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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-03-06Board Members Present: Absent: Other Elected Officials: TB 03 -06 -02 'TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING March 6, 2002 Supv Mark Varvayanis, C1 Stephen Stelick, Jr., Cl Deborah Grantham, Cl Christopher Michaels Cl Charles Hatfield Sambi L. I-Iollenbeck, Town Clerk Jack Bush, Highway Superintendent Other Town Staff: Mahlon R. Perkins, Town Attorney Henry Slater, Zoning Officer David Putnam (TG Millers), Town Engineer PUBLIC HEARING SITE PLAN REVIEW APPLICATION OF ICS PRESS, 1771 HANSHAW ROAD Supv Varvayanis opened the public hearing at 7:05 p.m. and Town Clerk read the notice published in The Ithaca Journal. ICS Press is applying to construct a 1944 square foot addition to the existing facility to expand office space. Brian Trainor, President of ICS Press, said that ICS Press was formed in 1972 as Ithaca Color Separations. In 1989 the relocated to the Hanshaw Road address. They are a printing company, classified as quick printer, which is a sheet fed operation. They do small run full color printing, textile screen printing and high speed copying. Over the years they have grown and expanded and have leased from Peter Schug. They have been given an opportunity to purchase the building, however, they need more office space. They have invested in new technoloa and put in a Heidelburg digital imaging press and the computer that it takes to run the operation and have run out of room. They have put together a loan package with an expansion project and have financing. Supv Varvayanis asked if board members or anyone in the audience had any questions and there were none. The hearing was left open to allow time for comment. Supv Varvayanis asked if anyone in the audience had anything else for the board. Milo Richmond - I reside at 1466 Ellis Hollow Road and own road frontage on Ellis Hollow Road and Genung Road. I have a few concerns about the process and procedures that we follow in road maintenance in the Town of Dryden. I would like to mention these to the board. There are really five comments I want to make here. First, what is the procedure and timing of notification to the property owner when roads and road right -of -ways are slated for maintenance or improvement, widening, etc, whatever might be done? And what mechanism is in place to insure that the landowner has been duly notified? If they are away on vacation or if they are not available during a. brief period of time, then the prior notification doesn't get to them. Page l of 20 AN TB 03 -06 -02 Secondly, do current practices for right -of -way maintenance of our roads follow the steps prescribed by New York State Environment Quality Review Act? If not, then we should consider meeting those prescriptions of this act, or be aware that we may be in violation of the law. Thirdly, what type of oversight arrangements are in place to help guide the officials who are responsible for road maintenance and management of hazardous situations such as a washout or treefalis? It seems that we all have a. responsibility to report and assist with such safety issues, but communication on this should not be unidirectional. While emergency actions are probably best left to our road crews, any long range plans or more involved activities should likely be cleared or approved, l think, by our Town Board or an appointed oversight group and then communicate it to the landowners. Fourthly, current cutting on Hurd Road suggests to me that not enough thought was given to vegetation removal from steep banks that are found along portions of that road. Bank stability may become a problem requiring even more maintenance, and possibly a huge change in the entire character of the roadway. Do we want that to happen without some real discussion? Fifthly, I say an overarching concern of mine is that local residents anywhere I have ever lived have a sense of place. We all have our digs, as humble or extravagant as they may be, and as a result may be deeply offended by anyone who purposes or inadvertently brings abrupt change to our surroundings. This is especially true when the individual pays taxes on the property and feels a sense of true ownership of the land. Those are the points I would like to make and I would simply say that I'd like to know that: these concerns in some form will be addressed without removing the res°ponsibilily and the , initiative of the individuals who have been duly elected or hired to keep our roads safe and in proper order. I personally think that the roads are being kept in excellent condition. It is the edges of the road that brings me here tonight. Thank you. David Weinstein, Freese Road - Mr Richmond stated many of the points that I was going to talk about. I did send a letter to the board and the Supervisor so you have the letter outlining the remarks that I am going to make. I just want to emphasise a couple of the points that he made. There is a large number of people concerned about the change in the character of our roads when there doesn't seem to be a policy in place about following accepted standards of how we should maintain the roads. It is a large amount of money that's being spent on projects. We can only guess how much money was spent on the Freese Road project because it's been a policy not to detail how much is being put into each of these projects, how much money has been allocated for each of these projects in the Highway Department. Essentially what l would ask the board is that you request of the Highway Supervisor the detail, the plans for the coming year, to have the specifics, how much money is involved, what, is going to be involved and to discuss it in an open meeting so that you can get citizens input, 1 think. We, the people who live along these roads, have a lot of ideas about what's a good idea on this road and what isn't a good idea. I personally think my contribution might have been able to save a lot of money of the Freese Road project. So without this opportunity for input, a lot of money is being spent on projects and without us having a say in any of those projects. 1 also want to emphasize what Mr. Richmond said about following SEQR process. We have an environmental review process mandated by law in this State. I would request that the Board make sure that before any activities happen, before the Highway Department enters into ' the initiation of a project, that the SEQR process is completed. Not started, not some information offered, but the State mandates that this is the opportunity for citizens to Pigc 2 of 20 TB 03-06-02 understand all the envison- nental impacts of an action that migbil be taken before that action gets taken_ So I request the Town Board make sure that tbat procedure is completed before actions. That would be made much easier with a detailed outline of all the aci5vities the Highway 'Department is going to engage in. Finally, I would suggest strongly that some kind of cil:i ?&ens advisory board gets created to have the eatixerxs be able to meet on an ongoing basis with the Highway Supennttmdeut :ter that a dialog can get created and we don't feel cut out of the process_ Rnban Seeley, 332 Hurd 1Roa.d = I'm a resident on Hurd Road and many people have been asking around Town when they come up to Hurd Road and see the devastation there. They say why did the Highway Depar"enl' cut these Trees, so I wanted to walk through some of the arguments that have been given for why the trees were cut and why I don't necessarily agree with these arguments_ One Highway Department worker said why am I cutting these bag mature white pines, well it's because it's in lfw Tow -t's right -of -way. But I t1i nk whethei the Town even has a right - of -way on the side of the road, of Hurd Road, is a subject of some dispute. And in fact our attorney wrote a letter to the Town of Dryden copied to Mr. Bush In 1399, explaining that it was his position that the Town of Dryden did not have a right -oPway un the ride of the road, The second reason given by Jack Bush in a letter to residents is that the trees are damaging the road by shading it and tbaI, the big pat holes, the bi 19 mucky places, are caused by shading by the trees, But i fact the trees aren't shading the road in the winter because they don't have any ]eaves in winter_ And in facI: I have a document with me, a recent report from the Mississippi Forestry Commission that Andy Hillman from the City of Ithaca gave -ne that shows that road shade actually protects 1'.he road, It protects the asphalt from breaking down. And this is because the sunlight shining on the pavement actlaally causes the road material to break up faster, and shade trees can actually add up to ten years of life to the road_ Then there was the pG`i i, the argument, that the trees are unsafe to thLe travelling public. but i have no idea what Jack me axis by an unsafe tree. And if he is cutting trees that are 17 feet from the side of the road, how on earth is that tree unsafe? is the Highway Department really concerned that somebody may get drunk and drive clown Hurd Road at top speed and end up in the woods and hic that tree 17 feet from the edge? Another answer was becamw the road is brealdng up we have to cut the trees, and the Highway Department "nor rally" cuts trees before paving the road. I guess I don't understand what cutting trees has to do with paving the road, or what cutting trees has to do with the holes in the road, Another answer from a Highway Department workers was we always cut treeq before we widen the road. I didn't understand that widening i1be road was part of the project, but because the problem is we don't have a specific project description, we have no idea whether the Tour is going to widen the road or not, A final answer wars well, woe. had landowner permission, VUhflc the faoi, that the Highway Department received verbal permission from Ian downers. is interesting, it's really irrelevant_ Spending public money to perform even minor logging fur residents is not a reel goad use of taxpayer -money, and isn't a,n excuse for violating State lau* that requires, it seerns to me, compensation when property is taken The idea that these live trees are dangerous to drivers and causing damage to the read is ludicrous I find, It seeress to me and many other cilirens that the damaged road bed, which looks like it was caused by poor road constructima technique gears ago is being used as an Page 3 of 