Fredonia Trustee Leeann Lazarony heard plenty of public criticism last week at a Board of Trustees meeting about her interest in selling village-owned property near Glasgow Road. However, she held firm, re-asserting her stance later in the meeting.

Several people expressed concerns about the idea during the public comments portion.

“It’s Glasgow Park, folks! It’s Glasgow Park,” declared Mark Twichell. “Anybody who doubts that it was ever a park for 50 years really needs to do their homework.”

Twichell acknowledged that trustees found no mention of “Glasgow Park” in legal deeds. “Well, that’s the way these things are recorded. There’s no requirement for the owner of the property to say what they’re going to do with it.”

He went on to mention a well dug on the property in the 1960s and said that if the village does sell, it should disclose the property’s history to potential buyers.

“I think if you survey people of my age, you would get a lot of answers that it was Glasgow Park,” said Cheryl Bailen. “I was there with my friends. You know what, if we weren’t doing things that were legal, the sheriff’s department would let us know. The county wouldn’t pay the sheriff’s department to keep an eye on that area unless it was the park. … It was where a lot of us went as youth, if we had a car to get there.”

Former Trustee James Lynden said Lazarony “described many areas of concern to investigate. This should include” laws regarding watershed protection, evaluation of conservation easements and restriction on land use.

“The alternative to selling for a one time cash out could be, over the years, new opportunities may have evolved for long term benefits,” Lynden said.

Former Village Attorney Sam Drayo recalled an effort in the early 1970s, which he was involved in as the village attorney, to turn the then-undeveloped property into a park. Drayo said some picnic tables and benches were placed there. However, various problems including vandalism led to the abandonment of the park.

Drayo said he researched trustees’ resolutions around the time of the property’s purchase in 1931 and could find no formal reason for buying the land. He speculated that it had something to do with watershed protection. Drayo said the land should not be sold until there is a final determination to abandon the village reservoir.

A fifth speaker, Jefferson Westwood, also expressed opposition to selling the land.

“It’ll always be Glasgow Park in my heart because I lived in Cassadaga and that was very close to me,” Lazarony later said. “It was absolutely good news that we had some interested parties from the lakes association, the conservancy and the state of New York to keep it from being privately owned and built upon.”

Lazarony said she would look into an appraisal of the property. “I would like to see it stay pristine, conserved land. I just don’t know that the village has to own it for it to stay that way. If the state wanted to buy it and make it a park, that would be great.”

She concluded that “I don’t see the harm” in exploring a possible sale.

Trustee Ben Brauchler later said he would firmly oppose sale of the property to a private owner for development. “I don’t think that was ever the intention,” Lazarony said.