MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of
PRESENT: Mayor Donald Hartill;
Mayor Donald Hartill called
the meeting to order at
Mr. Mewar of (Address) was unhappy with the grading done by the builder in his area. He is getting water from the neighboring lot onto his lot. He has contacted Mr. Curtis. He feels that it is the Villages responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen. Mr. Mewar feels that the village is 110% for the builder and –10% for the residents of the village. Don stated that this wasn’t the case at all. He assured Mr. Mewar that he was not alone in this circumstance in this area. Don has personally been up there to survey the situation and is in the early stages of trying to resolve it. Mr. Mewar asked if the village looks to see if the land slopes into a house when doing inspection. Don explained that there are engineering standards that must be met before one can get a final certificate of occupancy. With the recent rain we’ve had, there are many who have water in their yards that usually don’t. Piotr ask if the residents could be given a timeline for solving this problem because he would like to do landscaping in July. Don replied that it won’t happen immediately but it will hopefully be this construction season. This process involves both the village’s legal counsel and professional engineers. We may need to acquire some property to resolve this situation and as a reference, it took us one and a half years to acquire the property for the N. Triphammer Rd. Project. Don stated that he really in no position to promise anything but will try to get this problem solved as soon as possible. The village is doing the best that it can under the circumstances. Sorel Gottfried ask if Ivar Jonson has a responsibility to the residents. On one level what we have is no sewer units so he can not continue to build.
Jim Gillet
of
Motion- To Close the Public Comment Period
Trustee
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
Next on the agenda was the engineer’s report. Dave Putnam has received three quotes for sewer repair. The Village has gone through flushing and televising all of our sewer lines. There are four spots to fix this year-
North Triphammer Rd.-Remove and plug abandoned and leaking lateral 6-feet
from manhole I-1
closure of
Substation Alley-replace about 6-feet of pipe entering manhole 3038a
(in Trust Company lawn)
Based on performance and
their quote, Dave recommended that
The Mayor went on to
explain that the Village’s normal sewer flow is 850,000 gallons per day. On
Monday with all the rain, the flow was 1.5 million gallons, which means we
delivered three times what we normally do. This is where I&I comes into
play. By repairing leaks in the system, we’ll save 60,000 gallons a day, which
translates into 60 sewer units. I&I repair is our interim solution until
the joint sewer venture is in effect. The only way the Village can get more
sewer units from the Village of Cayuga Heights is to prove that we have stopped
leakage into the sewer system. We have flow meters that record the flow.
Don recommended that we do
a small mailing and post signs for when
Resolution #3871-To Authorize Grant Street Construction Co.,
Inc. to complete the Complete the Repair
Work in an Amount Not to Exceed $15,850
Trustee
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
The bids for the
Mayor Donald Hartill wrote
a brief note to help residents understand the sewer situation that the Village
faces. He explained that the
Proposed Sewer Project for
(Sewers 101)
Introduction
For the past fifteen years, the
A steering group of roughly two members from each
municipality, engineering consultants, and the municipal engineers have been
meeting every other week during the past two years to hammer out an intermunicipal agreement for the formation and management
of a joint enterprise. NYSDEC is acting
as the lead agency for the Environmental Impact Review, a scoping session was
held last September, a consultant has been selected to produce a draft
environmental impact statement which is nearly complete and the review is
expected to take place over the next couple of months. The hope is to complete the process by early
fall. If successful, the project will
provide up to 1.5 MGD of treatment capacity to the Town of
What is the Project?
Two bypass lines would be constructed in the Village of
Cayuga Heights to divert sewage from the Villages of Cayuga Heights and Lansing
and from the portion of the Town of
What are the Costs?
There will be an initial buy-in cost for capacity at the IAWWTP from the current owners. The current thinking is the purchase of significant blocks of capacity by each of the new partners at a cost of between $2 and $3 per gallon per day based on water consumption. Looking at the water consumption for Village residents, the average household consumption is 150 GPD leading to a cost of $300 to $450 per household in addition to our current sewer connection fee of $2350. The initial thinking is for the Village to purchase a block of 150,000 GPD which would correspond to about 1000 of our current units. This would be sufficient for the Village for the foreseeable future. The Town is a more complex question since NY State Town Law is rather different from Village Law in that infrastructure has to be paid for by benefit districts in the Town whereas villages cannot be subdivided. The current distinction between sewered and unsewered districts in the Village probably would not survive a vigorous legal test.
My understanding of Village Law as mentioned in the preceding paragraph also means that expansion of the system must be paid for by a combination of new connection fees and current system users. What that combination is will be the subject of considerable discussion as we understand what the costs actually will be. As is always the case, the infrastructure within any new or existing subdivision is the responsibility of the developer and not the Village.