20 TS 03416 -02 excuse to widen the shoulders and for the Town to start acquiring a righVof way. Again, that's called a taking and I believe it is against the law_ So what is the proresz4 that is su pprsed to 1-re followed? . Well, a$ I re;d.d Statip law, it looks like what is supposed to happen is the Highway Department recomm nds a road project to the Town Board and the plan is supposed to consist of specifications and a cost estimate s-nd a demonstration of why the project is needed, and certainly whe11 -ter or ROt the Town needs to acquire property to achieve its goals for the road, You can sec why the State would write the law that way. Our Highway Department budget of 2.3 million dollars forms 53% of the entire town budget t;a I:he power to spend our taxes i.rk thi wad' whnuld. be iz- the bandz4 of an elected board of representatives of the Town_ not necessarily one individual in the Highway Department. By a majority vnte the Town Board decidee, given nthts T prioj ir?e for rnn4 work in the Toq%m, and other legitimate needs of the Town, recreation or whatever, whether to spend the money on the proposed road project. In Dryden it seems that the Town Board often does not even find out about road projects until the project is underway and there are complaints From cilirens_ This doesn't seem like a very good way to me to manage the process_ Then here i the EQIR argument which has already been reviewed by wher people. So ray questions are why would the Dryden Town Board relinquish its authority to act: as custodian of our tax dollars_ especially now ahat: economic conditions are shaky? We Mill don't have a complete description of the whole road project or a cost estimate, and the description that was put on the SEQR form is just, one tiny little piece of the project, which is cutting away the wNeep bank. The SEQR form made no naenlion of the 900 plus trees that were cut_ Citizens are asking the Town Board to take town ma,1:ters back into its own hands_ Our Highway Superintendent is unwilling In rneet with citizens who }nay his salary. When asked politely if he would please stop cutting for a day -anti] citizens could meet N%ith-him and discuss tkaa5e concerns, he did not stop cuts' g and he did not meet with citizens, Nor, when asked, did he provide a date when he would be able to meet wii]z citizens, So it appears to some of us that the deparbaient that spends 2-3 million dollars of our money is a. little bit out of control, and what will you do as board members to take control back for our protection? And finally, here are some questions for the Highway. Superintendent; First, what does the Hurd Road project involve, exactly? How much 96t ill it cast from ,~tart to finish? , Where is the accident data that would justify spending this amount of money straig]-itening and cutting Nees on such a law volume road? public? 3_ When is a live tree fifteen feet hack in the woods dangerous to the traveM19 4, Where is the data that shows shade trees destroy roads? 5, What. other rowels in uur to %vn have dangerous trees, and when are you going to cut them? 6. -Why won't you m eet with the ritizens that pay your salXy? PaV4of2.0 TB 03 -06 -02 Scott Erickson - I also live on Hurd Toad. I have a couple copies of a letter for the board. I just want to echo what everyone else said and basically provide some perspective because we walk the road everyday with our dogs out there amd probably see the road rnoTe closely than most people, Hirst of all, as far as the purpose of the cutting, again, we're #aDdri Ribout the trees that have no leaves in the winter. If you Wally the road and you sec the damage, it's pretty much in certain spots, Knd it's where the culverts tend to be fairly shallow. It's places where every year there is a certain amount of water come over tha road. livery year there is water collecting in those culverts and it's drainage problems. It has nothing to do that we can we with the trees- if doesn't ue=msaTily mean we need duper culverts, but leaves and such do get in there and they black it. And I would point out that with the cutting, if you drive along the road and see all the debris that has been left in the culverts from trees that have been knocked down and branches left behind. There's even entire tree trunks M' the culverts. It's just going to make it worse_ In addition to the ervsinn prahlenis, which are going to cavie from water Coming down the steep banks and into the culverts, So if the purpose of this was to stop the road fie, I'm not sure that makes sense. So from that perspective, I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop_ What else is going to go on? I'Ve received our letter about what was going to happen with this project, it was dated February 12, which i believe was the same day as the Ming of the 8 EQ It appiicatinrt_ Our letter said nothing about moving the batiks, or any other work. It just said cutting some trees to rnake Che mad safe. So we are kind of waiting to see what else is going to happerx to the road. It's hard to comment on what's gno' 1119 on if we don't have the full scale of the project. The charitable view is that it's being made up as it goes along_ The other view is that there is something bigger here and if more is going to be done with the road, we'd like to know sometime in advance, The final things I'd jU1"°t like to provide some perspective also on, the notification procedures_ The details are in the letter, but basically the letter said okay, we'll mark some trees. You'll have a chance to tell us if you have objections, and then we'll cu 1;_ On our lot we ]have a very small frontage, sn we actually just lost throe saplings_ I'rrz not sure what the improvement was there, but that's all that won t from our lot. But essentially, they were marked sin a Wednesday. We got ,op ax 7:00 am on Thursday morning to walk the dogs, by 8:3Q they were in front of our house. So reWisltcally, we had about an hour nutice. Again, we didn't lose any trees ourselves, but there are a number of absentee landowners on the street, and there is no vuay that they had any chance to say anything about their property, losing the trees and so on and so forth. So essentially, J there was agreement by the landowners I think it is by not objecting. It's nothing active that anyone said please cut down these trees. So we have concerns about hove this is carried out_ We pretty much get annoyed every time we walk up the street. now. If no one has walked down the street lately, or driven down the street, I encourage the board members to do so and see what's happened. Again, just basically, we're kind of waiting. If there is more news, we'd like to know in advance this time, not after the fact, Ray Ink - I live on Hurd Road, In facI: the majority of the big trees they're cutting are on my property, with my permission. I did receive a letter tellingy roe that they were going to do the work, and Mr. Bush said if you have questions to call and he'd meet with me_ i called and he met mwith roe, He met with me the same day he met with the Secleys because I walked down the road and was talking to them first. All that time he showed me what he wanted to do and 19 he said he wanted to go up my bank_ My bank was where, the biggest trees are and I awn both skies of the road so I had a for of trees. The majority of the trees C ha.d cut was on the lower Page 5 of 20 TB 03 -06 -02 side of the road and they'd been buried in the dirt back when they extended the road originally when housing went on down beyond me. 0 Originally when I moved up there the improve=d road dead -ended ai' my hou _ There was a turnaround its my field across where the to %vn trucks turned around and didn't go on doom. because it uraw a very nirrow road_ The houses doom the road and most of the people that I've heard speak have built since. When that happened my property wa the oTse that took the majnrity of the work_ I dicin'I: Cry co scop it because the people down the road have a right to have a house there too and to get the equipment there_ You sure couldn't: have got it down that little road_ cr r_ ernKjaril]�. of the 1]ig trees you see taken down, and they are laying in any front yard, if you look at them, they're diseased to the point where they would not have been standing more than three or four m { }re years. And all of them on the upper ,side had already started to came into the road. As far as absentee landowners go, one of the properties thaIN had quite a lot done i,s the rispell property. That's my brother -in. -law_ i speak for that property. I told Mr. Bush that J had contacted him and he'd already looked at what was marked. And they did mark it ahead. They sh.owfNi me what they were going to cut and asked me if had a problem with it what they were going to cut, and I said no. Because I c,� going to have to take them clown anyway_ And the majority of them 1 didn't get taken down quick enough_ l couldn't lag them anymore. They're not good already because g pV Tnonths probably 15 years ago demrgyed a lot of the oak up there;. And that's what those big trees are_ Those were already coming into the n)ad_ love cut two of rnine out myself that fell right in t« the road from the upper 4-idew_ As far as doom on the Seeley pznperty, where I used to drive to work there's a lot of little saplings. And when you have are ice storm, they totally tipped into the road where you couldn't get through_ That's all I have to say_ Pry Walbridge, Hunt Hill Road - I have to admit T'm very concerned. on several issues and I've spoken individually with Board members and if it's been a little too vehement:, I'd like to apologize, but it's something that I care about, and l know my neighbors care about, is the quality of their life and being able to walk and ride bicycles anal enjoy the ravels. And if our roads get wider, smoother, %kn everything cut back, we're going to have a. ]ast faster traffic and it's not going to be eafe for us to enjoy theme less travelled roads- Al so, I think a loo: of people here are here because of their concern because this is in a long luxe of problems we've had over at our end ofthe'Cown. Ellis Hollow Creek road, Genung Road, Dodge Road and now I•Iurd Road, aTLd xve have massive cutting. I would argue that it isn't legal as Robin mentioned. The Town admitted in a 1el:ter to Robin and myself that they did not have the deed to either Hurd or Hunt Hill loads, and so I am very concemed about the Town, without any urritten permission, without temporary