Village of Lansing

 

 

MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Monday, March 1, 2004, in the Village Office.

 

Present: Mayor Donald Hartill; Trustees Janet Beebe, Frank Moore, Larry Fresinski; Attorney David Dubow; Clerk/Treasurer, Jodi Dake, Planning Board Chairperson Ned Hickey.

 

Mayor Hartill called the meeting to order at 7:40P.M.and opened the public comment period. There were a number of young guests present. Manesh Mewar of (Address) expressed his concern with the 8-10 foot swale of water on his property. He stated that the only reason he has come to the Board is because he approached the builder and he “blew him off”. The Mayor advised Mr. Mewar that he has spoken with Ben Curtis, the Village Zoning/Code Enforcement Officer, regarding this issue.

 

Motion-To Close the Public Comment Period  

 

Trustee Fresinski moved to close the public comment period. Trustee Beebe seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

 

The Board set the date, time, place and compensation for the upcoming Village elections, which are the fourth Tuesday of April.

 

Resolution #4028- Village of Lansing Elections

 

Be it RESOLVED, that the annual election for the Village of Lansing will be held on Tuesday, April 27, 2004, at the Fire Hall on Oakcrest Road, between the hours of Noon and 9:00 in the evening on said day with the compensation for the election officials to be set at $65 per person.

 

Trustee Fresinski moved that this resolution be adopted and Trustee Beebe seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

 

Larry commented that, per our charter, we have our election a month later than other Villages with the purpose of having the election after the taxes are set.

 

Next item on the agenda was the approval of the minutes for February 2nd and 11th, 2004

 

Motion-Approval of Minutes for February 2, 2004

 

Trustee Moore moved that the draft meeting notes, as reviewed and revised by the Clerk/Treasurer and the Board, are hereby adopted as the official minutes. Trustee Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

 

Approval of the minutes for February 11, 2004 could not be completed since Lynn was not present and therefore only two of the three Trustees in attendance at that meeting were available to vote.

 

The next item on the agenda was to set a public hearing to consider the offer of dedication of Ayla Way. Don stated that all infrastructure issues must be resolved before the Village accepts a road. Ned explained that the problem that Mr. Mewar was speaking of is caused by the water running southwest down the slope from Ayla Way onto Mr. Mewar’s property. Mr. Mewar has been complaining of this water issue for the last five years. The Board will wait until the drainage situation is resolved before they accept the road. Another issue that concerned the Board was the continuation of the road. Presently it is a temporary dead end, but that could change in conjunction with the development of the Lansing Trails II subdivision currently under review by the Planning Board. John O’Neill asked if there would be paved shoulders for walking on Ayla Way.  The third issue that needs to be resolved before accepting the road is the streetlighting. Ned indicated that a French drain might be a solution for the drainage problem. Brent Cross has been involved with this situation but the problems date back to our previous engineers. Larry questioned how this offer appeared since there are clearly issues that need to be resolved. David Dubow stated that a formal offer was made from the developer in January. Ayla Way will remain a private right-of-way until the Village accepts the road. This will be noted on the Building Permits Certificates of Occupancy that Ben Curtis issues for houses on this road.  The Board agreed to take no action on this until all conditions are met.

 

Cathy Wiltsie from Tompkins County Department of Planning has contacted the Village requesting a joint meeting be arranged so that they may present the Draft County Comprehensive Plan to the Board of Trustees and Planning Board. A Monday meeting in May would work best for the TC Planning Department.

 

Resolution #4029- Set Joint Meeting for May 10, 2004

 

Be it RESOLVED, that a joint meeting of the Board of Trustees and the Planning Board will be held on Monday, May 10, 2004, at the Village Office at 7:30pm.

 

Trustee Beebe moved that this resolution be adopted and Trustee Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

 

Next on the agenda was a budget discussion. The Mayor stated that he still needs to meet with TG Miller engineer’s to discuss roadway plans other than N. Triphammer Road. Don has discussed the appropriated cash surplus with Jodi and it needs to be more clear as to what projects can be done and when. We had originally planned on starting the N. Triphammer Road project this budget year but it is clear that this will not go out to bid in time to encumber the money. Therefore, it will need to go back into appropriated cash surplus and be listed again as an expense in next year’s budget.

 

The Mayor reported on the North Triphammer Road project. Rich Brauer of Fisher Associates has submitted a formal response to NYSDOT’s latest comments. There is no way to get federal approval for this project to go out to bid this year. There is a $100,000 expansion of scope on this project, which is the reason for the delay. The project is now over budget. The timeline to resolve this issue is in the next couple of weeks. Originally we had hoped to have the bid go out this week and the opening at the end of March. This will not happen. We will have to do some repairs to N. Triphammer Rd.

