Seward Continues To Push DOT For Route 80 Solution

ONEONTA, 10/20/14 -- State Senator James L. Seward (R/C/I – Oneonta) today called on the State Department of Transportation (DOT) to reconfigure and expedite its plan for road repairs and resolution of property ownership issues associated with a section of State Route 80 in Otsego County.

“While the Department of Transportation (DOT) has put work along State Route 80 on hold since I advocated on behalf of property owners in September, several issues remain unresolved,” said Senator Seward.  “In addition, homeowners and local government officials have been stonewalled when seeking tangible information on the status of the project and property ownership concerns.”

Several property owners are embroiled in a dispute with NYSDOT concerning property ownership along State Route 80 near Five Mile Point on the western side of Otsego Lake.  In September, Senator Seward successfully called on the DOT to carry out a full review of the proposed slope stabilization repair work and the property ownership issue.

“This is a complicated matter that involves the safety of the motoring public, the environmental health of Otsego Lake, and property rights of long-standing homeowners – a comprehensive solution on how to move forward must encompass all of these concerns and needs to be forthcoming sooner rather than later,” Seward added.

In a new letter to DOT Commissioner Joan McDonald, Senator Seward writes:

“We share a desire that our state transportation projects achieve the goals of safety for the motoring public and an enhanced transportation infrastructure.  But how we achieve those goals says much about us as a government.  And unfortunately, the property owners in the middle of the Route 80 project feel they have been left in the dark and, when the light has been turned on, treated cavalierly.”

“Government should not bulldoze local homeowners, some who live on property that has been in their families for generations, when the opportunity for a mutual solution exists.  I am confident that, working together, we can establish common ground, develop a strategy to improve State Route 80, and respond to the property ownership issues that have been raised,” Seward concluded. 

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