By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG – Rather than waiting for the long-delayed Adaptive Reuse District to pass, St. Mary’s Cathedral is seeking a zoning change at the old Bishop Conroy school building.

The city agreed to hold a public hearing regarding the proposal to rezone the .619-acre property from single family residential to residential business. It is located between Washington and Morris Streets.

The property is eligible for the zoning change because the property is adjacent to two other properties that are zoned for business use.

The property was to slated to become part of the Adaptive Reuse District, which was designed to allow new uses on former schools, businesses in churches located within residentially zoned area. However long delays have prompted property owners to seek other means to get their properties rezoned.

At the previous meeting Step by Step submitted an application to have the former Lincoln school building rezoned. It was also slated to become part of the ARD, but due to delays Director David Bayne is seeking a zoning change under the planned development district.

Deputy Mayor Michael Morley asked planner Andrea Smith if these properties would still be come part of the ARD if they are rezoned prior to its passage

Smith said the ARD is not an overlapping district and that if they are already zoned prior to the ARD passage they would not need to be part of it.

At the May 11 meeting the city will hold public hearings for zoning changes for the Bishop Conroy school buildings and the former Lincoln school building. It will also hold a public hearing on the ARD, which both properties were to become part of.

Smith said the planning board will also be reviewing the proposals prior to the hearing and noted that the county would likely be reviewing them as well. She said the county’s review would not be completed prior to the city’s meeting, meaning the city probably won’t act on the requests at the same meeting.

Further complicating the proposed ARD were concerns from councilor Morley regarding councilor Jennifer Stevenson’s ability to vote on issues related to the former Lincoln school, as her realty agency was involved in the sale to Step By Step. Morley requested a ruling from the State Attorney General regarding potential conflicts of interest.

“I just don’t want to pass something and have it overturned because we did something we weren’t supposed to do,” he said.

Stevenson said she understood Morley’s feeling and offered no objections on reaching out to the state AG. However, she said she would have liked to know Morley’s concern prior to the public meeting.

Morley said he was in favor of the rezoning of the Bishop Conroy property, but he did not express the same view of the former Lincoln school.