easements, malcv ng itself liable dobig private work on people's private land. I don't think this is an appropriate use of Toval tax dollars. I also, because it just seems to happen here and there, I would really like to ask the Board insist that the Highway Superintendent indicate well in advance, not a week in advance, a day in advance, two weeks in advance, exactly what the projects. are and exactly what it "s trying to do. Actually I aaaiss�ed Freese Road- Freese Road is also in my list of thins thaIN happened. We really need to have a dialogue because citLzerks are now just not assuming that thv roads will get taJcen care of, u-e don't have to worry about it, everythh*s fine_ Because people are starting to worry with traffic that they are In sing their quality of life, And as the Highway Department is 53 or over 50% of the Town budget, I really hope that the Town Board will take this in hand to get con LTol of these projects. I tJiink there are other areas that we might wasp t: to be spending our money_ This is Dot in any way to be suggesting that eve shoWdn't resurfr�.ce our roads or anything like that_ 1 don't think anyone iri here is suggesting that the roads stay in terrible shape, but I think enough of us know that Pap 6 of 20 TB 034)6 =02 roans can be maintain at a lot less dollar expenditure than what we are seeing as an example nn Hurd Razed_ Floyd Ayers, 360 Hunt Hill Road - I just have one concern in addition. I think everybody's spoken about the other things 1 had, My concern is down at the western end of Hurst Hill where it meetq Nadline, It appears that's become a dumping area for all the mad r, u Ct ing .'impmveMents" ad rjean.up_ it started nut it looped like they were going to build up the bank of the shoulder. No u* the shoulder is twice as wide as the road down there and it just appears that it'w becoming a. fdl spat. to 1i11 up a, low lying wetland there. And it's Town vehicles dumping and grading and finish grading. It's not just like they're dumping. I've seen rollers in there rolling it and loaders in there pushing it luck ami all that and it's well off any sort of right -of- -way. I believe that's Mr. Bell's property. Litre I said the shoulder is now twice as wide as the existing road and I don't know, are they going to reconfigure the road? It looks terrible. C�ike A said it's just become a mass of roots, stumps, and an occasional dump truck load of gravel. That's my concern. I want to know if anyone can inform me as to what's going on there_ Steve Landau - I've lived on Hunt Hill Road for the last 22 years, and I 've seers all the improvements. This tendency to widen roads has only made Hunt Hill a more dangerous road because the speed Iimi says 55 miles per hour and we just had a traffic fainlily up there a couple of weeks ago. A young man got kMed_ We'd wave a lot of money by not cutting trees and stuff and just putting up some 40 mph signs. It'd make a lot more sense and be a lot cheaper. Jack French, Town of Lansing Righ way Superintendent - One thing about putting up a speed limit is that a Town just cannot go and put up a speed limit at the owner's request_ They have to get permission from the Mate_ The Stare comes out and they're the ones that dictate what the road is. The reason that the roads are so wide is because unless the Mate does 4D specifically give that road a speed limit it is 55 mph. You can't, just go out and say I think that road needs to be 40 mph. It doesn't happen thaC way. So, on Jack's behalf, he has no cuntzol over what the speed limit is on those roads. Supv Varvayanis - ale have a lot of conversation to go, and i hate to jump back and forth, but I left a hearing open Ln case .u}rneorle wanted to comment on ICS Press and I think t e%e people might want to go home and not listen to a-L this /Turd goad stuff. Perhaps we can go back to the hearing and finish that up and then come back to the road issue_ , Cl Grantham asked if with the expansion the entire 601111 of the lot that can be developed, will be developed and Brian Trainor said that the amount developed would be 5811/69 C1 Grantham asked because of concerns that went to the Zoning Board when the variance was heard about other businesses coming -b). ZO Slater said that there was `« left to he developed, and there would not be enough roam for another business_ Supv Varvayanis asked if there was anyone else i_u the audience who had any questions v4-ith respect to this application. There were none_ ]Board reviewed the Environmental Assessment Form_ RE LUTION 096 - NEG SEAR DEC - ICS PRESS Cl Grantham offered the following resululion and asked for its adoption; RESOLVU), that this Town Board review for the site plan review application existing facility at 1771 Hansha Road. '1 the lead agency in uncoordinated review* documents, issue a negative declaration based on the SEAR of ICS Press for a 1944 square root expansion to tkxeir 'his is an unlisted action and the Town or Dryden is The Supervisor is authorized to sign, all necessary Page 7of2.0 2nd Cl Michaels Roll Call Vute Cl Steli€:k Yes Supv Varvayanis . Yes C1. Michaels Yes C1 Crrantham Yes TB 03=06=02 Cl Grantham stated that approval should contain the Standard Conditions of Approval. ZO Slater said that the recommendations by Miller Engineering of February 28, 2002, should be added as conditions, together with their recommendations that were attached to variance of January 5, 2002. X iv z F L\ U 4 r k r Cl Grantham offered the fallowing resolution and ahslked for its adoption_ RESOLVED, that this Town Board b eTe-by approves the site plant application presented by 1 CS Press for a X944 square foot addition to their facility ail 1.771 Hanshaw Road in the Town of Dryden_ subject to the following conditions= 1 2 3_ 4, 5. b 7 211%J C1 SteHick Standard Conditions of,Approvai (7- 12 -00) shall apply. EewwmenI, fur Town of Dryden sewer main between the two buildings near the proposed property line Ah 311 be shown mi any final map and zefe rented in the deed_ A letter from Cayuga Press agreeing to the drainage plan. Post= development runoff calculations for the 20 -year storm event, The detention stornivolume required to attenuate peak flows from the entire development. Maintain the �N)nlrolled discharge of the detention area at or below the 0.35 Ufs_ Certification that the constructed volume of the modified detention area is sufficient - Roll. 041 Vote Cl Stelick Yes Supv Varvayanis Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Grantham Yes Supv Vairvayanis - You have ]your site plan approval_ 3'm sorry for the bouncing around. Let's get back to the roads now. Does anyone else have any comment on any of the road issues? Beverly West, 1214 Ellis Hollow Road - I think we just saw an example of a SEAR p] an that was properly II and acted upon, We would like to see that sort of t ng 1-1 appcniug with the cutting cif trees along the rmid, Peggy Walbridge asked Supv VarvIs if he had received a -mails from people on this matter, A letter was received via FAX from James Skrdey and a -mails from David Weinstein and Nariman Mi.stry. (attached to these minutes) M+ ja Squ res, Hurd Road - Most of what I want to say is an echo r)f what other people have said which is III at I believe the Town Board needs to exercise some oversight, over the Town highway projects. My reading of 'State Law regarding spending the money on these projects says that' there should be a. signed agreement between the Town Board aTid the bilge 8 of 20 t TB 034)6 -02 Highway Superintendent on file before any such wnr can be done. Clearly that's not happening. Beyond the legal requirements and State law, it's been surpnsvlg to me to find out how little oversight the Board is exercising over these large sums of money, half the budget according to some who have spoken. Thank you. Zorika Henderson " Why does taking of land that doesn't have a written decd, why is that not a back door vemmi of eminent domain? 'Supv Varvayarils - Fu,inent domain, is a spccffic legal term, Henderson - We're going down a slippery slope- A lot of people don't realize it has to by a written agreement., easement. Robin and otbers have found and researched and there does have to be a written instrument. If the Town Highway Department maintains the right of way for a period of ten years -by cutting it immediately becomes the Town's. upvv Varvayarnis - Jack_ Mahlon, T think you, Chris and I will try to get together and came up with some policy recommendations. I know Danby is also working on this same issue and I'ra not sure, Is the County looking at thas right now also. M Robertson - Not that 1 know of, upv Varvayanis - .in any case, we hope to have some long terra policy recommendations to male 'n the near furore, R Seeley - Can yGu give us sorae idea of when, wbat the near future i:4? Supv Varvayranis - Our next meeting is next week, l Nincerely doubt we'll be ready by then, but hopefully by the April meeting, 1 Seeley - Will you be discussir this at all amongst yourselves toriigk�t in public at this meeting, or going over the SEAR form tonight, or is this is for tonit, upv Varvayanis - I was not planning on discussing too much tonight. Toes the Board want to discuss this? Cl Michaels I'm ripen eilkier way. Is there arLyfilvrg before us? We've got the SF, R form - Do you have ,somethine Cl Grantham - I have a couple reports that aren'Il very long from committee Tacetings. That's all I have. I chink we have time to discuss. Supv Va3vayanis - I thought there were some legal issues you'd want to research first, but if you want to have a bit of discussion and nazrow the focus down, that would be fine, I guess we'll he discussing it a little bit, I notice there are fire department personnel here. Was there any comments that you wanted to make? I got a Letter about the cmtract today- R Flynn - Just one question, Mark - When we do submit these reports, you want us to submit them at a meeting, or just drop them off at your office, or ... Supv Varvayanis - I think just mailijag them in would be okay. Gl Granth:im - This revision looks fine to me, My only question is the issue of personal information. if you have personal information on the reports, you remove that right, before you send them to us? Page 9 or 20 TB 03 -0=-2 1R Ply nn - Yes. Supv Vat iyanis - They attached the state form there and that has the address and the property owner, which I don't think constitutes personal information. Cl Nllichaels - Which would probably be obtainable under a Ta OIL