NORWICH – A grassroots effort supported by Commerce Chenango and government leaders who hope to save the New York State Veterans’ Home in Oxford and Camp Pharsalia brought the region’s representatives to the Eaton Center for an open forum Wednesday evening.
Camp Pharsalia, a minimum security detention facility, was closed by the state in the beginning of July. The state has constructed a new nursing home for veterans in Oxford; the currently-occupied facility will be vacant once the new one becomes operational.
New York State Senators Thomas Libous and James Seward and state Assemblyman Clifford Crouch told a group of about 30 what had been accomplished to date to save both structures from the wrecking ball.
Some possible uses for the facilities presented by members of the community were: a national leadership institute to train students in community service, an academy for training conservationists, a college of forestry, a health clinic for veteran’s, a home for homeless veterans, a dialysis center, an eldercare facility, and a child care facility.
Chenango County Area Agency on Aging Director Debra Sands suggested creating multi-functional uses for both buildings that would bring many different organizations and funding parties to the table.
Oxford Village Mayor Terry Stark suggested transforming the veterans’ home into a facility that would tie together county Rt. 32, the NYS&W railbed, the Chenango River, and nearby recreational grounds for both the newly built veterans’ home residents and residents of a possible new entity.
“As mayor of a small village, my job is to influence the future of the next 15 to 20 years. By using the features of this area, it would help to integrate the veterans into the community and keep the population here,” he said.
Oxford resident and businessman David Emerson suggested that a home for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome could serve as a function of the nursing home itself.
“There is so much opportunity there, it’s shouting at you,” he said. “The nursing home residents could help the suffering veterans deal and vice versa.”
Libous said he had successfully staved off the demolishing of the veterans’ home for about nine more months, long enough perhaps to develop the less than 30 year old structure into an alternate facility used by veterans.
“It gives us at least the chance to see what private developers can come up with before the state comes in and demolishes it,” he said.
Determining the exact costs for maintaining the building until that time, however, has been a struggle. A New York State Department Health feasibility study reported that the building would cost $500,000 a year to maintain while vacant.
“I asked for those numbers in the report to verify those calculations,” said Libous. “They can’t tell me where the secret report is (on those costs).”
Libous also said he has been unable to meet with or discuss the situation with the New York State Department of Heath itself, however.
As for Camp Pharsalia, he said the state’s legislature most likely wouldn’t be able to develop an alternative plan for using the facility by October as previously planned.
“I think the camp is a viable and valuable piece of real estate that can be put to a good cause,” he said.
Assemblyman Crouch said he had learned from the health department that a portion of the veterans’ home may have to be demolished due to drainage issues, and that Camp Pharsalia’s property is owned by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and may not be able to be leased.
Senator Seward said the state’s Department of Corrections “is open to suggestions to future use” of Camp Pharsalia but “of course aren’t going to come up with a new use themselves.”
“With the fiscal situation of the state, I’m not counting on corrections to convert the facility into a better use.”
Commerce Chenango President Maureen Carpenter said both facilities could create jobs much needed in a county where the unemployment rate has soared from 3.5 percent in June of 2008 to 8.9 percent this month. She said the county’s 2020 Vision on the Future plan recognized a need for a facility for people with disabilities, as about 25 percent of the population is disabled.
“Many people here have a vision for the future. We hope to seek out and invest to make it a realty,” she said.
Farm Bureau President Bradd Vickers, also a veteran, said he was “frustrated” that the federal stimulus money promised by the federal government hadn’t made its way from the state to create new jobs “and we continue to let go the ones we have.”