The cost of putting a piece of pipe in the ground in our soils and rock conditions averages about $80 to $100 per foot. It basically does not matter what the size of the pipe is.
Village Sewer Law
Future
My reading of the progress on the intermunicipal agreement is that it will probably happen. The last meeting was particularly tense at times but I think we are making progress. We will probably not make it by early fall but probably will make it by next summer. Let me close by giving a table of the total buildout of the Village with and without this proposal made up by Ned Hickey, Chair of the Planning Board.
Existing Housing Units 1711
Low Density Residential
(554 Acres remaining, 1 Acre = 43,560 sf)
Single Family (30,000 sf) 652
or
Two Family (60,000 sf) 700
Medium Density Residential
(490 Acres remaining)
Two Family (25,000 sf) 678
Cornell Residential Property
East of Warren Road 120
West of Warren Road 120
Projected New Housing Units 1593
Existing Housing Units 1711
Total Housing Units 3304
These numbers of housing units include the necessary area for roadways and the 6% set aside for parks, etc. For a 30,000 sf lot in the low-density residential area, the actual area is 37,000 sf per housing unit and 69,000 sf for a two family unit or 34,500 sf per housing unit.
If the status quo were maintained and no new sewer units were available to the low-density residential areas of the Village, the minimum lot size is 60,000 sf. With the 6% set aside and allowing for roads, etc. this increases to 69,000 sf and the total number of housing units permitted in the low density residential area would be between 350 and 700 depending on the mix of single family and two family houses. Assuming that the mix of housing was 50% single family and 50% two family, no sewer service in this area would reduce the number of housing units by approximately 175 at build out or about a 5% reduction in total housing units for the Village.
One of the questions was why should the village join. Don explained that we can only play this game for so long. The other thing that we could do is have a package plant but this has very high operating costs. ($6-8 per gallon)
As a group we have submitted a proposal and have been accepted for $11 million in funding. The total project is $21-26 million. Our share of the unfunded portion is about 20%. So from the village’s point of view, it is not very expensive.
Don and Frank have been attending 2 ˝ hour weekly sewer meetings for some time. The process is slow. The current Ithaca Area Plant owners are the City of Ithaca (55%), Town of Ithaca (42% and the Town of Dryden (3%). Initially they had issues that they had to work out amongst themselves. The new group will also include the Town and Village of Lansing and the Village of Cayuga Heights.
We are now in the Environmental Impact part of the process. The draft version has many mistakes but each municipality has agreed to make corrections. This will then go to DEC.
It was asked what this would mean to build out of the village. If we don’t do this joint sewer venture than we may avoid about 200 units out of 3,000. Don doesn’t think this will trigger rapid growth. We have our zoning in place. The village cannot sustain not having sewer.
There are two aspects of financing. The rough cost for the Village to purchase capacity will be $2-3 per gallon. We will purchase 150,000/day, which at our current rate of growth it will last us 30 years. There is money in the sewer capital reserve fund to purchase capacity. We will restore that fund by connection fees. Currently the connection fee is $2,350 per unit. We will probably increase this amount by $3-400 to recover this investment. New York State Law says a village can only be one sewer district and we all pay as a whole. There isn’t a need for rapid development to recover costs. It was asked why we need to purchase 150,000/day when we don’t presently need that much. The reason is that the partners are not interested in any smaller number. If sewer lines go by your house you will have to hook up. We will probably add a sunset clause where you have 10 years to hook up.
The operating cost will be about the same as now. The new system is not based on units but on water consumption. The average consumption is 150 gal/day. Current capital reserve funds and an increase in connection fees will fund new lines.
Cliff Buck asked where the pipe will go and who decides this. There are two ways that the pipe could go. It could go through the old railroad bed or up Cayuga Heights Road. The railroad bed is a unique natural area and it would be very costly to restore and to get in to do maintenance. The village is against this because of the sensitivity of the area. If the line went up Cayuga Heights Rd. it would include two pumping stations. It was asked why it couldn’t go up Rt. 34. The sewer line would have to be at least 10 feet away from the water line. That means that it would have to be on the other side of the road and there is no other side of the road. The sewer group will look at the costs. All partners will decide where the line goes but we have a strong say. Assuring equity is part of negotiations.
If this whole thing falls apart then we have a side agreement with the Town of Ithaca that we can install the Kline Road Bypass and define that sewage as Town of Ithaca sewage.
Sy Smidt disagreed with the growth issue. He feels that Village law could supersede the State. He feels sewer is an insurance policy to have access and density is the question. A typical septic tank is $10-15,000. With sewer, Sundowns could access and develop more economically. This would also affect the intersection of Burdick Hill and Ridge Rd., which is already a dangerous intersection. Sy would like the planning board to look seriously at this situation.
