUP application was on the agenda for the Feb. 21 meeting of the county’s planning and development committee meeting, first as a closed session item and later as an item for “discussion/decision.”

The committee held a special meeting on the CUP application on Jan. 17 and at the end of a nearly two-hour discussion and question-and-answer session, the Cassian town board was directed to work with GLITC and the design team involved in the ARWC proposal. 

They were to come up with more specific proposals for gravel road improvements and to better specify plans for emergency vehicle access to the proposed 36-bed treatment facility intended for 13 to 17-year-olds. 

Cassian town chair Patty Francoeur made an announcement regarding the Feb. 21 planning and development committee during her board’s Feb. 19 meeting.

“It just happened today,” she told the small group of residents in attendance. “We were on the agenda for Wednesday. They were going to go into closed session to review with (legal) counsel about that ... and then, it stated ‘Discussion/decision.’ It didn’t really say there would be one but at least, we were on the agenda until today.”

Francoeur said it wasn’t known “at the time” she was informed about the change when consideration of the CUP application would be re-scheduled for the planning and development committee. 

“Depending on the availability of the committee members, it may actually get scheduled (for) next week but there’s nothing firm about that,” she said, adding when she’s notified, she will post the information. 

Francoeur was asked about boring done for water on the property GLITC purchased for the center. Anticipated water access and consumption was a concern raised at a Dec. 28 public hearing the planning and development committee held in Woodruff as well as at the Jan. 17 special meeting. 

Francoeur said there had been boring done and “they didn’t get down to rock.”

“They were gonna have to do three wells in order to supply the amount of water that would be needed that ... they anticipate will be needed,” she said. “I guess the water quality is good. In the one report, it states that they don’t see an issue that would effect any residents.”

In September of last year, the town board adopted a resolution stating its official opposition to the project, citing concerns about the impact on property taxes, increased use of town roads as well as public safety. 

On Tuesday Francouer told The Lakeland Times  the town’s official position hasn’t wavered.

Yet another question that’s arisen in the past few months — and it was discussed at length at planning and development committee’s Dec. 28 public hearing as well as its Jan. 17 special meeting — is the possibility of the over 200 acres of land GLITC purchased in Cassian being removed from Oneida County tax rolls and placed in federal trust.

Francoeur told the Times should construction of the facility be approved, “then we have certain things that we’d want attached.”

“Specifically, the sign-off to putting it into federal trust,” she said. 

Oneida County planning and zoning director Karl Jennrich said Tuesday if the committee doesn’t meet regarding the GLITC CUP application next week, “we’re looking at sometime in the last two weeks of March, I think.”

“We’re trying to work around everyone’s schedules,” he said. “GLITC is like any other developer. They’re champing at the bit.”

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].