 

NYSDOT is concerned with maintaining pedestrian traffic on both sides of N. Triphammer during reconstruction.  Currently there is no pedestrian walkway and we plan on offering one during construction. We should have a clear picture of what is happening in a couple of weeks. Both Don and Rich will write letters to inform residents that reconstruction will not happen this season and the reasons why. This may mean delaying when the newsletter is sent out. Don indicated that the Village has been completely blindsided by these latest requests and comments from NYSDOT.

 

Ned commented that the bus shelter on Graham Road is in poor condition and there was or still is an encroachment on private property. Another problem is that the Swarthout parking lot slopes downhill to Graham Road and the water flows to the road and then freezes. This is causing large potholes in the road.

 

Don stated that the problem we are having is we are not spending the money allocated for roads.

 

There is a joint sewer meeting on March 18th. This meeting will have a lot of discussion of plan details. The first step will be the Kline Road Bypass.

 

The bid opening for the addition on the Bolton Point Building is March 30th at 2pm here in the Village office.

 

Don next raised the issue of New York State Empire Zones. He explained that there might be an opportunity for certain Village properties in the Research and Technology Park to be included in an existing Empire Zone that could be expanded to incorporate these additional properties. He also briefly explained the manner in which Empire Zones operate. A company can come in and build a plant and there is a deal with local taxes. New York State picks up the local taxes so local municipalities have no tax hit. This proposed plan would grandfather the Village properties into a single package. To accomplish this it takes several steps, but it means a 5-10% increase in our tax base. Hopefully we can take advantage of this program in a year or so. Barbara Halpin is the Empire Zone Program Coordinator. This issue will be on our next agenda.

 

Next on the agenda was the codification. The Board reviewed the list of questions that were handed out at the last meeting. It still is unclear how Part I Administrative Legislation will be treated but David Dubow is working on this. Larry has found things in his section that are no longer accurate or applicable, one example being smoking restrictions, which have now been superceded by State law. Larry also wondered if we needed to list the stop signs and speed limits. David Dubow reiterated that the purpose of having a codification is to have all laws, rules and regulation in one place. Ned indicated that the Planning Board uses Chapters 125 and 145 (the Zoning and Land Subdivision provisions) almost every meeting and they need an approved document. David Dubow indicated that changes can always be incorporated after the codification is approved. The following changes were decided on:

 

-Get rid of Appendix 1 & 2 in the Table of Contents. Do not want to pull fees out and list

  separately.

-Randy Marcus already has Chapter 1 written and at time of adoption he will revise and insert 

  into the document

-Chapter 38 will not include Planning Board or Board of Zoning Appeals because they are

  appointed, not elected, positions.

-Chapter 119 on smoking should be changed to reflect the we follow the NYS law on

  smoking.

-Chapter 135-26 Pyramid Mall Regulations- Have Pyramid Design Engineer update map

-The header of “Lansing Code” will be changed to “Village of Lansing Code”.

 

The codification will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting to continue with comments and corrections.

 

The Mayor stated that the budget should maintain inflation standards. Assessments are increasing which means receipts automatically increase. This coming year’s Village taxes will be based on last year’s assessment, and not the new assessment amounts of which Village residents are currently being notified, so next year we will revisit the tax rate. The Board should focus on tax income, not tax rate. The Board will spend about an hour on budget at the next meeting and the Mayor plans on setting a public hearing for April 5th. The budget must be approved by April 15th.

 

Dubow stated that although he had expected to receive from the attorney for NYSEG a faxed letter regarding revisions to the previously submitted NYSEG/Computel agreement, that letter had not yet been received. He would like this item put on the agenda for the next Monday meeting. The attorney for NYSEG has agreed to make a small change to the agreement to clarify that the Village’s waiver and release of claims would be limited to only those having to do with matters that are under the jurisdiction of Public Service Commission.

 

Ned stated that the LEAPE workshop was held last Tuesday. They gave the Village some historical aerial photos from 1964,1978 and 1995, which show the development that has occurred around Route 13. The Soil and Water Conservation Office has additional photos dating back to 1938. The Mayor suggested we get copies of the other maps.

 

                        Motion- To Adjourn

 

Trustee Fresinski moved for adjournment. Trustee Beebe seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:10pm.                                                                      

                                                                                                                               Jodi Dake

                                                                                                                           Clerk/treasurer