Plans for the new Y were based on our community’s needs. Families and seniors need a place to play in a healthy environment. Cancer survivors and people diagnosed with pre-diabetes need a place where they can overcome their challenges at no cost. All of our children, not just varsity athletes, need a place where they can develop the strength and confidence they’ll need to thrive as adults.
Planning Board members didn’t take those needs into account. They also ignored expert advice, the best objective standards available and the values of their constituents. They ruled that the new Y, to be built on the corner of state Route 31 and Drakes Landing Road in Radisson, isn't compatible with the character of the community.
COMMUNITY AND CHARACTER
Radisson’s development rules encourage the construction of churches, schools and other community facilities open to the wider community. The rules don’t say how such buildings should be built, however. That’s why the Northwest Family YMCA was designed to meet and far exceed the rules Radisson has for office buildings.
That approach made sense to the state agency that developed Radisson and wrote its development rules. The Empire State Development Corp. wrote a letter recommending that the Planning Board use those rules in evaluating plans for the Y.
The Planning Board rejected those objective standards of community character in favor of their own. In doing so, they ignored:
· a flood of letters to the Planning Board, about 90 percent of which were in favor of the new Y.
· the only public hearing on this issue, where 83 percent of the speakers favored building the Y as designed.
· an independent telephone survey, which found that 86 percent of town residents believe the new Y will enhance the quality of life in the town.
The Planning Board’s ruling provides no room for compromise. It says we must “downsize” the Y to match other community facilities in the residential area of Radisson. By that standard, the new Y can be no larger than 7,500 square feet. Requiring a Y like that would be the height of poor planning and an insult to our community’s many needs.
MOVING FORWARD
Our cause is to build community by nurturing the development of youth, promoting health and well-being, and fostering social responsibility. We have to move forward. We have four options:
1. Continue our efforts to build as soon as possible on the current site.
2. Wait until the membership of the Planning Board changes, a process likely to take several years.
3. Look for other sites, either in the town of Lysander, or in surrounding towns.
4. Abandon the idea of building a Y in northwestern Onondaga County altogether.
None of the options are ideal, of course, but doing the right thing has seldom been easy, quick or inexpensive.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be reaching out to the northwestern Onondaga County community in new ways. We want to be certain our plans incorporate community members’ views, some of which may have changed since June 20. We promise to listen to everyone committed to building a stronger community.
This process has been difficult, but together, we can help 
build a brighter future for our community.
Cindy Dowd Greene
Chair, Northwest Family YMCA Board of Managers