HARTWICK SEMINARY - The Cooperstown Dreams Park, the originator of the tournament-style baseball camp in this area which has spawned many would-be imitators, has announced plans for an almost $3.7 million multi-year expansion.

In a statement released Monday from company headquarters in Salisbury, N.C., chief executive officer Louis A. Presutti said the expansion will feature four new ball fields and boost weekly attendance at the park by more than 20 percent.

The six-year-old Dreams Park has also announced a "relationship between Cooperstown Dreams Park and the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society to provide an access point for railroad service to the facility during the upcoming season."

The plan also mentions the construction of a new train depot, support facilities for the additional players and a permanent dining facility.

According to the release, work could begin as early as next March, pending approval of the plan by the town and county planning boards.

"This project will create additional jobs, business opportunities for local building contractors and suppliers, local lodging establishments, restaurants, convenience stores, and other local retailers. It will continue to increase the tax base, as well as, continuing to stabilize and promote economic growth in the area," Presutti is quoted in the statement.

The additions and modifications to the existing facilities will be completed in what he is calling a "three year and beyond plan."

According to the release, Presutti has had informal discussions with the Hartwick town planning board co-chairmen Dick Kelly and Ferd Thering about the expansion plans. "Cooperstown Dreams Park looks forward to working with the town of Hartwick planning board during the approval and implementation stages of this newest project," Presutti said in the release.

Kelly confirmed Tuesday that they have talked Presutti generally about the project.

"We have been talking to them and encouraging them to come forward with a master plan to the next three to five years and they have agreed to do that," Kelly said, adding that he has not yet seen any plans for the expansion project.

This spring, the planning board told Presutti that he could no longer expand the Dreams Park facility in a piecemeal fashion but needed to present a complete picture of what they envision for the future.

Kelly said the park had been successful and was not surprised to hear of the announcement of expansion plans.

"I think we have a pretty decent relationship and both parties understand what they have to do. Whatever they present they will have to go through the process prescribed by the town of Hartwick site plan review law.

Town supervisor Carol Niedzialkowski said this was the first she had heard of the plans , but that she was "looking forward to reviewing the plans and hearing what the planning board has to say."

She did comment that the plans to use rail transportation sounded like a good idea and may address some parking and transportation issues.

Presutti did not respond to requests for comment left at his Hartwick Seminary and North Carolina offices.

But, Dreams Park co-owner Peter Nash, who, with the third owner, New Jersey attorney David Dinallo, has been embroiled in an almost two-year old lawsuit over the ownership and management of the park, said, "As a partner of the Cooperstown Dreams Park, it is good to see the business is in the position to spend $4 million on expansion, however, due to the current Dreams Park litigation I cannot comment further. The matter will be settled at trial in New Jersey courts sometime in the new year."

One thing the announcement did not mention is current status of Presutti's plan to build seasonal lodging off Goey Pond Road across Route 28 from the Dreams Park.