request anyway. Cl Grantham - Okay, so it's not a problem then. Supv Varvayanzs asked if the proposed cl angs in the ire 'Untracts was satisfactory to everyone on the board and they indicated that it waq_ Atty Perkins - if it is satisfactory with the Board and answers the questions that you have and gives you the information you're looking for, I think there should be a resolution authoriZmg the chaztge. Cl Michaels stated that tie letter received was from. the firm. of Barney, Grossman, Dubow & Marcus and asked whether John Barney represented us on mime litigation and wasn't. }dandy Marcus our attorney for the ZonMg Board. Atty %'erldns said that lhte case and C;1 Michaels asked him if he had cora%ented, and Atty Perkins stated he was not asked_ Cl NLichael% said he had no problem with the wnzding, but he did have a problem with their firm taking representation adverse to the Town 99 en that I'= out of six al rneys in the m fir represent; the Tawas in other matters, and requ.e%9ted that Atty Perkins address that, RESOLUTION #98 - APPROVE CMARGES IM VI RE CONTRACTS Cl GrarLtham offered tha following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the changes to the 1Rre contract as proposed in Jonathan Orkin's letter and authorikes the Super%gsor to sign the contracts after the changes have been made. 2nd Cl hEchaels Roll Call Vote Cl Stalick Yes Supv Varvay2nM lies Cl Michaels Yes Cl Grantham Yes Cl Michaels - My und.ersi,anding is that' we were going to try to get together and answer a couple of basic question s_ One, I thhLk it would be worthwhile for the 'Gown to have a written memor dum on what the Town can and cart not do with respect to these highways that are highway by user or that we don't own by deed.. I think one of the most difficult thing.%,% for Jack is. and quite frankly from little work I've done in this area, is deterrn;t^ii n wbat does the Town own and what doesn't ill, and some guidance and whatever cases are available in that regard would be helpful_ Two, one cif the things I Would Like to came oat of it i5 what should our procedures 1 far dealing with residents when we're daing work on what we all agree is private land, and what. form those easements are go9 nag to take, oral, written., what are we looking for in that regard. I would hope thRt with thnL%e two items we could get some relatively quick resolution. and I think the -more fas reaching is planning for Town projects, and I think that's going to be much larger discussion, but we can start with that meeting, That basically is what my hopes would be for that' policy meed5 that Mark discussed earlier, Cl Csrantharn - So wino is going to be involved in that policy discussion? 0 Supv Varvayanis - Mahlon, ,hack, C"hir is and me_ Fags .10 or 20 TB 03 -0f -02 P Walbridge - Will the discussion be before the public? Supv Varvayanis - The public can't be excluded from, or shouldn't be excluded from the room. But: I don't think we'd be looking for a lot of public input. P Walbridge - No, I'm not talking; about that, but we'd be able to listen to the discussion. Supv Varvayanis - I don't think that would hurt, do you? Cl Michaels - I don't have any objection to that. I think the meeting is in two parts. One, a meetings with our Town Attorney asking for legal guidance. I would like to do that and preserve the attorney- client privilege. However, I think that the second part of what I was talking about, the longer reaching plasuvng for Town projects, etc, is something that I would really just like to see outlined, and maybe we can divide it up into two parts and obviously have that come back up to the board. Cl Grantham - How does the attorney -client work when we have such specific guidelines for executive session at a public meeting? Will you just explain how it works? How can the board have a meeting with you that is not an executive session of a public meeting? Atty Perkins - You can't. Well, unless there is If there are grounds for an executive session, then obviously the Board can make a. motion to go into executive session to discuss litigation. Cl Grantham - So how do you preserve this attorney -client privilege? Atty Perkins - Well, unless there is actual litigation pending or threatened or anticipated, or there is another ground to go into executive session, 1 don't believe that exists. Cl Michaels - So I have no objection to it being public. Cl Grantham - I thought you knew how you were going to do that. I wasn't trying to be a pain, 1 just didn't understand how that was going to work. L Stenzler - What will happen in terms of future roadwork that has to be done between now and the time that you have some kind of policy in place on how the projects will be approved and made public, etc? I live on Hunt Hill Road and I'm sure it's on the list for work done, but I and others on our road are afraid we're going to see what happened on Hurd, happen on Hunt, and I'm just wondering about the time frame you're talking about? Cl Michaels - I'm not sure I can answer, lack of knowledge. Supv Varvayanis - Jack's the only one that can answer it. L Stenzler - That's what I'm afraid of. Supv Varvayanis - I'm sure that he intends to let people know before he goes. L Stenzler - Can I ask directly to Mr. Bush? J Bush - What was the question? L Stenger - When will we see some kind of a plan before any work is done on .Hunt Hill Road? Page 11 of 20 TS 03 -06 -02 J Bush- Same plan that's dorie every year. Same plan that somebocl_y�'s claim g that C haven't done_ P Walbridge - No one has seen the plait. J Bush - It's called an Agreement to Spend Town Highway Funds, lt'e an agreemeut between the Town Highway Superintendent and the 'Town Board, They may have actually received that tonight, It's scheduled for next week. That does not include everything that you're asking for. There is no law thaf.C'rn aware of that: i have to do all that detailed informatian, ??> - This is something that I understand the board i working on to address the cc}ncerns J Bush - The truth of the matter is I'm an eleci;ed official, and T don't work for the Town Board. The Town 'Board cannot tell me what to do. I don't bave to agree to their policy, I'm wiilini; to speak with tbe. Tawas Board because I think it's important to work with them, I don't work for Chem. It's under my authority. I'M responsible for the trees lhax are in V& at eve consider the right -of --way, That's to protect all of you from the trees falling in the road, from somebody hitting the tree as they go off the road.. Yes, there is an issue of who owns and how fax the right of way is and all that. 1 don't think anybody here ]gas said that 11 ?e Town owns to the center of tree road. J'm also aware that you as taxpayers do not pay taxes to the center of the Toad. The aswsunent mice actually deducts that from your taxes and there is a 49'A. right- ofmway figured in when there is a mad by use. So you can play with this Vay area all you want. My intent is to make a safe road. That's always been zany intent. I've gorse on more than r wanted to, lfiyou have any more questions, or if I haven't answered it, please re -ask. And that goes for anybody else. here. Henderson - You need input. You y you make those decisions and,,. J Bush - My decisions are based on condition of road, the roughness of the road, Ifie importance of the road, and traffic- Lines that mean that I can have a specific plan? When I took over in 1999 that was my big hurrah. Pm going to get this n great pla with a 5 or 15 year projection_ I talked with other Highway Superin Cendents, It don't work that way_ We live in New York. Our roads don't last forever. Hurd Road was not on my list to Rio. I stated that I believe in my letter, I oJw believe that for the must part I didn't have a problem with any of the residents_ In fact, Ixlr. li,riclrsonx I'ro %omewhai; upset becau you did nut voice your conce= whcn I met you on the road. Tbose three little trees that: you talk about, Steve ]{east told me that they were on his property as we waned from one end all the way to the other and marked every tree_ J 14:rickson - f cold you if that's all you would take, I wouldn't have a problem with it. If you wanted :anything else, would litre to know about it_ (Unintxlbgible conversation) .I Bush - It mote or less sounded litre You're banding together, Now do you think l feel? I'rn hearing the salve issues from the same people. The letters bave the same things in theTZt. upv Varvayanis - Ja6<1 I think the conversation i.s &- grading and.., P Walbridge - I was wandering if the hnard would not approve any of these, the paper ihat Jack saes that he's put before you about the roads uU-fil the road police has been app oved. I this* it snakes sense for till of us Igo work tegethes and just havirt�g the Ilighw-ayF P;igc 12 of 20 TB 03 -064)2 Department go along and say none of us really count isn't helping. So if the Board could not • approve that., I think that would help us until a policy is set. I think we would all feel a lot better. I would also feel better it'Jack would do a moratorium on cutting until we have a policy, but I'm not: hearing a lot of openness to that. J bush - What I'm hearing from you is the same thing. And it's the same people. I'm an elected official. 1 won by a majority. 