Village of Lansing

MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Monday, August 7, 2000, in the Village Office.

PRESENT: Mayor Don Hartill; Trustees Lynn Leopold, Larry Fresinski, Frank Moore;

Mayor Don Hartill called the meeting to order at 7:33P.M. and opened the public comment period. Steve reported that the Planning Board had a developer’s conference and approved the concept of a new 80,000 sq. ft. Ornithology Lab. The new lab will be 5 times its current size and be located in three different municipalities. Some of the access roads are in the Town of Ithaca, some parking areas are in the Town of Dryden. Since 90% of the project is in the Village, the Village of Lansing will probably be the lead agency in the SEQR review. Cornell plans to start construction February 2001. They plan on designing the roads like driveways to control traffic.

An amendment of the special permit for Pyramid’s expansion, which possibly will include a Home Depot, has been approved but they haven’t been in for a building permit yet. The traffic light for Tops was supposed to be in by 8/30/00, but will be delayed. McDonalds may be in to get a temporary CO because their agreement requires that they must have the traffic light at Graham Road to open at the end of September. The Planning Board may conclude that it would be better if we let them close the present location and move across the street to help improve traffic flow. Don stated that he is concerned with the traffic light on the bridge going to the northbound on ramp to Rt13, because once again there was another accident there.

Mayor Donald Hartill - Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold –Aye

Phil Dankert, the Village’s representative on the Inter-municipal Recreation Planning Group, was present with the Director of Tompkins County Youth Bureau, Nancy Zahler, to present a copy of the new Recreation Partnership proposal. The current partners of this group are The Towns of Caroline, Danby, Dryden, Enfield, Groton, Ithaca and Ulysses, the Village of Lansing and the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County. The only ones in the County that aren’t represented are the Towns of Lansing and Newfield. The Town of Lansing has made no commitments but is considering. The new Town Board is more open to discuss it.

A governing board will replace the present board and will be filled by elected officials. The recommended approach for sharing program costs is the City of Ithaca would pay one quarter of the total, the Town of Ithaca would pay one quarter, and the County would pay one quarter. The remaining quarter would be shared among smaller municipalities. The Village of Lansing’s share for 2001 would be $11,046. In the past the Village paid the City of Ithaca and now it will be paying Tompkins County. This is a program partnership only sharing services, another group will do facilities. There is a small committee looking at bringing in a consultant for the recreation program to see if we could share the costs of programs more equitably.

This unique inter-municipal partnership is designed to help residents from member communities participate in shared recreational services. The intent of these programs is to introduce kids into noncompetitive sports. By cooperating and sharing costs, the partnership can offer broader access to a wider variety of services more affordably than any single municipality could offer on its own. The Village of Lansing does not have it’s own Recreational Program but is able to use the Town of Lansing’s.

The Board supports this partnership.

Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

Larry commented that the present budget amount allotted is $12,500 and the actual cost will only be $11,046. Nancy suggested that if the Village would like, it could contribute $12,500 and the balance could go to facilities. Don would like to hear the progress of the facilities group before we make that commitment.

Phil stated that it has been a long haul and he appreciates all the support he has received from the Village. He is at a point where he needs to back out because he is getting burned out. The Board will start looking for someone to replace him, and they thanked him for all the work he has done. Nancy added that the County Youth Board also has an opening and would like to have a representative from the Village on that Board.

