MINUTES of a joint meeting of the Board of
PRESENT: Mayor Donald Hartill;
Mayor Donald Hartill called
the meeting to order at
Motion-To Close Public Comment Period
Trustee
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
Trustee Janet Beebe-Aye
The Mayor stated that it was nice to get together to get to know each other. The boards introduced themselves.
First the village board discussed the Empire Zone proposed
by the county.
Resolution #3889- A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING AND CONCURRING WITH
TOMPKINS COUNTY AREA DEVELOPMENT'S APPLICATION FOR DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN AREAS
WITHIN TOMPKINS COUNTY AS AN EMPIRE ZONE
WHEREAS, Section 961 of Article 18-B of NYS General Municipal Law authorizes application by Tompkins County Area Development for designation of Tompkins County as an Empire Zone within the meaning of said statute; and
WHEREAS, such designation could greatly benefit Tompkins County in that new businesses would be encouraged to locate in the zone area, and existing businesses would be encouraged to expand in the zone area and such new and expanded businesses would generate new employment opportunities for Tompkins County residents; and
WHEREAS,
WHEREAS, Tompkins County Area Development, in consultation with Village of Lansing, wishes to designate certain areas within the Village of Lansing as part of the proposed Empire Zone; and
WHEREAS, the Village of Lansing is desirous of working with Tompkins County Area Development through the Empire Zones Program to provide enhanced employment opportunities for its residents; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, by
the Village of Lansing Board of
Trustee
Mayor Donald
Hartill-Aye Trustee
Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
Trustee
Janet Beebe-Aye
Don wanted to discuss the sewer situation. Don informed Steve that he missed a spirited meeting last week. The city engineers did not show up. The EIS is making progress. The engineers are meeting to develop parts of this. The Village of Cayuga Heights has to go ahead with their modifications in their Trickling Filter Sewage Treatment Plant to take care of the phosphorous problem. The local share to be funded is $439,000, which translates into about a $22 increase per unit.
Don explained that the Village has issues with financing the intermunicipal sewer project. He feels that the forced main is the only realistic solution. It probably would even be cheap if there was only one pump station. The other proposal would go through a unique natural area in the Village and would be very costly to restore it.
Steve Farkas stated that the real issue for the town is if the intermunicipal project doesn’t get any more funding then the town is out of the ballgame. The other sewer option for the town is to build a ¾ million gallon stand-alone plant that could serve the town well into the future. Kingdom Farm has a signed agreement with the town. In the long run the 3rd plant may be better for the Town. The only place that would have to be pumped would be Ludlowville and Myers. The rest of the system would be gravity feed. Another positive aspect is that we then wouldn’t have to disturb any natural areas. The town needs to see progress in the next 2 months. The schools have sand filters, which they need to do something about. The Gossett Center has a package plant but would rather be on a public service. These two would be large users.
If the intermunicipal project falls through the village also
has a backup plan of doing the Kline Road bypass. Steve stated that the most
important thing is to get this done. We need to go one way or another.
Frank feels that in the beginning the whole thing was a political move. The predominant flow through the Village would be the towns and Frank prefers the 3-plant system. Steve stated that there was an original agreement in concept with the DEC for this 3rd plant.
On the good water side, the town is working on consolidating their water districts. They have had no negative feedback on this issue. This would spread out debt and act kind of like an insurance policy to all the water customers. They currently have 39 districts and O&M accounts for each. This consolidation should have been done a long time ago. Now is a great time to consolidate because the bond rates are so low.
There are people who don’t want to see business development outside of the city. Don stated that water enables growth then sewer determines the density of an area. Water lines currently run out past Milliken Station (AES). The two boards continued to discuss growth. The population of the town is ~7,000 and the village has ~3,000 people. The town is looking at giving sewer to current residents with a small amount of growth.
Ned stated that when the village planning board was looking at the mall development, it was found that 60% of the local market was going outside of Tompkins County to shop. Don stated that there are no residential areas ready to expand so he doesn’t see any large growth rate. If these shoppers stayed in Tompkins County to shop we would see an increase in sales tax dollars which would be a great benefit.
It is likely that the Pyramid Mall will have a park and ride center with direct service to Cornell. TCAD is coordinating with the village to build a small transit center probably next year. This project may want to include an area in Lansing to further cut down on the traffic that comes in on Triphammer Rd.
The boards discussed the traffic flow on N. Triphammer Road and the possibility of it being designated a truck route. Steve thinks the county is thinking of Warren Road going through to Benson and then over to Peruville Road. This would move the traffic flow to the east.
Steve ask if anyone had contacted the village about a streetlight at the end of Autumn Ridge. It is very hard to see that intersection of Autumn Ridge and Rt. 34. Steve feels this is a very dangerous intersection. Don said that the village would be open to discussion.
Bud stated that the town has finished rewriting their zoning law. They didn’t consult with their neighboring municipalities and he feels this may be a good reason to get our planning boards together.
Steve stated that the town and village have a lot of things that affect each other, and it is good to talk about them and tackle them together. Both boards plan on meeting again before signing onto the intermunicipal sewer agreement, which Farkas said he expects to be in the next few months. Everyone agreed that the boards should continue to meet jointly at least annually if not more.
Motion- To Adjourn
Trustee
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee
Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee
Trustee Janet Beebe-Aye
The board adjourned at 9:42pm.
Village Clerk