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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-10-03TB 10 -3411 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING October 3, 2001 Board Mernbess Present= Supv Mark Vlrvayan s, CL Ronald Beck, Cl Thomas Hatfield, C1 Charles Hatfield, Cl Deborah Grantham Other Elected Officials: Bazntyi L- 14ollenbeck, Town Clerk Jack Bush, .Highway Superintendent. Other Town Staff: Mahlon R- }jerkins, Town Attorney Henry Slater, Zoning Officer David Putnam (fG Millers), Town Engineer PUBLIC HEARING SPECIAL PERMIT APPLICATION OF HICKS MOVING & STORAGE TO CONSTRUCT FOUR ADDITIONAL 2& X 100' SELF STORAGE STRUCTURES AT 450 LIVERMORE ROAD Supv Varvayanis opened the public hear ng at 7 =07 p -rn. and town Clerk read the notice published i11 The Ithaca Journal Board members have previously received application materials. Applicant stated that their self - storage business has grown and they need more "ue- Ci C Katfield asked if the applicant was going to put the new structures where the existing retention pond is, and he replied that he was and a new retention pond would be built. Supv Varvayanis read a letter from David Herrick, TG Miller Engineers, stating that because the detention basin is being constructed without engineering plans, the applicant furnish as- construeted drawirngw $hawing the 4,000 cubic foot basin prior to issuunce of a certificate of occupancy. Although it is not shown on the map, the applicant will extend the Cur TeDt drive betwcen the buildings to Livermore Cross Road- Super varvayanis stated that County Planning indicated a concern with further phases of develop- Applicant began with two buildings and is now adding four, and Supv Varvayanis asked whether there was any additional expansion planned. Applicant said he couldn't say that they would not expand further, but it would not be for another five years or so and rLoted that there is not much space left for expansion. Cl Grantham stated there was nothing that indicated drainage plans or elevations, Dave Putnam noted that the applicant was going to build as they did last time, putting in a retention pond after construction. Cl Grantham would like reaps of the elevations and drainage with the applicationfi, and ZO Slater said that typically that was done on engineeringrs consent to the project and applicants are hesitant to spend the money until they know they are going to get approval. Lave Putnam, noted there was an as- constructed letter :after the first construction verifying the pond volurae b0aind the buildings: and pointed out the slope of land at the site. O dater noted that 20` o of the property could he covered by buildings, mean; ig in this case that the applicant could have approximately 43,000 square feet of buildings and they will have a little more &an 32,000 square feet. Any further expam3ion would require consideration of the threshold. Cl Grantham noted (here needs to be roam for stormwater detention, D Putnam stated Lhal: condition 07 requires that they not; increase the stormwater from a 25 -year storm event. The plan wiU do that and TG )tiller has suggested that asmbuilts be submitted for the drainage and retention pond before a certificate of occupancy is issued. Cl Beck slated it was difficult to tell without elevations if the water level would reach the building floors. Page 1 01`6 5 TB 10 -3-01 The County Planning Department had indicated a concern with the appearance of segmentation (building in phases) on the project. Supv Varvayanis stated that the fact that 40 they were going to now build where there was previously a retention pond was a good indication that they had not intended this from the beginning. Cl Grantham asked D Putnam if the applicant put in two more buildings in addition to the ones proposed in this application, would they have sufficient room to pick up the runoff from all of the site. D Putnam showed on the map how it was possible and Cl Grantham staged they would need to now plan their stormwater retention so that it works if they want to add buildings in the future. At 7:30 p.m. Supv Varvayanis closed the public hearing and opened the Town Board meeting. Board reviewed the environmental impact form (contained in project file) and made the following resolution. RESOLUTION #199 - SEQR NEG DEC HICKS MOVING & STORAGE 460 LIVERMORE ROAD Cl Grantham offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby issues a negative declaration based on the SEQR review for the special permit application of Hicks Moving & Storage to construct four (4) additional 20'x 100' self- storage units at 460 Livermore Road, niis is an unlisted action and the Town of Dryden is lead agency in uncoordinated review. The Supervisor is authorized to sign all necessary documents. 