Village
of Lansing
MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing
held on Thursday May 17, 2007, in the Village Office.
PRESENT: Mayor Donald
Hartill; Trustees Lynn Leopold, John O’Neill, Frank Moore; Superintendent of
Public Works John Courtney; Code & Zoning Officer, Benjamin Curtis;
Clerk/Treasurer Jodi Dake; Motor Equipment Operator, Marty Moseley.
Mayor Hartill called
the meeting to order at 12:30P.M. Don stated that the North Triphammer Road
Project was getting closer to acceptance. We should see this finalized in the
next month. He and Jodi are trying to figure out why we have not received any
Marchicelli Funding in the past year. Don spoke with the local regional
director of NYSDOT and he is very happy with the look of North Triphammer Road as newly
constructed. Don was very pleased to see a handicapped gentleman with his
daughter on his lap using the new ramp at the Graham Road intersection.
The Mayor reported
that we are getting close to a Memorandum of Understanding with the Town of Lansing on the proposed
sewer project. Dubow and Guy Krogh, the Town’s attorney, will need to meet to
talk about ownership of the new Town sewer line running through the Village.
The new DEC Commissioner is in place. Josh Billing has replaced Steve Eidt.
Frank does not feel that the regional project makes economic sense. Without
funding it would be cheaper if it were done locally. It would also be
environmentally more sensible if done locally. The operational costs to run the
sewage to the Village
of Cayuga Heights Plant
will be around $100,000 a year. Frank stated that the Town of Lansing wants to pay for the sewer with
economic development and they will be working on their zoning law to allow for
increased density. Frank warned that this increased density in the Town will
increase the traffic in the Village.
It was reported that
the City of Ithaca
is in the EIS environmental review process with respect to getting water from
Bolton Point. Route 34 is scheduled to get a topcoat and guardrail, but Don
hopes they will wait a year until the water issue is settled.
Don stated that he
will be on the road a lot this summer. He is on the selection committee for the
next director of CERN.
John O’Neill informed
the Board that he and Don had a meeting Monday with Ken Horowitz regarding deer
control. Ken is in favor of a controlled hunt on the Murray Estates property.
Ken suggested that John get in touch with David Banfield who is Ken’s insurance
agent and an avid bow hunter with Lansing Bow Hunters. When John spoke with
David Banfield, he learned that David is very knowledgeable of the different
plans and has offered to take the lead. David also gave John a background of
the hunters that came up illegally to hunt.
John thinks that the first year or two we should use Lansing Bow
Hunters. Ken has also agreed to fix the split rail fence along North Triphammer Rd.
Dave Riehlman at DEC
informed John that there are New York
laws that protect large land areas from illegal hunters. John feels we would
need to alert the surrounding residents what will be happening and tell them
whom to call if they see any improper activity.
Those neighboring residents should also be advised that if a wounded
deer wanders onto their property that a police escort can be used to remove the
deer. We may have to stake out areas
with orange flags so the hunting area is well marked. John distributed a draft
that he put together for the Village based upon a copy of an Irondequoit law. This is a good start. The
next step will be the application to DEC.
The initial plan is
that the Village will be in charge of a controlled hunt with Murray Estates,
Inc. as a cooperating land owner. Lynn
stated that this gives much more credibility and that she likes the idea of a
local bow club because they will self-police. It was added that Bob Miller had
also verbally said he would like hunting on his property. Ivar Jonson may also
be interested. Don stated that once we get approval to do this we will need to
have some public education. John also has some nuisance paperwork coming for
Lynn and David Banfield.
John O’Neill has
checked with John Bailey on the Flood Insurance issue. This issue originated
when a resident from Lansing Trails came to a Board meeting after trying to get
a quote for flood insurance. He was told that he couldn’t get flood insurance
because the Village of Lansing
was not registered with FEMA. Ben stated that the maps that show flood areas in
the Village are only in areas that are nonbuildable. For this reason we never
went forward to join FEMA. Don has no problem joining this program as long as
it doesn’t cost the Village much.
NYSEG has sent a
contract to install five streetlights on Graham Road. John O’Neill checked on the
quote because it was more than was originally quoted. The reason why it was
different is because they are using 150 watt bulbs instead of 100 watt bulbs.
NYSEG looked at the spacing and decided that 150 watt bulbs were needed. There
was also an additional cost because longer arms were needed on two poles. The
Board didn’t have a problem with the stronger bulbs because this is an area
with a large walking population.
Lynn stated that the Annual Storm Water Report is
complete. She, Ned & Ben have met to discuss how we will move forward on
the required Storm Water Local Law. There is a model law available from the
State. It was reported that 20% of the
Village’s outfall mapping has been completed. The rest will be done this year.
Fisher will also be providing the Village with storm sewer mapping for the new North Triphammer Road
project. John Courtney added that all of the as-built documents we have need to
be combined into one map. It was suggested that we get an engineering intern to
update our mapping. If this is completed we will be able to be more accurate.
Don stated that the water company just bought a new GPS system that is accurate
within 1 meter.
Lynn has also spoken with Sharon Anderson who would
like to come in and talk to the Board about installing a Rain Garden
in the front yard of the Village Office. Cornell University Architecture
students are designing the garden. Sharon
will be added to the agenda for June 4th.
Lynn again suggested we consider lowering the speed
on East Shore Drive
going down the hill toward Ithaca.
