MINUTES
of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the
PRESENT:
Mayor Donald Hartill; Trustees Janet Beebe, Larry Fresinski and Frank Moore;
Phil Dankert, Planning Board member; Ned Hickey Planning Board Chair, Bill
Troy, Village Attorney.
Mayor
Donald Hartill called the meeting to order at
Motion-To Close the Public
Comment Period
Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to close the public comment period. 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
Dave Putnam was present to give the engineer’s
report. Dave has a DEC PowerPoint presentation on “The Role of Municipal
Governments in Phase II Stormwater Regulations” but unfortunately he left it in
his copier at the office. He will get this to the board. The Town of Ithaca is
almost done with their stormwater management program and may be willing to
share it. Brent Cross is also preparing something for the board regarding our
responsibilities for runoff on our roads.
Cayuga
Heights Road is waiting on striping. The guard rail installation should be
complete by Wednesday. The area in front
of Zakakis’s home will also be repaired. This was the area used for staging
during the construction of Cayuga Heights Road. Don suggested we review
signage. Dave commented that there are bumps in Cayuga Heights Road, which are
caused by the previous topcoat on the road. 98% of this will go away after the
top course is put on.
Ned
asked Dave if work was going to be done on St. Joseph Lane. Dave knew nothing
about it and suggested asking Dennis.
The
next item on the agenda was to continue the public hearing on the cable franchise
agreement. However, since no one received a copy of the final document before
tonight, no one has had a chance to read it. The public hearing was not opened.
The board did discuss some of the concerns that Ben Curtis had brought up. Tom Doney,
manager for Time Warner Cable in Ithaca, was present to answer questions.
Larry
pointed out that the village still needs to decide on the charge for the
franchise fee. Presently it is at 1% but
can be a maximum of 5%. The Town of Lansing is currently at 2% but this may
change at their public hearing on December 18th. Renewal for this
franchise agreement is in 10 years but a municipality can change the percentage
any time they wish. Of Ben’s concerns, sections 6B, 8C, 10C, 19C, section 24
had all been modified. The other areas of concern Bill Troy and the Time Warner
Attorney will discuss. Hopefully we will be ready to take this issue off the
table at the December 2nd meeting.
Tom
Doney added that the gross revenues does not include roadrunner but does include
pay per view. He wanted to make sure that the board was clear on this point. He also asked that advertising not be included
in the definition of gross revenues.
Next
on the agenda was the approval of minutes.
Motion-Approval of Minutes for November 4, 2002
Trustee Beebe moved that the draft meeting notes, as reviewed and revised by the Board, are hereby adopted as the official minutes. Trustee Moore seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore-Aye Trustee Janet Beebe- Aye Trustee Larry Fresinski- Abstain
The
next order of business was to set a public
hearing for proposed local law to amend the Zoning Law to delete one provision
of the uses allowed in a CLT District. Ned explained that what brought this
about was a slide show presented by Pyramid showing pictures of allowable uses
on the Butler property. The Planning Board feels warehouses should be removed from
CLT uses. It is permitted in the CHT District. There is nothing currently in
the CLT District that would need to be grandfathered in. The Planning Board is
also looking at the changes in technology and uses. The Comprehensive Plan and
the Design Guidelines help to state the vision for the village.
Resolution #3917- To Set
a Public Hearing for Proposed Local
Law to
Amend the Zoning Law to Delete
One Provision of the Uses Allowed in a
CLT District for Monday, December 2, 2002 at 7:35pm
in the Village Office Conference Room.
Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to set a public
hearing. 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
The
Mayor still has not been able to reach the candidate for the County Youth Board
but will try to reach him again this week.
Ned
Hickey presented the next issue on the agenda regarding open space. The
question that the planning board brought up was what will happen to undeveloped
land. There is not much left in the village and currently we do not have a
plan. We would like to preserve some view sheds. There are approximately 700
undeveloped acres in the village. The process of making plans involves
identifying areas.
The
existing Legislation that does preserve some open space is the Conservation
Combining Districts of the Zoning Law regarding drainageways, steep slope
conservation district and unique natural areas. There is also the buffer zone
requirement. In the subdivision law there is the recreation land extraction
that requires 6% of the acreage that is being developed to be established for
passive or active recreation. It also permits or recommends cluster residences
in order to establish open space. Two other ways to preserve open space are to purchase
development rights or through private trusts.
Viola
Miller is going to develop her property. Ned has sat in on a couple of meetings
with Bob Miller and he is not interested in open space or cluster housing. Brent Cross thinks that the sewer issue is going
to be resolved in the next 18 months so land will develop.
Ned
clarified that open space does not mean it is public space. We can buy development
rights but the land remains private. There is also a difference between
recreational areas and open space. Ned does not think we want to get into
maintaining a lot of village properties. Ned feels the key is to have an open
space plan. If we do not have a plan then the area that a developer gives the
village for set aside is the area that is unusable.
The
questions are what open space do we want and do we develop an open space plan
or hire someone to do it. Ned will take this back to the planning board and
they will give the trustees a recommendation on how to proceed.
Next
on the agenda was mayor’s comments. Hartill spoke with Rich Brauer of Fisher
Associates about the liability issue that Troy raised at the last meeting and
he said that the standard is $1 million. Troy was ok with this part of the
contract. The project was also reclassified to be a Type II instead of Type III
which gives us a couple of months time. Rich went ahead and did the traffic
counts on Friday and Saturday. The Mayor is now ready to sign the design contract.
The
State was here working on the traffic signals. They are short cycling. This is
unacceptable and the Mayor will contact them. On Friday the traffic was backed
up down the Route 13 ramp to Cayuga Heights Road Exit. Ned suggested we put in some signage to direct
drivers to another entrance to the mall. Most drivers do not know and wait at
the first entrance by Tops.
Last
Thursday Hartill and Farkas met with Mr. Hall, sewer facilitator. They informed
him that their patience was at an end and if there was not significant progress
in the next month then we are out. The engineers are developing a plan with the
Kline Road bypass. The hooker is the forced main from Myers. Hartill feels it
is cheaper to put in a new plant than it is to install this main and operate
it.
On
the good water side there are only a couple of things that the City of Ithaca
needs to understand and those are that there will be no preferential rate for
the city and there will be a main that has a meter on it as it goes into the
city and they will be billed for that amount. If not then it will be a group of
5 instead of 6.
Ned
Hickey informed the board that the DEC is doing the SEQR for the 911 building
at the airport. If this is favorable then the village will approve a building
permit. The other thing that is going on at the airport is that Taughannock
Aviation wants to add on. Larry informed the Mayor that at the Wednesday
meeting a letter from the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport was discussed. Taughannock
Aviation is proposing to put a 12,000-sq. ft. 2-story addition on for a general
aviation terminal and administrative offices. In keeping with the protocol
established in 1996 between Tompkins County and the Village of Lansing, Robert
Nicholas, airport manager, has provided Ben Curtis with a set of Taughannock
Aviation’s building plans. The county has typically processed their own
building permits. In the case of the 911 building the county met with the
village and we had a chance to voice our concerns. The County is demonstrating
a desire to work with the village and Larry has drafted a response, which the
mayor should find in his email correspondence. The Mayor agreed to review it
and get a letter to Jodi to send out tomorrow.
Motion- To Adjourn
Trustee Fresinski moved adjournment. Trustee Beebe
seconded the motion.
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Frank Moore- Aye
Trustee Janet Beebe-Aye Trustee Larry Fresinski-
Aye
The
meeting adjourned at 9:25pm.
Jodi
Dake
Village
Clerk