2ncl Cl T Hatfield Roll Call Vote C1 Beck Yes Cl T Hatfield Yes Supv Varvayanis Yes Cl C Hatfield Yes Cl Grantham Yes The Board discussed conditions for the special permit. Cl Grantham stated the applicant will need to provide as -built drawings for the stormwater runoff and retention, and further should develop the site in such a way that stormwater can still be managed if there is another expansion. Standard Conditions of Approval shall apply, and C1 Grantham suggested that the conditions for the previous permit should also apply, RESOLUTION #200 - APPROVE HICKS MOVING & STORAGE SPECIAL PERMIT Cl Grantham offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the special permit: application of Hicks Moving & Storage to construct four 20' x 100' self storage units at 460 Livermore Road, with the following conditions: 1) Standard Conditions of Approval (7- 12 -00) shall apply; 2) Drainage plan shall be approved by the Town Engineer prior to issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, and the ability to handle stormwater should be preserved in case of future expansion; 3) There shall be no storage of unlawful or flammable materials on the premises; 4) Downward pointing lighting will be installed and applicant will correct its direction should neighbors complain; Pagc 2 of 6 TB 10 -3 =11 5) Should applicant decide to install fencing, applicant will first come to the Board for approval of such fencing. ® 2nd Cl T Hatfield Roll Call Vote Cl Beck Yes Cl T Hatfield Yes Supv Varvayanis Yes Cl C Hatfield Yes Cl Grantham Yes Joyce Gerbasi thanked the board for the letter in support of the aquifer study and indicating the Town's intent to assist in funding the project. She stated that the County would like to know how much money the Town is willing to contribute. With respect to the intermunicipal wastewater project, Ms Gerbasi stated that as a member of the environmental review committee of the EMC, they were involved in the scoping. There is a slight difference of opinion between the environmental review committee and the Ithaca City Conservation Advisory Committee. The Ithaca City CAC seems to be tending to ignore the history behind the project and are simply saying that putting in the sewer will result in sprawl. The history is that because of having so much trouble with their wastewater ending up in the lake because of the short distance from ground to rock, and failing septic systems, the Town of Lansing applied to the State and got permission to have their own server plant. The State later told the Town of Lansing that they would need to see if they could get intermunicipal cooperation and involve other municipalities in the project. The EMC is far more concerned with what the project will do for the cleanliness of the lake. Joyce Gerbasi's term on the EMC expires December 31, 2001. Under the system Is worked out by the County, the local Conservation Advisory Committee should suggest the appointee to the EMC. She is interested in continuing to serve. Cl Grantham noted that by law the CAC is an advisory body to the Town Board and this is a county appointment. Ms. Gerbasi explained that the county wants the CAC's recommendation. After discussion, the Town Board will advise the CAC that they would like Ms. Gerbasi to continue as the Town's representative on the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council. Cl Grantham will bring the CAC's recommendation back to the Town Board, Supv Varvayanis asked Ms Gerbasi to expand on the history of the intermunicipal serer project. She stated that some state office had told the Town of Lansing that they could not have their own sewer plant unless they could not get any intermunicipal cooperation. Dave Putnam stated that DEC had suggested it because they did not want another discharge into the lake. Mike Allmendinger, Chair of the Dryden Recreation Commission, has presented the Town Board with a proposal for the creation of a Town of Dryden .Recreation Clerk position. Also present are Stewart Gray of Dryden Sertoma, Robert: Slocum of Kiiwanis, and Steve Stelick, Jr. of Dryden Youth Sports, Mike Allmendinger also represents the Dryden Soccer Club. Cl T Hatfield asked them to summarize some of the thinking that has occurred in the recreation provider community as to why the proposal is bring brought to the board at this time. Stewart: Gray stated that what has prompted this is to get: an easy way for people in the Town to be able to be able to learn about recreation activities in the Town and to sign up for dit %re nt activities, not only for youth, but for all ages. Registration is currently done by volunteers for each respective organization. Mr. Gray noted that while volunteerism is great in this community, better than in most communities, they still struggle to find volunteers. It has put pressure on a lot of organizations to provide programs in addition to maintaining the administrative services that are required. There have been several conversations in recent years as to how to Page 3 of 6 TF3 10=3-4)1 come up with a common solution to the problem. The Recreation Commission came up with the idea of centralizing registration somewhere in the Town and to be able to learn about what ® recreational activities are available in the Town. Being