Village of Lansing

 

MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Monday, November 19, 2001, in the Village Office.

 

PRESENT: Mayor Donald Hartill; Trustees Larry Fresinski, Janet Beebe, Lynn Leopold and Frank Moore; Maria Stycos, Planning Board member; Bill Troy, Village Attorney.

 

Mayor Donald Hartill called the meeting to order at 7:35P.M. He opened the public comment period. Sy Smidt was present to cover the meeting and wanted to take this opportunity to express his concern regarding the Planning Board changing the zoning in the Village. The large parcel of land fronting on Oakcrest and Hickory Hollow Roads is zoned Commercial Low Traffic (CLT). It forms a buffer between the Commercial High Traffic Zone (CHT) and the Low Density Residential Zone on the North side of Oakcrest. At the last Planning Board meeting, Pyramid suggested that the location of the proposed Home Depot Store be shifted to the land currently owned by Butler. This would require the Village to rezone the Butler property from CLT to CHT. Sy feels this will not work and will only cause problems for the Village. The two major disadvantages would be signaling that major changes in Village of Lansing Zoning Law are possible and it would create a situation in which additional Zoning Law changes would be almost inevitable. From past experience as Mayor, he stated that it is difficult to get people to take seriously a new zoning law. The Village has fought several court battles until we were able to establish the legitimacy of our law. Sy feels that accepting the Pyramid proposal would send a strong signal that change is now possible. He feels this will create a flood of new proposals. He also feels that having a CHT zone right next to a Low-density Residential zone will not work. Who would like to buy a house where you walk out the door and see Home Depot? Sy urged the Trustees to talk to the Planning Board so that he doesn’t have to organize the whole Village to oppose something that should never have been seriously considered.

 

Sy also suggested that the Planning Board get their agenda on the webpage. And would like to see the minutes of the meetings up in a more timely manner. He also stated that the public appreciates all that the Board does. He feels the Village lacks press coverage.

 

Bob Lynch of 175 Gray Rd. in Ithaca was seeking the assistance of the Village. He and his sister Marcia would like to start a new AM broadcast station and have proposed it to be licensed to the Village of Lansing community. Bob is looking for a letter of support from the Mayor that supports their contention that the Village of Lansing is a distinct community apart from the Ithaca Urbanized Area thereby qualifying for it’s own radio station. The FCC demands a station be licensed to a specific community and there are eight criteria that they use to determine if you should be considered a community. Bob feels that the Village meets 4-5 of these criteria. Congress has gone to an auction system when it comes to issuing licenses. Right now they are competing with KM Communications out of Skokie, IL who would like to have a station serving South Hill , NY.  The tower would be located in Enfield so the village doesn’t have to worry about a tower going up. The station would have regular coverage of Village meetings. If they succeed in getting a license they have 3 years to build the station. Bob feels they could be up and running in about a year. The Board supported the Mayor writing a letter that expresses the Village’s support.

 

Motion-To Close the Public Comment Period

 

Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to close the public comment period. Trustee Frank Moore seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye                   Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                                           Trustee Janet Beebe- Aye                     Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye

 

Next on the agenda was Tim Buhl, however, he was not present. The Mayor asks Larry if he had heard from him and Larry thought Tim would be here. Larry will email him tomorrow to see what happened.

 

Dave Putnam reported that in early December all sewer lines on N. Triphammer would be investigated. Dennis would also like to do the line on Highgate Circle by Mr. Ripple’s house. More will be done as money permits. Don would like to see Cayuga Heights Road repaired before it snows.

 

Next on the agenda was the approval of minutes.

 

Motion-Approval of Minutes for November 5, 2001

 

Trustee Lynn Leopold moved that the draft meeting notes, as reviewed and revised by the Board, are hereby adopted as the official minutes. Trustee Janet Beebe seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                                            Trustee Janet Beebe- Aye                     Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

The Planning Board recommended that the Board of Trustees appoint John Piscopo as an Alternate to the Planning Board. John is relatively new to the Village but has been involved with other governments. He is a very resourceful person.