1 believe that's who I'm representing. I do believe you all have opinions. I do care about: your feelings, but I have to believe that I was voted because those people had confidence in me to do what 1 thought vas right; and that has to do with maintaining the roads and keeping them safe. Some of these you're telling me, in my opinion, is a way to hold things up. You talk about wasting money, that's where you're going to waste money. Do we just all of a sudden have the men come to work and just have them stand around all day because we're in this process of trying make everybody happy? You can't make everybody happy. What I've tried to do is compromise. I have not gone with the attitude of we're going to take every tree in what we consider our right- of-way. I've compromised with the people. I've met with the people. We've marked the trees together, those that asked for me to meet with them. What more can I do? I can't make every one of you happy, but I'm still responsible for when a tree gets hit, or if a tree branch falls oft' and breaks a windshield. I'm not going to be responsible if I try to please everybody. Z Henderson - You can't be held responsible for something like that, for acts of God, or whatever... J lush - That's not true, who is telling you that? I'm reading this out of my books that give me this information. You as property owners can be held liable. If the tree is close enough to the road and falls in and kills somebody, the Town and you can be sued. Whether anybody will actually get any money, I don't know, but our job as a Highway Department is to try to be Is proactive and take care of these things before those things happen. You talk about speed limits, like the other Superintendent said, we can not put the speed limit sign and reduce that speed. Even if we could, then it has to be enforced. We're already hearing that the budget for the Sheriff's Department is so high and he doesn't have enough help. If they can enforce speed limits now, how are they going to do it uunless they get more money. Supv Varvayanis - I just want to through in that the State Law is very clear that the Highway Superintendent is the only one that can say what is and is not a safety issue when it comes to a tree. If he says the tree is unsafe, he's got the right to cut it down and the Town Board has no input on that. And I don't think a tree - cutting moratorium in that case would be legal. Jack has offered to work with us, and I assume he means it and I just request that you'll be a little patient: and hope that we all do work for both the safety issues, and I don't think anyone wants to see erosion increased or anything of that nature. R Seeley - What about the SEQR form? Will you be reviewing that? It seems like it's an outstanding issue since this project has already started and a lot of work has been performed. Supv Varvayanis - What did the board want to do with the SEAR form? I thought that: was part of the discussion on policy we were going to have, and whether the brush cutting, tree cutting, whatever is or is not subject to SEQR. Cl Michaels - I don't know. You're right, t:hat's on the list of legal questions I have. Mahlon, do you have an answer tonight? Atty Perkins - It's not a simple question and I think that is something that ought to be postponed. As I understand it, anything that Jack has done so far is not subject to the ® agreement that he has to have executed between him and the three members of the Town Board. I don't know what more work he plans to do there in the near future with respect to Page 13 of 20 TB WwX 6=02 cutting the bank or whatever, but certainly, any capital type proicc11 unthi n the agreement to spend highway funds would be subject to SEAR review_ So if you're going to revlevv or adopt or approve the proposed agreement under §284 of the Highway Law, then you should do the SEAR at that time. X haven't seen the agreement and I dors't know whether he needs to spend any of those funds yet or not_ J Bush - None of those funds have been spent. Atty Perkins - Maybe that's something that can be pu11 uff and done a the same time Certainly you would have to do the SEQR if there are any capital projects in that agrreement. You'd have to do the SEQR before you approved it, Martha Robertson - Can I just ask, Jack, if you're fuiished on Hurd Road or is there additional work anticipated and if so, when is it? Could you cXplairn that? J Bush - Basically my approach to every road is what do we need to do, and what do we w+ mt to end up with, Most of the work Lhat we normally do IS what we consider routine maintenance, hic#t is simply rr C aining the road, That consists of cleaning the ditches, cutting the trees and the brush, mowing, patching potholes, a list of other tlrixigs. As far as Hurd load 6ure are several culvert pipes that need to be replaced. We are going to cut the bank[ back along Ray Ink's property for the purpose of trying to improve the line of sight there. There's a sharp curve with a blind spot. 1'd like to shave the bank that belongs to the Sutton development. It would be quite raizlor, actually, and I believe that will ahso improve the line of sight for the people traveling down toward ElUa Hollow Road. Cutting the trees, rJcaning the ditches where its needed, crossover pipes. We aze oir1g to put some fabric dowry and haul new gravel in a section approxi.meely half a mile long where it's been talked about there is a granular base, which is what's underneath the blacktop that's bad. I totally agree wilh that. As far as drainage, there is already under drain, 4" .plastic pipe that's already been put in that road, which in fart is working. Meaning that there's wal:er running through it. Prom id]iue Road over to in the neighborhood of eeley's driveway, we'll repsve that and then from that portion down to F11is Hollow will be just a new surface t7reatrnent. And that paved section will also be surface treated, .(t's a standard procedure for a cold. - mix paving_ We would surface treat it and that helps beep the inter and salt and that' type of thing out of The pores in the mix. As tar as widening the road, we don't have that intent_ I think your defuiitirsn and mine may bu two dit�f .mot things, J,he impression that 1 get from you people is that you think we're gong to add lanes. That's not the intent. It should end up pretty much the same width, and I'm not even sure what that is down by the Ellis Hollow end, whether that's 18 or 20 feet. Those ditches are so close to the pavement there, which isn't a good thing, but we don't have any intent of changir that_ There again, I 9was trying to cornprornise and not look at this as being a bigger project where we needed to mriden the road. So for the most part, I hope that when we get done basically what you'll sec is a_ paved area _ Which is basically what you see )-low, other than the fart that in the bad section it will be a goad paved area rather than the mud and clay and loose stone and everythutag else that you see there. P alblxirigc - Why are the trees cut 11-ien if you're just repaving the road? J Bush - I stated that before. There's man} reasons as far a rn s I' concerned. One is that we were taught in high way school that we reed to have a clear zone c� long the side of the road because even though we know cairn travel on the paved area, we also know that they can leave the pavement and enter that area, That's the area that becomes unsafe for the traveling public. Currently the policy for our Highway Department is i'vc spoken wi-Lb the people and we've tried to came to an agreement and there have been some cases wheat I've tried to push what I thought was a. safety concern. This tree nee to go . It reall F is wc}rkingI In fact flat person I met up there was NEr, Seeley and I believe it had worked that day. He has changed his P•agc 14 of 20 'rll 03.064)2 mind and that's fine. There really is not any big issues on that property anyway. On the bigger • issues, we met with those people and they all agreed to the work. M Robertson - On the two properties where you're cutting the banks for line of sight, you're not also realigning the road. J Bush - No. The paved area will stay in the same plane. The section down by Mrs. Squyres, in fact you may not have been these when I was talking to your husband, but I thought we had talked about that. You guys had told me that if it wasn't your property that it belonged to what you thought was Sutton. All that's going to be is taking the grade all and what now is steep and high enough so that you can't see over it when you're driving down, we're just going to shave that off so that a car can see through that area. On the other property, Ray Ink's property, it's a bigger project. It's just something we normally do, so I don't look at it as being big, but apparently you people do. F Ayers - Just to get in perspective, do you consider Freese Road being a big project? J Bush - No. F Ayers - That wasn't a big project? J Bush - No. F Ayers - I'm just concerned. Like at Ray Ink's, is there going to be future plantings or something to hold that bank for erosion? That's going to be a steep cut. ® J Bush - We'll be hydroseeding that bank, planting grass seed, and it's probably not going to be any steeper than it is now. F Ayers - But all those stumps were holding the bank there. Now when you cut that out you're just going to have soil and there's not going to be much holding it there. J Bush - 'rhat's the purpose of hydroseeding. F Ayers - So it will be like Freese Road with the jute to hold it? J Bush - That's grass seed. F Ayers - No, the jute mesh. On a certain grade you're supposed to use jute before you hydroseed the whole thing. J Bush - We didn't. We didn't need it. F Ayers - Between the time you hydroseed. .I You can't hydroseed this time of year, and it rains in the Spring, what's going to happen to that bank? J Bush - We don't plan on cutting the bank until the dryer season. We don't want to be on the road with heavy trucks this time of year anyway. R Ink - You'll notice it's already caving off there in of the trees I had on it were already leaning into the road. they were already coming down. There's quite a few big h already dropped in the ditch before. And when you come first corner there.... Pagc 15 of 20 two or three spots, and two or three They were undercut so much that eavy stones hanging and they've down from my house to make that TB 03 -06 -02 F Ayers - My concern is that it gets fixed properly because at the end of our road, the Ellis Hollow end of our road, there's gullies there that will swallow a car because the erosion is 49 so bad because the ditch has been cut: out and it hasn't been rectified. R Ink - I've talked to him about it, and he told me ghat he planned on doing on the bank, because the bank already does have a problem maintaining. F Ayers - It seems like this stuff, the ditch clam shell comes up and then it's left bare and there's nothing there to hold. J Bush - Last year Tompkins County Soil &. Water actually purchased a hydroseeder which in fact we're storing in our highway barn, and to my knowledge the Town of Dryden and Town of Newfield have been using it. On Freese Road we used it on the ditch after we cleaned the ditch, and most of that grass started growing. You certainly could see it growing on the bank. I also believe that with time those saplings will come right back up. Mother Nature will take over and it will be a stronger, healthier bank than it certainly was for years. M Squyres asked what the hydroseeder was J Bush explained that it was a machine that spreads a mixture of water, mulch, fertilizer and grass seed. Other ingredients can be added for steeper banks. M Squyres - I'm a little concerned, bet.