able to take care of all the registrations in one place would be an advantage to participants as well as providers. Mr. Gray said the proposal outlines what the position would entail, being basically a clerk position, someone who would handle the paperwork and administration. It is not designed to take running the programs away from the organizations currently doing it. Those organizations wish to continue to run their programs. Steve Stelick, Jr. stated he thinks it will also increase participation, especially the fringe activities in the Town, and bring them more to the forefront. Mike Allmendinger stated that in addition to providing centralized registration, they would make a brochure similar to that done by the Ithaca Youth Bureaus available, detailing the programs, seasons, fees, ages of participation, etc and that brochure would be available throughout the Town. C1 T Hatfield said that he has met with the Recreation Commission as this evolved and a lot of effort and thought has been put into the project. This is a new concept, and one thing that was clear is that volunteers want to make an impact on kids' lives and so they want to coach or be an assistant coach. It's hard to find the same enthusiasm for the administrative side. He stated that the hope is that fairly shortly this will not be a position that will rely on taxpayer dollars for support:. Organizations that choose to take advantage of the position will pay a fee that will enable the position to become self4unded, though probably not in the first year. Mike Allmendinger noted that some organizations are discussing whether to pass the fee on to participants or to handle it though additional fundraising. Stewart Gray noted that currently the programs are available at a very low cost to participants, which is not the case in surrounding communities where a Town runs the programs and dictates the programs and charges the fees necessary to run the program, which are basically higher. 'Me goal of the recreation commission is to make sure that everybody in Dryden has access to the programs is and that financially they will not be a burden on anybody. They are asking for startup to get the administration portion centralized. Supv Varvayanis stated he and the Town Clerk had discussed the position. It seems that there are two separate issues. One is the secretarial and accounting help for the providers and the other is the registration of the participants. The'rown Clerk has offered to do the registration in her office, with current: staffing, and the drop box is available at night and on the weekends. A person could be hired for the secretarial portion and the $4,500 projected to be collected should cover that. Steve Stelick, Jr. stated that they understood there was a problem with available space for this person to work, and they ve talked about seeing if there is room available at the Village Hall. He is concerned that this might be overburdening the Clerk's Office. Mike Allmendinger stated they envision there being an ebb and flow to the position and publication of the brochure will take considerable time. Supv Varvayanis stated the Clerk will only be dealing with registrations; the paid person will take care of secretarial needs, the brochure, etc. Cl T Hatfield stated it was a reasonable way to begin, and if it's not working after a few months it can be revisited. They expect that the person hired to do secretarial work would be working nights and not interfere with current operations. Supv Varvayanis has allotted $10,000 in his budget, not having received the proposal until after his budget was completed. The amount will be addressed in the budget workshop. Atty Perkins stated that the Request for Proposals for ambulance service has gone out. With respect to comments received from Cl Grantham via e -mail, Atty Perkins explained that he didn't feel it was necessary to define emergency or general ambulance service, that they are self-explanatory and the statutes talk in those terms. He did clarify that. all of the people who are paid are paramedics. Any reference to having a base of operations in the Town of Dryden was eliminated, but strengthened the part where they must state the location of the base of ® operations. Response time can be determined from that. The number of transports, ALS and Page 4 of 6 TB 10 -3 -01 BLS calls were listed. The RFI)s were sent to Dryden Ambulance, Bangs Ambulance, Rural Metro and TLC. Cl Beck noted that weather and other factors will need to be considered when talking about response times. Supv Varvayanis stated there may not be anyone who could compete with the volunteer service, but that remains to be seen. Supv Varvayanis stated he has allowed $30,000 in his budget for the aquifer study, but several Town Supervisors have expressed a desire to see the money come out the County sales tax before the formula is applied. A couple of the county representatives he has spoken to are receptive to the idea, and the sales tax is divided about 50/50 between the county