There are currently no sewer units available. Mayor Lynn is sympathetic of our situation and Don is hopeful we will have a few more units soon. Once the I&I is complete we should get more. Don went on to explain that sewer is tied to water usage. When we speak of repairs to leaks these are leaks into the system from ground water. When these leaks are repaired less water goes to the VCH Sewer Plant.
On the good water front, the intermunicipal group is looking at Bolton Point running all systems and plants. Cornell University wants to cooperate but doesn't want to join. The City has some financial problems but he expects they will join in the next year or so. This new group venture would require a main down Route 34.
Mayor Hartill thanked everyone for coming. If anyone had further comments they could write or email him at dlh13@cornell.edu. The board meeting paused briefly while most of the public left.
Next on the agenda were the budget transfers. This is done each year-end to reconcile the books.
Resolution #3872-To Make Budget Transfers for 2001-02
Be it RESOLVED to transfer
$ 800.00 from Special Items, Contingent Account, A1990.4, to General Government
Support, Auditor, Contractual, A1320.4
$ 2,532.00 from Employee benefits, Employee Invest. In., A9089.8, to Clerk, Personal
Services, A1410.1
$ 110.00 from Clerk, Contractual,A1410.4, to Clerk, Equipment, A1410.1
$ 1,204.00 from Employee benefits, Employee Invest. In., A9089.8, to Deputy Clerk,
Personal Services, A1415.1
$ 1,500.00 from Special Items, Contingent Account, A1990.4, to Shared Services
Building, Utilities, A1620.42
$ 155.00 from Special Items, Contingent Account, A1990.4, to Shared Services
Special Items, Taxes & Assessments on Village Property, A1950.4
$ 1,330.00 from Employment Benefits, Employee Invest. In., A9089.8, to Public Safety
Code Enforcement Officer, Personal Services, A3620.11
$ 1,370.00 from Special Items, Contingent Account, A1990.4, to Public Safety
Code Enforcement Officer, Equipment, A3620.2
$ 2,530.00 from Employment Benefits, Employee Invest. In., A9089.8, to Transportation
Street Maintenance & Improvement, Personal Services, A5010.1
$ 1,740.00 from Employment Benefits, Employee Invest. In., A9089.8, to Transportation
Street Maintenance & Improvement, Personal Services, A5110.12
$ 351.00 from Special Items, Contingent Account, A1990.4, to Economic Assistance
and Opportunity, Publicity, Contractual, A6410.4
$ 180.00 from Cultural & Recreation, Contractual, A7310.4, to Cultural & Recreation,
Equipment, A7310.2
$ 1,330.00 from Employee Benefits,Employee Invest. In., A9089.8, to Home &
Community Services Zoning, Personal Service, A8010.1
$ 5,000.00 from Special Items, Contingent Account, A1990.4, to Home & Community
Services, Zoning Legal, A8010.42
$ 410.00 from Employee Benefits,Long Term Disability, A9055.83 to Employee
Benefits, Hospital & Medical Insurance, A9060.8.
Total Contingency used $9,176.00 of $20,000 as of this draft
Be it RESOLVED to transfer
$ 500.00 from Special Items,Contingenent Account, F1990.4, to Source of Supply,
Power & Pumping, electric, F8320.41
Be it RESOLVED to transfer 0
Trustee
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
Dooley Keifer, the Villages County Board representative, was present and asked if the board had passed a resolution on the Vital Communities. Jodi sent the boards responses by email down to Kathy Wiltsie. The Mayor stated that they have discussed it but would like Dooley to explain it a little further. Dooley stated that the whole thing came about because people are concerned with urban sprawl. Different communities gave them principles to guide future development. They want their plan to be consistent with all municipalities. The board thinks the principles are fine and sees no objection or benefit. Lynn added that the village has already adopted guiding policies. The board appreciates that the County is more concerned now.
Don and Larry went up to speak with the NYSDOT today regarding the N. Triphammer Rd. Project.
Attorney Troy informed the board that an Article 78 is being filed on Target. Bill went on to explain the process. Also, the Trans have decided not to quit claim their property to the village. Troy will investigate the situation to see if they just got word that Talandis is being paid for their property and they want money for theirs also.
Motion- To Go To Executive Session for Issues Relating to Personnel
Trustee
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
The Board went into executive session at 9:50pm.
Motion- To Come Out of Executive Session
Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to go
to executive session. Trustee
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
The Board came out of executive session at 10:14pm.
Motion- To Adjourn
Trustee Lynn Leopold moved
adjournment. Trustee
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
The meeting adjourned at 10:15P.M.
Village Clerk