BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County legislators are asking state officials to explore placing Step by Step at the former Ogdensburg Correctional Facility instead of a planned downtown location. 

Legislator Jim Reagen brought a resolution from the floor at a finance committee meeting to address the matter, saying it was a two-fold approach to generate conversation. 

At the heart of the issue for Reagen is the possibility of taking a prime, downtown commercial space off the tax rolls if Step by Step were to move forward with their current plans. 

Reagen said he and city lawmakers are not opposed to the organization building a housing development in the city, he just feels the former prison may be better suited for the task. 

"One of the problems in Ogdensburg is it has a large amount of tax exempt property," Reagen said. 

He noted the city has one of the highest percentages of tax exempt property of any city in the state. 

"A lot of that tax exempt property is owned by the state of New York. As some of you are aware, it wasn't very long ago the state closed Ogdensburg correctional facility, leaving those facilities vacant and took a $30 million payroll out of Ogdensburg," he said.  

He said the state initially agreed to work with the community on a redevelopment plan that never materialized. 

Reagen said the state also failed in their promise to keep the facility heated so that it could be redeveloped. That occurred without ever consulting city or county officials, he said. 

"We have these buildings and what we've seen in O'burg over the past half century is that the state of New York left all of the original buildings of the psych center vacant and abandoned them," he said. 

Reagen said the state has repeatedly refused requests by the community to redevelop the properties. 

"What we would like to see the state of New York do is instead of locating this tax exempt development on property that could be developed for commercial tax pay property, instead use it, work with us to take some of the vacant, tax exempt property at Ogdensburg Correctional to redevelop that property and begin a process of reuse for those facilities before they start falling apart as the rest of the psychiatric center has," Reagen said. 

Reagen pointed out the existing infrastructure at the site, including a full-size gymnasium and extensive greenhouse space that Step by Step could use for the various programs offered. 

He said he would urge Step by Step to work with the community, county and state to "develop a model for all of New York State" that would show how to effectively reuse vacant prisons and "put them back to productive use." 

Reagen reiterated the resolution was not an effort to block Step by Step's housing project but rather generate a conversation with the state and repurpose the former prison. 

For Legislator Margaret Haggard, the idea of placing Step by Step at the former prison is one she wasn't keen on given the proximity to the downtown and services they may need. 

"I don't know about the prison because, for one thing ,people who are clients of Step by Step don't have vehicles. Being further away from downtown might be difficult for people," she said. 

Haggard suggested the city possibly work with the organization to work them into the Downtown Revitalization Initiative planning process, though not to award them a portion of the $10 million grant. 

Haggard questioned if city lawmakers had written resolutions on the matter or had verbalized their position on the matter. 

While Haggard opposed the resolution, Legislator Rita Curran said the county could work with Step by Step to ensure a bus was available to get clients downtown to locations like Walmart and Price Chopper, both of which offer pharmacy services. 

She pointed to the infrastructure at the facility as a primary motivator to reuse the facility. 

"There are millions of dollars in infrastructure there that you can't replace for even one tenth of the cost," she said. 

Curran said she was also aware of the stigma surrounding the idea of placing clients there. 

"I know there is probably a little bit of a stigma with the concept that it was a prison," she said. 

Despite that, Curran said it would offer a stable space for clients, ensuring they would not be on the street and would have access to services they required. 

"It's better than we have now. Instead of making more non-taxable property, use the infrastructure we have there, " she said. 

Legislator John Burke said he was opposed to the idea of using the prison for Step by Step, commenting "people with mental illness deserve quality housing." 

He said he was not sure what would need to be done or how much it would cost to retrofit the prison to make it a livable space. 

"If that is not in keeping with the plans of the city, they (the city) need to work it out with them," he said. 

Burke said he was reluctant to support the measure, saying the prison was not an ideal building for Step by Step. He did say he wants to explore other opportunities to reuse the prison down the road. 

Legislator David Forsythe said that conversation "needs to be had." 

"Now is the time," he said. 

Forsythe said he had no concerns over transportation, as some raised, because the current plans to use a downtown location were likely as far from Walmart and Price Chopper as the former prison is. 

"I'm just thinking this is an ideal location, utilizes state owned property, they have 13 million bucks which is a heck of a lot of money. If there is a stigma associated with it, so be it," he said. 

Forsythe said he was unsure if city officials were aware the resolution "was coming," while saying the county would have a dialogue with them to find the best solution moving forward. 

Legislator Nicole Terminelli suggested the legislature also reach out to city lawmakers to confirm their position on the matter before taking up the resolution during the Full Board meeting next week. 

Legislators passed the resolution 13-2, with Haggard and Burke opposing the measure. 

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