and municipalities. It appears from the formula previously presented by the County where 10% of the funding would come from the Towns that the City has been left out. Supv Varvayanis staged all the citizens benefit from the aquifer study, all the citizens are taxpayers more or less equally and to argue over who does what seems a waste of time. A simple formula should be applied. CI Beck stated it was discussed at the Ag and Farmland Protection Board last week and there was some feeling about what are you going to do with the information when you get it and how are you going to control what happens, but the Board as a whole felt that it was an important thing. The funding is the key thing, and the County Reps present at that meeting indicated that nothing was going to happen in the 2002 budget, so they are going to try and postpone it another year and they've gotten some verbal assurances from USGS that they won't change the percentage for four or five years, so the 30% will probably stay in effect for a few more years. He noted that some reaches are going to be way more expensive than others and whether that benefits a Town more than it does the County or the City is another matter. Supv Varvayanis stated that the reaches don't respect municipalities and Cl Berk replied that is why the County needs to be involved fairly heavily. Cl Grantham stated use of the sales tax seemed fair since it is disbursed on a population -based formula, so if it is taken ® off the top of the sales tax then you are taking revenues in that same proportion. Supv Varvayanis stated he had received a figure of 5.1 million dollars for the project and they are hoping to get a contract to do the whole thing in a ten year period, with USGS committing to 1.53 million, and 3.57 million coming from the County and municipalities. Supv Varvayanis stated that in the county budget released at noon today he understood there was 1.6 million allotted for the aquifer study. Supv Varvayanis stated it seemed the County was trying to back pedal and say that the Towns weren't willing to put up 10"/o and if the Town's now say we're willing to put up 50%, it's a lot harder for them to say they still aren't willing to do it. Cl Grantham stated it is better than bonding their share because you avoid interest. The reason the Town put money in budget is because we don't want to bond our share, and can put some aside each year in the budget. Board members agree that using the sales tax revenues to fund the aquifer study was sensible, and after further discussion passed the following resolution. RESOLUTION 0201 - AQUIFER STUDY FUNDING Cl Grantham offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: WHEREAS, the aquifer study will provide information needed for land use planning throughout the County, and WHEREAS, all County residents will inure benefits from the protection of groundwater, and WHEREAS, no aquifer reach respects municipal boundaries, be it therefore Page 5 of 6 T8 10 -3 -01 RESOLVED, the County and its municipalities should arrive at a simple formula to pay for the aquifer study with the greatest possible speed. The Dryden Town Board supports the efforts of the County to utilize the gross sales tax revenue prior to any distribution. If that should fail the County Board should note that: the Supervisor's budget has appropriated $30,000 to pay for the project in the year 2002. 221,1 Cl T Hatfield Roll Call Vote Cl Beck Yes Cl T Hatfield Yes Supv Varvayanis Yes CI C Hatfield Yes Cl Grantham Yes Supv Varvayanis stated the library had asked for $6,000, and that is what he has put: in the budget but he believes they could make good use of more money. He has added 3.5% for each elected official, but feels that should be discussed. In the charts the entire budget is shown, including special benefit districts. Budget workshop is scheduled for October 23, 2001 at 8:00 a.m. at the Town Hall, Cl Grantham suggested that on the page listing compensation for elected officials the amounts should be more clear for board members and town justices since people assume the figure shown is received by each official. Joyce Gerbasi staged that long ago during the Caswell Dump proceedings the Town had been ruled held harmless, so that if something went wrong with the dump the Town would be held harmless. There is talk now of drilling, for gas around and under the dump site. She is concerned because she has been told by someone in County Planning that Dryden would still be liable for any environmental damage caused by the dump. She suggested that someone confirm that the Town would be held harmless. Atty Perkins stated he is not sure the Town could be involved at all. The Town did not own or operate the dump. On motion of Supv Varvayanis, seconded and unanimously carried, the board moved into executive session at 8:45 p.m. to discuss collective bargaining negotiations. No action was taken and the meeting was adjourned at 8:54 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Hollenbeck Town Clerk Reige 6 o1'6