The majority of the Vestal Town Board has decided the Rivercrest section should be designated historic.
Rivercrest is the section of homes between the Susquehanna River and the Vestal Parkway across from University Plaza.
Businessman Jim Matthews owns a bunch of houses and had wanted to to tear down four of them because they are in disrepair.
According to his attorney there were no plans to develop the land.
Rivercrest.residents including Ross Geohegan want the area preserved and are thrilled with the designation, which requires the town board to approve any substantial changes made to homes there.
Ross says, "The winner in this is the Town of Vestal because a beautiful part of town has a chance of surviving and be restored to the beautiful condition that it was in. / What we hope to see is a situation where all of the Rivercrest houses are occupied by their owners. In other words, that those who have talked perhaps of development will sell the houses to people who are willing to restore them and live in them and love them the way they used to be loved by the former owners. Alternatively of course the developer could decide to repair and restore the houses himself."
Andreasen says, "How far do I go with the historic district or building. The law is very specific, historic significance of the buildings themselves, not the area, not the acreage, not the fact that there was an incomplete Chenango Canal behind them, which is beautiful in the summer, but are the buildings of historical significance. There are a lot of buildings in Vestal that are exactly the same architecture, look and age. That's where I come out. I told them I'll be voting no."
That was town supervisor Pete Andreasen.
The Rivercrest area of Vestal was built about 80 years ago.
Normal maintenance is exempt from approval.
