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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPWC Minutes 2000-10-24 U E� TOWN OF ITHACA ''iv HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT 106 SEVEN MILE DRIVE, ITHACA, N.Y. 14850 PHONE (607) 273-1656 Roads,Parks,Trails,Sewer,and Water FAX (607) 272-6076 Town of Ithaca Public Works Committee Meeting October 24, 2000, at 8:00 a.m. Town of Ithaca Highway Facility 1. Discussion on Maple Avenue Construction for 2001 Fred 2. Discussion on Eastern Heights Drainage Fred 3. Discussion on E. King Road Ownership and Maintenance Fred 4. Discussion on William and Hannah Pew Bikeway and Grant Fred 5. Discussion on Wycoff Road Metering Station Dan 6. Discussion on Lake Shore Park and Naming It Fred ghk pc: Mary Bryant, Sr. Typist Joan Lent Noteboom, Town Clerk Andrew Frost, Director of Zoning/Building Jonathan Kanter, Director of Planning DISPOSITION DATE 140, TOWN OF ITHACA 41/ Public Works Committee October 24, 2000 Highway Facility Present: David Klein, Chair; Dan Walker; Fred Noteboom; Rich Schoch Guest: Jonathan Kanter, Mike Smith, and Mary Russell The meeting began at 8:10 a.m. There were no minutes to approve at this meeting. Maple Avenue Fred informed the Committee that he is waiting for information regarding funding for the Maple Avenue project. If we get the money,we would like to contract out this project. We believe that the amount of money we will get is around $207,000, although we applied for$300,000. Eastern Heights Drainage Fred said that stabilization of the bank at the Ewing's part of the project would be contracted out. David Klein agreed that this part of the project should be contracted out. We still need to get easements for the William and Hannah Pew Trail. Fred feels that if we show "good faith" on doing this project, the landowners may give us the easements needed. The Engineering Department has a preliminary design for this phase of the project. The design calls for the banks to be stabilized and sloped. The rest of the erosion (yards) will stay basically the same, and be allowed to re-vegetate on its own. The money for this project will come from the Storm Water Management budget. E. King Road Fred informed the Committee that he received a letter from New York State regarding reconstruction of E. King Road where the "brake check" pull off is. New York State will repave to the turn around. We will do the rest. Public Works Committee Minutes,October 24,2000 Page 2 There was a discussion regarding why the Town would maintain the "brake check" pull off if this is really a State mandated section of road. If this is a State safety device, why is the Town going to accept that section of the road? There was a discussion regarding the necessity of this section of road now that there is a traffic light in the area. The Committee decided that the Town Supervisor should write a letter so that the Town can get some answers to the above questions. We will wait to accept the road for this information. The Committee decided that a good name for the road would be King's Way. We will look on the E911 listing to see if there is already a road with that name. (NOTE: There is no other listing with that name.) William and Hannah Pew Trail Fred Noteboom indicated that Tompkins County would be receiving funding to rework Pine Tree Road. Jonathan Kanter informed the Committee that the Town has received funding for the construction of the William and Hannah Pew Trail. The Town Board will have to accept this funding and set up line items for budgeting purposes. Fred and Jonathan need to talk to Al Carvil, Budget Officer, regarding this. After the Town Board accepts this project, we will have a meeting with New York State officials. Jonathan said that there are costs for surveys. There are several resolutions that may need to be passed by the Town Board. 1) Support the project and be willing to front the money, 2) Should this be treated as a Capital Project or bond it? 3) Authorize surveying groups (quotes were received already). This project does not have to be completed in one year, although certain parts of this project can be started in 2001. There was a discussion regarding the distribution of money and how the State broke out the money allocation. There was a discussion regarding the surveying of the property, doing an appraisal and paying the Colles for the value of the trail land in exchange for 30 acres of land. There was a discussion regarding if we needed a conservation easement for the rights to Baldwin s property. It was decided this was not necessary. Public Works Committee Minutes,October 24,2000 Page 3 In the 2000 budget, the Highway Department has $25,000 in the Town Park's Construction line item that has not been used and there is $25,000 in the parks and Open Space line item. We will talk to Al about this money and encumbering the money. We may be able to use the A7110.402 (construction) money for the survey. We will hold off on doing a survey until New York State has signed the grant. There was a discussion regarding the proposed transit shelters at the trail on Honness Lane. We may want to talk to Tompkins County about coordinating this effort. There was a discussion regarding a crosswalk for Pine Tree Road to get to Honness Lane. We need to review the County's design for Pine Tree Road. We may want to look into an area for parking. Meter Reading Station on Wycoff Road Dan Walker informed the Committee that the Village of Cayuga Heights have requested that the peaked roof on the meter reading station be taken off. They also were concerned with the color of the bricks. They would like the Town to paint them a different color. We will take the peaked roof off and can use it down at the Highway Facility for a commodity shed. The Committee agreed that since the Town had already had the Village's approval on the color of brick, that they will have to change the color if they want to. Route 366 Bridge Design The Town received a new design plan that includes a two-lane bridge with an optional pedestrian bridge. (The Town would need to agree to maintain the pedestrian bridge.). The design would eliminate the right turning lane on 366, add a crosswalk on 366, move Judd Falls Road up the hill, and the lanes would be changed from 12 feet to 11 feet wide. Fred indicated that there is enough site distance if Judd Falls Road was moved up the hill. The traffic counts that were completed have not been reviewed, although the initial conclusion is that making Judd Falls Road one-way would put more traffic on Caldwell Road and Forest Home Drive. We will try to meet with Fernando before the Town Board Meeting to analyze the traffic data. Since the information on Route 366 Bridge was just received,we will have to review it further. Public Works Committee Minutes, October 24,2000 Page 4 There was a discussion regarding the State having to clean up the old Judd Falls Road site and having them leave part of the road for a path. There was a concern that the State's deadline for comments is before the next Town Board Meeting. Mary Russell will call the State and let them know this. Miscellaneous There was a discussion regarding the distribution of funds from a DB account to an A account for the Highway Facility building project. Mary Russell asked if the Highway Department had looked into the situation at 214 Sapsucker Woods Road. Fred said that we have looked into it and we would write a letter to them. There was a discussion regarding the "swampy" area near the Wonderland Motel. The owner at the Motel feels that when the water and sewer was put in (underground) out Route 13, we made the swampy area worse. This is not the case. Dan will write a letter to the owner. The swampy land is Eddy's land not the motel owners. The sidewalk at the old Town Hall needs to be repaired. Dan will talk to Bill Gray about this. The park at the lakeshore is moving ahead. The design for the pavilion may be ready at the November meeting for the Town Board's review. We need to name the park site. Cornell University has done a nice job on making this park site. The landscaping will be finished in the spring. Mary said that some residents have suggested that swimming be allowed at the park. This would mean the Town would have to provide lifeguards and there is a liability issue too. Fred said that he would like to extend the Snow and Ice contract that ended in the Spring 2000. We have been talking to the County about reworking the routes. The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 a.m. ghk