John Courtney stated that a Cookhill truck came through the Village one morning
with no muffler so John followed him and then called the State Police. They
would not do anything because we don’t have our noise ordinance posted at the
main entrance to the Village.
Jodi stated that she
has been contacted by Richardson Brothers to see if they could get the
electrical fee they paid on Claritas refunded. This job at 53 Brown Road was never done. Floyd did
some work on it and has suggested that a $50 fee for time and expenses be kept.
The Board agreed to refund the $195 fee minus $50.00. Jodi will process the
check and it will appear on Abstract #13.
Jodi will not be at
the Monday night Board meeting because she will be in Albany with Senator Nozzolio. John O’Neill
has agreed to take notes for her. Jodi will prepare a document for him to make
it easier.
John Courtney reported
that road work involving crack sealing will start on Monday. A company will
also be in to do the brooming next week. Brush pick up has been completed by
the Town of Lansing.
Next week they will also do the final rock hounding and seeding where the storm
sewers went in on Bush Lane
last year. John will see if the Town can hydro seed instead of grass and hay.
Chris Bishop will start again as a part time laborer on May 21st.
The highway department has done two rounds of mowing so far. The new doors are
on the office. Maintenance is done on the backhoe.
The Board discussed
the flower box at the airport and it was decided to remove it. Lynn will plant the other flower boxes in
June. Lynn
asked if the cigarette butts on the Route 13 ramp could be raked up. John
stated that the State is looking into buying a vac to do this type of work. The
State did a nice job of cleaning up the ramp interiors. Marty has been cleaning
out the thorny area by the split rail fence.
Ben stated that
Homewood Suites is substantially completed except for establishing ground
cover, landscaping, minor site work and minor cosmetic work and a few technical
issues affecting very limited areas of the hotel. The hotel would like to be
open for business in time to accommodate Cornell graduation. Ben is confident
that they will be ready for operation by that time. Homewood is progressing very rapidly at this
point and should be completed in the very near future. Ben recommended that a
Temporary CO be issued, but stated that it will exclude two specific areas of
the hotel where problems remain to be resolved. These two areas are room #234
and the Guest Laundry, neither of which are essential to life safety or
building code provisions for the rest of the building.
Resolution #5349– Authorize the Code & Zoning
Officer to Issue a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy to Homewood Suites at 36 Cinema Drive with a Security Deposit
of $5,000 and an Expiration Date of September 1, 2007
Trustee Leopold moved this
resolution be adopted and Trustee O’Neill seconded the motion.
Mayor
Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee John O’Neill-Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
Frank Moore-Aye
Ben reported that
Regal Theater is moving ahead. They expect to open in July. Regal has been
approved for a new sign as part of the Pyramid Mall Planned Sign Area. Ben
warned the Board that they may receive calls on the size of the signage. The
sign approval included as a condition the planting of 20 new trees for
screening along the west perimeter of the Mall property. They will be using
LED’s in a portion of their sign.
Ben also reported that
the Regis Salon remodeling is almost complete. The salon is a very nice looking
place at Pyramid Mall. Ben also reported on the following: A new restaurant,
Imperial Kitchen, has opened on North
Triphammer Road.
Dempsey’s will be reopening next week. Lowery Construction has moved its
administrative offices into the old David’s Restaurant. They received a
variance to work from 6-8am and from 6-10pm. Lowery had a fire at their office
and will be in this location for up to 18 months until they rebuild. We have a
new house going in on Ayla Way
and two new houses on Millcroft.
Ben advised the Board
that new Building Code administration requirements will go into affect by
January. Ben currently has a computer consultant coming in to work on adding an
Operating Permit. We will be required to issue permits to all places that have
50 or more people assembled. This will include churches, restaurants and the
YMCA. Businesses will have to be inspected every three years. These permits
will then need to be reported to the State. This is yet again another unfunded
mandate.
Ben advised that we
will probably see Dr. Arleo starting construction on the corner of Uptown Rd. and Warren Rd. this
season. There will eventually be a need for a sidewalk in front of this
building, but it’s not necessary at this point. To resolve this issue, the
Village will likely require escrowed funds to insure that the sidewalk is
constructed when required.
Mayor Hartill
entertained the following resolution:
Resolution #5350–
Abstract of Audited Vouchers
Be it RESOLVED, that Abstract of
Audited Vouchers No. 12 for the General Fund, in the amount of $68,583.38 is
hereby approved for payment, and
Be it RESOLVED, that Abstract of
Audited Vouchers No. 12 for the Water Fund, in the amount of $121,622.74, is
hereby approved for payment, and
Be it RESOLVED, that Abstract of
Audited Vouchers No. 12 for the Sewer Fund, in the amount of $173,007.00, is
hereby approved for payment, and
Be it
RESOLVED, that Abstract of Audited Vouchers No. 12 for the Capital Projects
Fund, in the amount of $360.00 is hereby approved for payment.
Trustee Leopold moved that the
foregoing Abstract of Audited Vouchers resolution be adopted and Trustee
O’Neill seconded the motion.
Mayor
Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee John O’Neill-Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
Frank Moore-Aye
Motion- To Adjourn
Trustee O’Neill moved for adjournment. Trustee
Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor
Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee John O’Neill-Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee Frank Moore-Aye
The meeting adjourned at 2:07 PM.
Jodi Dake
Clerk/Treasurer