%%Tcen our house and Keast house on the right the brush is on a very steep bank. J Bush - Mr Keast asked me about that also. M Squyres - It's now going to fail because there isn't: going to be any vegetation... J Bush - The vegetation is still there. You've got grass or whatever it is. You're just: missing the saplings. And all those saplings were hanging out over the road. Somebody mentioned about snow bringing them down and what not after a snow storm. He's very happy with what we've done. I wish that he could have gotten here tonight. The day after we did the section from his driveway down toward your house, he called that morning to let us know how great it looked and that: he could see out of his driveway. These are the kinds of responses I'm getting. R Ink - See my driveway where we were talking about earlier, and 1 cut: it back, that's why I put a second driveway in. I almost got it there four or five times when I went to go out. On my tractor I can see a little farther, but it doesn't move across too quick, and I've had them on me point blank. So I told him to take the trees in front of the house so he could knock it down so I could see. It's been that way since it's been a road. R Seeley - I feel like we're getting off the issue. The issue to me is not whether Ray Ink's happy or I'm unhappy or is Mary happy. It's not whether individuals are happy. It's what's the process in the Town. If we're unhappy, most of us are unhappy with the feeling that there isn't any real process here where there's an interaction between our elected representatives on the Town Board interacting with the Highway Superintendent and interacting with the public to all come to some agreement on how to spend our tax dollars to do this project or that project. I mean I'm thrilled that Ray Ink's happy. I think that's great. And if my saplings are causing him a problem, I wish he'd ask me to cut them down. I would be happy to cut them down. It's not a question of individuals, it's what the 'Town does as a whole and how we can have input. I'm not saying it very well. Supv Varvayanis - Well, that's exactly what we'll be talking about in a month. 0 Page 16 of 20 01113 03 -06-02 R Seeley - Great. Then I'm happy. J Erickson - I just want to thank Jack. I know he doesn't have to talk to us directly, and I think it really helps just to answer our questions. J Bush - Well, I certainly tried to talk to you directly. That was the purpose of the letter. It said please call me, I will be more than glad to come up and meet with you at your property, ?? - One last question. We've already talked about how we can't have speed limits. In your professional opinion, what's going to happen as far as the volume and speed of the traffic on the road? Are you anticipating it staying the same? J Bush - The more that it's in the paper the more people are probably going to want to come up and look at it. But other than that I think that it won't change a lot because of where it is. Can I guarantee that? No, but there again my responsibility to you as taxpayers is to make that safe, not: only for you, the resident on the road, but all the residents on the road as well as the traveling public that also uses it. N Baldwin - All the roads are getting faster and faster. I used to live on a road where they went slow and there was hardly any traffic. Now it's a main highway between Cortland and Ithaca. But when I moved there thirty-some years ago, it was just: a country road. You can't do anything about speed. Supv Varvayanis - Any citizens with anything else? ® Martha Robertson, County Board Rep - As it happens, one of the days when Jack's crew was working, the County crew was cutting trees on Ellis Hollow Road. They of course were a little upset about the fact that there was a big article in the paper, and the fact that comments might: be directed to them as well. 1 stopped and talked to the crew. They were working on Mac Larson's property cutting trees so I asked the crew supervisor, Mr. Sincebaugh, and Mac was there and confirmed this, that they six or eight months before had gone down the road talking to property owners when the leaves were out so that they could identify dead trees. Deciduous trees that in the summer time have no leaves, a pretty good clue that those were dead. So it was clear that Mac knew which ones had been dead for a while because they were there in the summer time. They marked those and those are the ones that they were cutting in case in a storm they should fall onto the road. I asked Mr. Sincebaugh did the County ever cut live trees and he said no. I asked him also was shade a problem on road surfaces and he said no. Of course, I have concerns because we are responsible for lots of roads in the county that have lots of trees on them as well, so I'm in a conversation with our Righway Supervisor and interested to know because there seems to be a difference in policies here. So that's just the County's experience since you asked. M Robertson also reported that she had attended a meeting with Cl Grantham, Michael Lane, Dooley Kiefer and Frank Proto from the County Board, Don Barber and Todd Schmitt from the Town of Caroline and a couple of people from USGS and Ed Marx from County Planning to discuss the aquifer studies the Towns of Dryden and Caroline are interested in. She thought it was a productive discussion. The County Planning Committee will discuss the matter. The County's Water Resources Council has been expected to come up with a priority list for which aquifers should be studied in what order. They aren't sure they can do that this year. She does believe there is a lot of sentiment that the Dryden project is of relatively top priority. That the Town has zoning and the master plan is in the works helps to prove that the Town will make use of the information that comes from the study. One issue is that Mike Lane has expressed that all the Towns should have an opportunity to buy into the program if the County comes up with some sort of match. Pagc 17 of 20 T13 03 -06 -02 With respect to the Vital Communities initiative, after having made presentations and heard comment from the public the Planning Department has come up with a draft set of principles. Ed bitarx will be present at the next Tompkins County Municipal Officials Association meeting on March 26 to talk about these principles and get feedback. He will then discuss it with the Planning Committee and bring it to the County Board. She stated that some County Board reps would like to see To%tm Boards pass a resolution supporting the principles before the County Board takes it up. M Robertson stated that a. representative from the State Department of Transportation twill be at the Ellis Hollow Community Center on March 25 at 7:00 p.m. to follow up on the request for an area speed limit in the Ellis Hollow area. Don Barber, Caroline Town Supervisor, was at the County Board meeting last night and spoke about communication between the County and Towns and asked that the Towns get agendas for all the committee meetings of the County. Mark Sutton, Deputy Highway Superintendent - Martha, I think that you need to converse with the County again because at the corner of Goodband and Irish Settlement I believe they cut some trees there at about the same time as the project on Hurd Road, and I'm pretty sure they were not dead. They may have given you some misinformation. They were actually numbered and one of the trees was 4A. And the one is like 40 feet off the center of the road. Cl Grantham stated that at the meeting on the aquifer study on February 25, it was originally Town of Dryden and Town of Caroline to talk with US Geological Survey and they invited County Representatives in the hopes that they would be interested in pursuing the aquifer study. She has a sample study for the Virgil Creek Watershed in the Town of Dryden and they chose that as a priority watershed in the County because it has the largest number of people drinking groundwater, partly because of the Village's groundwater supply, and because according to USGS the Department of Conservation has it on their radar screen. The cost of the study ranges from $435,000 to $465,000, if we are able to sign a contract with them by April and would be able to lock in a 30"/o cost share. It cannot be matched with Federal money but if the Town got a federal grant and it flowed through the Town they would see it as local money. It could be County money, Town money, splits. The costs could be made lower by running the drilling contracts through the Town because the feds have such high overhead costs, and it could be spread out over a longer period of time. The contract could be written as contingent on funding, and that would be for USGS as well as for the Town. So in ayear where there was no funding it could be postponed for a year. Cl Grantham also asked them about bedrock wells and looking at bedrock water supplies around the Town and in some parts of the Town there have been reports of those wells drying up in dry years and this is going to one of those years. Cl Grantham has a copy of a draft contract that USGS had with Schuyler County to look at bedrock wells and will get a. copy to other board members. Cl Michaels asked how many more studies would be necessary to cover Dryden. Cl Grantham exhibited a map she was given showing the aquifers in the Town. She explained that the Virgil Creek aquifer will probably be the most expensive aquifer to study because it's so deep, but the priority is based on how many people drink groundwater. The municipal water supply for the Village of Dryden is groundwater in the Virgil Creek aquifer and the Board thought that the Village should be asked to share in the cost of the study. The Board agreed that Cl Grantham should continue discussions with USGS. Cl Grantham said she has had phone calls from people in Ellis Hollow who work at Cornell and are interested in having bus service to the Cornell Campus weekdays for business hour purposes. She has spoken with Cornell and they said there has to be either a bus service 40 Page 18 of 20 14S 03416 -02 already there or a park and ride of some sort, then Cornell employees are subsidized so they ride that service free, and suggested she speak with TCAT. She talked with TCAT and they asked her to make a presentation at their board meeting. She has done that and asked them to consider experimenting with a. loop through h Mis Hollow that serves people during the weekdays. 