Dryden establishes affordable, workforce housing committee

The Dryden Town Board unanimously passed a resolution to establish an affordable and workforce housing committee at its March 10 meeting.

According to the resolution, the committee will “focus on owner and rental housing deficiencies and identify various impediments to the construction and rehabilitation of such housing in the town and in the villages [of Dryden and Freeville].”

The committee will consist of two Town Board members, representatives from each of the villages, Town Planning Director Ray Burger, a Planning Board member and community members with knowledge of the current housing outlook.

Town Board member Jim Skaley noted at the March 10 meeting that the committee should include an assessor or possibly a local realtor. The committee would consist of no more than seven people, Skaley suggested, to which Town Board members agreed.

The Town Board could start making appointments for the committee as early as its March 17 meeting, Town Clerk Bambi Avery said.

“I know there’s people who want to be on [the committee] and people who should be on it that have not been identified yet,” Deputy Town Supervisor Dan Lamb added, noting that once the town appoints “more than half” of the people willing to serve, committee meetings can commence. “We want to get this thing running.”

Lamb called the town’s current housing situation “an affordability crisis.”

“The market value is more than people can afford,” Lamb said. “Housing is a big expense.”

According to the 2020 U.S. Census Report, the population in Dryden has decreased. In 2010, the town had a population of 14,435. As of 2020, the population dropped to 13,905.

Lamb said the dip in the town’s population can be attributed to the lack of quantity and affordability in single-family housing and housing for professionals.

“People are living in Cortland County [or other neighboring counties] because it’s cheaper and they’d rather commute into Ithaca and Tompkins County that way,” Lamb added. “You need to attract people as well to keep the population, and one of those things is affordable housing.”

The resolution provided numbers that broke down the housing situation in the Dryden area. According to the resolution, only 77 single-family homes and 119 multi-family units were constructed in the past six years.

Of the 1,894 rental households in Dryden, 46.2% are “cost burdened” and 27.3% are “severely cost burdened,” the resolution states.

“Cost burdened refers to when more than 30 percent of income is going to pay for housing costs such as rent or mortgage,” according to the resolution.

“This committee is a way to address certain aspects of this [housing] puzzle in our area,” Skaley said.

Lamb said the town will soon be bringing in 80 new jobs through the impending development of the Knickerbocker Bed Frame Facility on Hall Woods Road.

“Where are those people going to live?” Lamb said. “They need affordable workforce housing.”

The committee will be tasked with “finding developers who have a slightly different mission in building housing to maximize profit,” which includes housing with “multiple units instead of a few units,” Lamb said.

“We’re seeing proposals for rather expensive housing units, but we’re not seeing enough affordable housing,” Lamb added. “We need housing that will be created for families and professionals instead of units like student housing.”

Dryden Dispatch appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.

In brief:

Registration open for Dryden, Freeville Community Summer Camps

Registration is open for the Dryden and Freeville Community Summer Camps this year.

The camps will be held at the Dryden and Freeville Elementary School buildings, respectively, and will run from June 11 to Aug. 19. Each day of the camps will go from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The camp is for children who are between entering kindergarten and entering fifth grade. To register or for more information or questions, go to drydenrecdesk.com.

Freeville Community Garden offers openings for new members

The Freeville Community Garden at Groton Avenue Park in the village has several openings for members for the upcoming season.

Members of the garden will have a 10-feet-by-10-feet plot, access to the shed for shared tools, compost bins for home kitchen waste and garden waste and more.

There is no membership fee. There is, however, a requirement for all members to assist with shared tasks for a few hours over the season. Those tasks include maintenance of pathways, weeding of the perimeter or other maintenance items that may come up.

For information on the Freeville Community Garden, contact Stephanie Ortolano at sortolano@gmail.com.

Town Recreation Department to host Easter egg hunt

The Town of Dryden Recreation Department will be hosting an Easter egg hunt at 10:30 a.m. April 16 at Montgomery Park in the village of Dryden.

The Easter Bunny will arrive in a firetruck to kick off the event. Families are asked to bring their own basket or bag for the event. After the event, programs will follow at Southworth Library.

For more information, contact Marty Conger at recreation@dryden.ny.us.