 

Resolution # 3817 –To Appoint John Piscopo as Alternate to the Planning

                                Board

 

Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to appoint John Piscopo and Trustee Lynn Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                                            Trustee Janet Beebe- Aye                     Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

The Planning Board has also proposed an amendment to Parkview Health Care Campus Planned Sign Area. The Planning Board, at its meeting on 11/12/01, unanimously recommended the approval of Integrated Acquisition & Development’s proposed amendment to the Parkview Health Care Campus Sign Plan. It is apparent that there is a need for the directory sign and its placement is satisfactory to the Planning Board. Frank questioned the process of how this worked. The mayor explained that the proposal is presented to the Planning Board and once it is acceptable to them, it comes to the Board of Trustees to pass a resolution and actually allow the signage change.

 

Resolution # 3818 –To Accept an Amendment to the Parkview Sign Plan as Proposed by the Planning Board.

 

Trustee Frank Moore moved to accept this resolution and Trustee Lynn Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                                            Trustee Janet Beebe- Aye                     Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

The Planning Board recommended that the Board of Trustees adopt the Landscape Policy as a part of the Village’s Comprehensive Plan. Carol Klepack was present to answer any questions the Board had on the Landscape Policy. The Mayor explained that the Board needs to set a public hearing to adopt this amendment to the Comprehensive Plan. After much discussion the Board felt the policy needed to go back to the Planning Board for some revision. Lynn commented that there was a lot of good information in the policy. The Board commended Carol Klepack for all her effort. If the Planning Board can get this completed at their next meeting the Board will set a public hearing for the December 17th meeting.

 

The Village of Cayuga Heights has a meeting this evening and the Mayor is hopeful that they will issue us some more sewer units. Dan Walker was supposed to put together a report on the effect of the relining of 1000 feet of sewer line along Hanshaw Rd. and get this to Brent Cross. They still have a significant amount of I&I and Dan is trying to identify where it’s coming in. December 6th is the next joint sewer meeting. The Board discussed the proposed $2/ gal buy in offer. The Mayor feels that an initial buy in of 150,000gal. would meet the Village’s needs for the next 30 years. The only thing that would be lost would be the interest income that we earn but it would solve our sewer unit problem. The Board discussed growth rates. The Mayor thinks we’ll see growth to be steady as in the past years.

 

The last parcel to acquire for N. Triphammer Rd. Project is from Exxon Mobil. They’ve accepted our offer and it’s now going through their corporate levels. The next step is to meet with the NYSDOT. Then the village will have to pass a resolution stating that we will be local administrators. After this we’ll publish a proposal for engineer design. After this selection there is a negotiation of price and then we’ll have a design. The mayor hopes to start next construction season. He believes the project will take two seasons to complete.

 

Bill Troy announced that he had Ivar Jonson’s easement for the Mayor to sign.

 

Larry has been in contact with Danica regarding a wireless network for the Village office. He is concerned with the security aspect of wireless. He is still waiting to hear from the Computing Center. Larry will arrange for Danica to give a presentation at the December 3rd meeting at 8:00pm.

 

Motion- To Go To Executive Session to Discuss Financial Matters

 

Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to go to executive session. Trustee Frank Moore seconded the motion.

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

                        Trustee Janet Beebe-Aye                      Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

The Board went into executive session at 9:30pm.

 

Motion- To Come Out of Executive Session

 

Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to come out of executive session. Trustee Lynn Leopold seconded the motion.

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

                        Trustee Janet Beebe-Aye                      Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

Motion- To Adjourn

 

Trustee Larry Fresinski moved adjournment. Trustee Lynn Leopold seconded the motion.

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

                        Trustee Janet Beebe-Aye                      Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

The meeting adjourned at 10:03pm.                                            Jodi Dake-Village Clerk