Next on the Agenda was consideration of offer of dedication of Janivar Dr. Extension. Don pointed out a letter dated May 31, 2000 from Brent Cross which stated that the road did not survive last winter and he could not recommend that the developer be permited to do the final paving this year. Brent suggested a security deposit be obtained to cover the cost of both repairs and completion if the Village did decide to accept the road. Attorney Randy Marcus had distributed copies of the offer of dedication and proposed warranty deed to the Board. He stated that his intentions were not to have a decision made tonight but to set a public hearing. Ivar Jonson would like to get this road dedicated so that he would be free of snow plowing this winter. He also can not obtain an unconditional Certificate of Occupancy for the houses there until the road is dedicated. Hopefully by the time of the public hearing we will have a letter from Brent Cross recommending an appropriate amount of security. Don is also concerned that the paved shoulder to provide a sidewalk didn’t happen. Don stated that he was willing to set a public hearing but also he would like to communicate that we have the dollar amount to set aside and to get the sidewalk done. The Village has been very flexible with IJ Construction since he is one of the only active residential builders in the Village. It was brought up that this stub road did not go all the way to the end of his property and if it were to connect to Kensington the Village would have to complete this. Don said that the Village was willing to do this.

Randy reminded the Board that he would not be present at that meeting.

Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Frank Moore-Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Frank Moore-Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Abstain Trustee Frank Moore-Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Frank Moore-Aye

The Mayor informed us that at the end of the month the gas engine running the pump in the building next to us would no longer be running. Due to the increase in the price of natural gas, the Water Commission has found it to be cheaper to use electricity. The cost of Natural gas 4 years ago was $2.50 a decatherm and it has gone up to $6.30 a decatherm and in the last month has increased 12% so the water commission has decided to stop running the gas engine. This generator will be used as a backup. Randy warned everyone that if someone comes knocking on your door with a natural gas lease he strongly recommends that you think twice and consult your attorney. Lynn commented that they come in to do gas exploration drilling and leave your property a mess.

Ned provided Don with a traffic study on Northwood Road and he will be sending a letter to the Colberts for their consideration.

Sewers have dominated Don’s time. There was a meeting with DEC last Friday. Matt Shulman made a presentation regarding the fact that the press was banned from attending. Matt was asked to leave the room and they discussed this and agreed that the original decision not to have this meeting open to the public was the correct one. At the end of the meeting Matt presented every member with a F.O.I.L. request. He also wrote an editorial in the Lansing Community News asking people to respond. Don explained that intra-agency communication can not be F.O.I.L’ed. This group cannot vote. Each individual Board must pass decisions. There was also a meeting this morning. They discussed the Kline Road Bypass. The next meeting is 8/22/00. On 8/25/00 they’ll go back to the DEC with project descriptions. We are in some danger of losing funding. If Kline Road Bypass is not done then we are looking at at least a year before we get any sewer units. The Village of Cayuga Heights is at their limit.

Don stated that the Planning Board will want to think about Bolton Point Road. The Town of Ithaca did a topographical survey and Don showed the map to the Board. The railroad will not grant an easement across the tracks. There is an easement that allows Bolton Point access to their pump station. The real issue is will the zoning ordinance recognize the concept of a seasonal road? It would be very expensive to turn this into a Village road. It may not even be possible because of the steep grade. The whole reason this comes up is that the Water Commission currently has Capital Funds to use for the road improvement, and the prospective new Commission Members want the issue resolved before they join the Commission. Other party’s do not want this issue hanging over them so we need to resolve it.

Randy stated the property descriptions for the North Triphammer Project were basically ready. There were some minor corrections to the survey maps that needed to be made and those would be ready in a few days. Don stated that we needed to get things ready a little earlier next year for any intended Village construction projects. Randy agreed and stated that everything about the Uptown Road Project has been a headache.

Don is still working on getting another trustee.

Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

Larry asked when the codification would be complete. Randy thinks he will have it to the Board in Early September so that a public hearing can be set for the last September meeting. The intent of this document is to clean up inconsistencies and fill in the gaps

Larry is still working on networking the building for cable. There are two perspectives, 802 wireless or by doing the wiring ourselves.

Lynn stated that there was to going to be a joint meeting between the Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Organization and the Network groups on August 23, 2000. The purpose of this meeting is to build on commonalties. Lynn also had copies of Fingerlakes Landscape: Landscaping for Erosion Control which was prepared by Cornell Cooperative Extension. She left copies in the office if anyone is interested.

Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

The meeting adjourned at 9:55 P.M.

Jodi Dake

Village Clerk