HARTWICK - The Hartwick town planning board began its environmental review of the Cooperstown Dreams Park's latest expansion plan Tuesday night, but concerns about how much of the park should be included in the review stalled the process.

The park is expanding its operation again by another 20 percent and has proposed to build four additional ball fields on an almost 60-acre parcel being purchased from the Ingalls family. That purchase will be completed Thursday, according to Dreams Park CEO Louis Presutti.

Some components of the latest expansion plan, including another 400 parking spaces and a new main entrance are not located on the new property and caused planning board member Orrin Higgins to suggest that it opens up the entire park for review.

"Before we start, we'd better have some ground rules," Higgins said. "I think we need a legal opinion as to what we're reviewing."

Presutti disagreed with Higgins and said the board should proceed as it has historically and review the application as presented.

Presutti tried to solicit an opinion from the town's engineer Wayne Bunn about what aspects of the park should fall under the review, but Bunn was reluctant to offer an opinion.

"If you're asking for a legal opinion, I'm not a lawyer," Bunn said.

But Bunn did tell Higgins, "you're right there's some gray areas."

Higgins said the plan calls for the relocation of the park's main entrance which is located on the original part of the park.

"We're changing the whole pattern of traffic with 5,000 people a day coming and going," Higgins said.

"Orrin, I can tell you we're working very closely with the Department of Transportation," Presutti said.

Presutti again asked the board to review the project as they have in the past, but Higgins replied that it's a "whole new ballgame."

"In the past we've presented it in exactly the same way and your concern didn't come up. You reviewed the new components," Presutti said.

"We reviewed the whole thing if I remember correctly. I think we need to put a halt to this tonight and get an opinion from the powers that be. I'm not comfortable doing it piecemeal," Higgins replied.

But before Higgins could get a second for his motion to stop the review, board chairman Ken Hotaling called a halt to the meeting because it was 9:30 p.m.

Following the conclusion of the meeting, Presutti declined further comment, but project engineer B.J. O'Neill said, "the review must encompass the entire park, but consider only those items that are changing, which is what been done in the past."