'i'heir operations committee will now consider the request and will let us know. The Town may be asked to contribute local dollars. The Planning Board met with George Frant on February 21. He provided a full draft of the master plan and got a lot of input. He has to do some additional writing, but has made significant progress. The next Planning Board meeting is March 21. Richard Turecek has formally resigned from the Planning Board and Cl Grantham would like to appoint Joseph LaQuatra who lives on Groton Road. Barbara Caldwell would like him to be on the Planning board. Cl Grantham said his expertise is in housing, environmental impacts of housing, impacts of environmentA regulations on housing costs and would be a good addition to the Board. RESOLUTION #99 - APPOINT PLANNING BOARD MEMBER Cl Grantham offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby appoints Joseph LaQuatra, Jr. to serve on the Town of Dryden Planning Board, for a term to e.xl)ire December 31, 2003. 2nd Cl Michaels Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes Supv Varvayanis Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Grantham Yes Cl Stclick said he had received an e -mail from residents concerned about keeping Dryden Lake Park and trail free of trash and stating that one of the piers is in need of repair. J Bush said that Larry Carpenter does visit the park on a regular basis to clean it up. They also wondered if it was possible to create an "adopt a park" area similar to the adopt a highway program and get community groups involved in helping to maintain the park. Cl Stelick wondered if it was possible to use community assignments (from the Court) to help with some of this. Youth groups have helped with spreading chips, weeding, etc. in the past. Cl Stelick said he had also heard concerns about speeders on Lake Road and J Bush told him that is an enforcement issue and residents should call the Troopers or Sheriff. Cl Stelick reported that last week Dryden Ambulance, Inc. and went over their budget. Those in attendance, including Cl Stelick, Don Hartman and Peggy Walbridge asked several questions and he thought that overall it went: well. P Walbridge stated it was a start and that the information was very useful. Cl Stelick stated that: Jeff Bushnell had expressed an interest in being on the Recreation Commission and has written to the Board. There is a vacancy. RESOLUTION #100 - APPOINT RECREATION COMMISSION MEMBER Cl Stelick offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby appoints Jeffrey Bushnell to the Recreation Commission for a term to expire December 31, 2003. 2nd Cl Grantham Page 19 of 20 T8 03- 00-02 Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes Supv Varvayanis Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Grantham Yes Cl Stelick asked J Bush where the logs went when txecs were cut and he replied that the smaller portions get chipped up and ones that are 5" in diameter and bigger are going to Mr Ink's property, those that belong to hire and the people he talked with. Mr Keast has expressed interest in keeping his for his own use. What the landowners aren't: interested in are either chipped or hauled away. Cl Stelick asked what was going on at the intersection of M.idline Road and Hunt Dill Road. J Bush replied that had started before he took over. I1: had been a dumping site for stumps, etc. It is owned by Ray Bell, who apparently does not care. Jack will talk with. him again to make sure it's still all right, but Mr. Bell does work for the highway department occasionally and so has had opportzunity to make complaints. Cl Stelick asked about the drainage problem on Hurd Road and whether the culverts needed to be cleaned or were bad and needed to be replaced. J Bush explained there is a section where there is no real ditch and the water runs along the bunk and at times does get: on the road surface. They are hoping to be able to correct that. Ditches are cleaned on an as needed basis. In 1999 Mr Seeley called and wanted a driveway culvert put in. The Highway Dept installed it using the same procedure as for anyone else in Town. The property owner buys the pipe and the Highway Dept supplies the cover, labor and equipment.. The culvert pipe belongs to the property owner and it is their responsibility to maintain it. Atty Perkins distributed to the board a chronology of incidents regarding the recent dangerous dog case. There have been a. lot of complaints from people in the neighborhood regarding the dog, and the dog has had more than one bite. The matter has been appealed to County Court. The owners of dog have had the dog evaluated and the recommendation is that the dog should never be loose. Atty Perkins stated he will not consent to any disposition that doesn't involve either euthanasia or permanent confinement of this animal in a cage with a. roof, and it is not: to be out of the cage without a muzzle. And he is not prepared to recommend that without talking to any of the victims. The dog is presently confined at the SPCA. Rachel Davis, the latest victim, has been talking to Cl Grantham and to Dan Winch regarding the way the SPCA interacted with her when they received her complaint. She would like to see more training of the SPCA staff about how to interact with the public. According to Ally Perkins there are tuto alternatives under the Ag & Markets Law if the dog is determined to be a dangerous dog. One is that it be destroyed and the other is that it be confined in a cage with a roof and never be allowed out: without a muzzle, under control. On motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, f4 /* ✓1/4e i�6t &-o6Jr Bambi L. Hollcnbeck Town Clerk Page 20 of 20 mer6 @comell.edu, 06:04 PM 3/6/02 -0500, Roadwal maintenance in the tow of Dryden To: mere @comell.edu From: Milo Richmond <mer6 @comell.edu> Subject: Roadway maintenance in the tow of Dryden Cc: Bcc: Attached: My name is Milo Richmond. I reside at 1466 Ellis Hollow Road and own road frontage on Ellis Hollow Road and Genung Road. I have a few concems about the process and procedures that we follow in road maintenance in the town of Dryden. 1. What is the procedure and timing of notification to the property owner when roads and road right of ways are slated for maintenance, improvement, widening etc. And, what mechanism is in place to assure that the landowner has been duly notified? 2. Do current practices for right of way maintenance follow the steps prescribed by the N.Y.State Environmental Quality Review Act? If not, then we should consider meeting those prescriptions or be aware that we may be in violation of the law. 3. What type of oversight arrangements are in place to help guide the officials who are responsible for road maintenance and management of hazardous situations such as washout or tree falls? It seems that we all have a responsibility to report and assist with such safety issues but communication on this should not be unidirectional. While emergency actions are probably best left to our road crews, any long range plans or more involved activities should likely be cleared /approved by our town board or an appointed oversight group and then communicated to the landowner. 4. Current cutting on Hurd Road suggests to me that not enough thought was given to vegetation removal from steep banks that are found along portions of that road. Bank stability may become a problem requiring even more maintenance and possibly a huge change in the entire character of that roadway. Do we want that to happen without discussion? 5. An overarching concern of mine is that local residents, anywhere I have ever lived, have a sense of placel We all have our digs as humble or extravagant as they may be and as a result may be deeply offended by anyone who purposely on inadvertantly brings abrupt change to our, surroundings. This is especially true when the individual pays taxes on the property and feels a sense of true ownership. I would like to know that these concerns will be addressed without removing the responsibility and initiative of the individuals who have been duly elected or hired to keep our roads safe and in proper order. I personally think that the roads are being kept in excellent condition, it is the edges that bring me here tonight. Thank you, Mike Richmond Printed for Milo Richmond <mer6 @cornelLedu> 1 C David Weinstein, 04:35 PM 03/05/2002 4800, No Subject • XSender: daw5 @postoffice2.mail.cornell.edu Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 16:35:51 -0800 To: drydent@lightlink.com From: David Weinstein <daw5 @cornell.edu> Subject: letter Cc: rhs4 @cornell.edu, sstelick @aol.com, michaels@bpmlegal.com, dgg3 @cornell.edu David Weinstein 51 Freese Rd Ithaca, NY 14850 Mark Varvayanis Town Supervisor Town of Dryden E. Main St, Dryden NY 13053 Dear Mr. Varvayanis, Page I of 3 Could you please enter this letter into the official record of your next town board meeting? is In these times of money shortages it is difficult to understand why Dryden Highway Superintendent would spend large amounts of money conducting projects that the people of the town neither want nor need. Over the past several years The Highway Superintendent has had his crews reshaping hillsides and cutting live trees 10 to 20 feet from the roadside (and in the case of Freese Rd, up to 50 feet), leaving roads that were once woodsy and cathedral -like feeling like broadway thoroughfares. Mr. Bush has presented no plan for any of these operations to the town board, as he is obligated by law to do. He has refused to hold meetings to explain his objectives and reasoning when requested. Is this how a public servant should operate? Neither has the Highway Superintendent been willing to provide the costs for these projects. Through daily observations of manpower, trucks, and supplies used on the Freese Rd project, I estimate the cost to have been between $150,000 and $200,000, and possibly much more. These are large sums that could have been spent on needed services such as a new town recreation facility or to offset the large increases in ambulance services. These are our tax dollars and we are not being given a chance to openly discuss whether this was the best way to spend our money. The Highway Superintendent's projects do not conform with tree cutting policies ® followed by the county or by many other local municipalities, nor has he supported his claim for their need by submitting any documents indicating that these follow Printed for Dianne <drydentnlightlink.com> 03/06/2002 David Weinstein, 04:35 PM 03/05/2002 -0800, No Subject Page 2 of 3 accepted "best practice" standards. His arguments about opening the roads to 4 wintertime heating and preventing trees falling on cars are guesses that have not been supported by any research or evidence he has presented. In the 15 years I have lived on Freese Rd, there hasn't been one live tree fall from the north bank on to the road. Further, the first accident on the Freese Rd hill in 8 years occurred after the road work, probably because the work increased speeds on the hill. People all over this town are scared that their road might be next and that they will have no say. I urge you to take the following steps: 1. The Dryden Town Board must exercise its management of road projects under state highway law, Article 10, sect. 284. It must fulfill its legal responsibilities by requiring the Highway Superintendent to present details plans, including costs, for public discussion and town board approval. For example, in the current cutting on Hurd Rd. there is no plan, and we have no idea what it will cost the town. There are no traffic counts or accident data that justify spending this kind of money on this road. There is no evidence to show that shade trees destroy roads. 