Village seeks home rule for property

PENN YAN--The Penn Yan village board voted to submit a home rule request to the state regarding the transfer of land for waterfront development along the Keuka Lake Outlet. The special meeting of the village took place Friday, May 5, where the board voted to seek approval from the state to transfer a parcel of land to Keuka Outlet Development LLC to begin work on their waterfront revitalization project at the site of the former Penn Yan Marine company. Mayor Leigh MacKerchar said if all goes well, he expects a response from the state by the end of June.
"We are trying to do something for the betterment of the community," MacKerchar said. "I can see nothing but positive things coming from this project."
MacKerchar said the village had to make this request in order to amend legislation passed in 1972 regarding the transfer of land parcels, with the main parcel in question being a small strip of land the village acquired from Seneca Grape Juice. MacKerchar said the property was to be used for a trail, adding Iversen plans to install by adding a path along the waterfront as part of his development project. In order to begin development, however, MacKerchar said the village needs to clear up who owns which parcels by the development site before it can transfer the ownership to Keuka Outlet Development.
"There were five or six legal interpretations of who owned what over there," MacKerchar said. "It had been the understanding that if you went down Hicks Street the stuff on the left was the fireman's field, our property, and the stuff on the right was Penn Yan boats."
The meeting was attended by developer Chris Iversen, his attorney Kevin McAuliffe and resident Bob Hawley. Hawley questioned the board during the meeting, claiming some board members had prior knowledge about the issues of this parcel's ownership prior to him bringing it to the board's attention. The board denied these claims, with MacKerchar saying they first learned of this conflict a few months ago and have since worked to get state approval to allow the transfer of land.