2. The Town Board must quickly establish a Citizen's Transportation Advisory Board with whom the Highway Superintendent is required to meet. 3. The board should pass a resolution asking the Highway Superintendent for a complete description of the' Hurd Road project with a cost estimate. 0 4. The board must create a procedure that requires the Highway Superintendent to complete the SEQR review process BEFORE he begins cutting trees. The current action on Hurd Road is a likely violation of SEQR (state law, State Environmental Quality Review). In the future, SEQR must be complied with before a single tree is cut. The town already acknowledged that SEQR must be complied with in a similar instance on the Freese' Road project. The board must ensure that the town is not violating state law. 5. The Town Board must instruct,the Highway Superintendent to work only on public property and'avoid operating at taxpayer's expense on property where the town has no right of way. Trees have been cut on Hurd Road that are 20 feet away from the road.edge, far beyond any right of way. Any logging the landowner desires beyond this right of way must be paid for by the landowner. The town board should insist on obtaining temporary easements to do work on the side of the road when they have landowner permission, not relying on a verbal conversation. We need these things immediately to bring the highway department into balance with the rest of the needs of the town. Thank you for your time and attention Printed for Dianne <drydent(a),lightlink.com> 03/0642002 David Weinstein, 04:35 PM 03 /05/2002 4800, No Subject • David Weinstein Town of Dryden Printed for Dianne <drydent�lci),lightlink.com> Page 3 of 3 03/06/2002 March 6, 2002 0 To the Dryden Town Board: The Highway Department managed to finished cutting over 900 trees on the side of, and in the woods along Hurd Road just before this Board meeting. Many of these trees were small (about 3 -6 in diameter), many were large mature oaks, white pines, hemlocks and beeches taller than a two -story building. WHY DID THE HIGHWAY DEPAUMENT CUT THESE TREES? Hurd Road is an historic road, named for the post - Revolutionary War family that farmed land. You can still see barbed wire and apple trees in the woods. When my husband was a boy here, Hurd Road was a one -lane dirt road. The road was widened in the 1970's, and then widened and paved in the early 1990's. Here is a summary of the reasoning for cutting these tress and changing the character of one of the loveliest roads in Dryden, I. Highway Department worker: The trees are "in (the town's) right of way ". FACT: the Town does not own Hurd Road. and we own to the center of the road. The town has no rip ,ht of•way on Hurd Road, This is backed up by a letter from our attorney to the Town of Dryden in 1999 (attached), 2, Highway Department, Jack Bush: The trees are damaging the road by shading it (letter to ® Hurd Rd. property owners, Feb. 1 111 2002)0 FACT: The trees aren't shading the road in the winter, when the damage occurs because they don't have any leaves in the winter. Contrary to Mr. Bush's assertion, a recent report indicates that tree shade actually protects the road by preventing asphalt from breaking down. Reference attached: Tree City Annual Report., 2001 � p. 6. 3. Highway Department, Jack Bush: The trees are unsafe (Feb. 1.1. letter) to the travelling public. FACT": What is an unsafe tree? How is a live tree that is 10 -17 feet from the edge of the t)avement "unsafe "? Is the Hi_hLVay Department afraid that someone may get drunk, end up with their car in the woods, and hit these trees? 4. Highway Department, Jack Busli: Because the road is breaking up, we have to cut the trees. The Highway Department "normally" cuts trees before paving the road. FACT: what has cutting live trees far fi-om the roadbed to dry with paying/repairing; the roadbed? S. Highway Department worker: We always cut trees before we widen the road. ® FACT: Widening the road is not part of the project. description_ Is the Town going to den the road or not? of 6. Highway Department: We had landowner permission. FACT- Receiving verbal permission from landowners is interesting but irrelevant. Spending, public money to perform loiZginy, for residents is not a good use of town monev and not an excuse for violating state law that requires compensation when private property is "taken ". The idea that these live trees are dangerous to drivers, and causing damage to the road is ludicrous. It seems to me and many other citizens that the damaged roadbed, which looks like it was caused by shoddy road construction techniques, is being used as an excuse to widen shoulders and for the "Town to start acquiring a huge right -of- -way on the sides of the road. Again, that is called a "taking ", and i believe it is against the law. The process that the Town has used to remove these trees is not only likely illegal, but it is certainly very bad management of our tax dollars, State law apparently requires the following process for town road improvements: the Highway Department recommends a road project by submitting a. plan to the Town Board_ This plan is supposed to consist of specifications, a cost estimate, a demonstration of need, and certainly whether or not the Town needs to acquire property to achieve its goals for the road. it's obvious why state law would be written this way. The Highway Department budget forms .53% (some 2.3 million dollars) of the entire town budget. The power to spend our taxes should be in the hands of an elected board of representatives of the town, not in the Highway Superintendent. By majority vote the Town Board decides.. given the other priorities for road work in the town, and other legitimate needs in the town, whether to spend the money on the proposed road project. In Dryden the Town :Board often does not even find out about. road projects until the project is under way and there are complaints from citizens. is this a good way to manage the process? 2. SEQR requires a full project description and the town must comply with SEQR before the project is begun. In the case of Hurd Road, the project description submitted by the Highway Department did riot even mention cutting 900+ trees. In addition, the SEQR form was submitted after the project had begun. And finally, the form was both submitted by the Highway.Department and reviewed by the Flighway Department, when it is clear that the Town Board only has the authority to review projects under SEAR, Why would the Dryden Town Hoard relinquish its authority to act as custodian of our tax dollars, especially when economic conditions are shaky? We still do not have a complete description of the Hurd Road project OR a cost estimate. Why would the Town Board relinquish its authority to review projects in our town under SEQR? Citizens are asking the Town Board to take town matters back into its own hands_ Our Highway Superintendent is unwilling to meeit with citizens who pay his salary. When asked politely if he would please stop cutting for a day until citizens could meet with him and discuss these concerns, he did not stop cutting and lie did not meet with citizens. Nor, when asked, did he provide a date when he would be able to meet with citizens. It appears that the Department that spends 2.3 million dollars of our money is out of control. What will f • you do as Board members to take control back, for our protection? And finally, here are some questions for the Highway Superintendent..: 1) What does the Hurd Road project involve, exactly? How much will it cost from start to finish? 2) Where is the accident data that would justify spending this money straightening and cutting trees on such a low traffic road? 3) When is a live tree l 5 feet in the woods "dangerous" to the travelling public? 4) Where is the data that show shade trees destroy roads? 5) What other roads in our town have dangerous trees, and when are you going to cut them? 6) Why won't you meet with the citizens that pay your salary? Sincerely, M Robin Hadlock eley 332 Hurd Rd. t .� I ' 41iyY ,•�,alr ��•:. 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P g ShQdy,'stre�t� haaeYbeen_ founag.N -. e ,Sl a,, Is I c>± imblin a�id':devcto ` r' (a..; ,+ + i w , r + ll M $: g�adlfor� the street >paaementKars.u?el'l;acsa �,� Irk "intoi o es for. the�resaderitsthat°Zaue nearb • ....���. t ` y.) 2.{- I v... . •.• } .. • - 1 v j+., n.a •� w: No •�i. J %vs . 'I. .i' rri .♦ -.['• :5 :• . < ,/b ,4 1 a. y t.'� -r. `r r 4 IV .I'lo,r.ctr. is .-3 1I may.: �1•: t T vv. ..- 'n•.[: Its �1 `t_ i!. /. 1+ �.r1 /. j�...'1 •�!a� I1 l6. Ar4 v=ii'v %d1 to It It I 6 • TREW, CITY USA ANNUAL Ri?POK17 2001 e Me National Arbor Day Poimdation , To whom it may concern: We are writing this letter to express our concern; as homeowners and taxpayers, about the recent activihr on Hurd Road. Although the Highway Deparunent appears to be done with their tree - cutting work and it's obviously too late to prevent it, we think that a number of issues remain. Specifically, we don't believe the work NN711l achieve its stated objectives, we do believe that there are procedural problems with the way this job was plaruied and executed, and, finally, if there is some other underlying agenda yet to be addressed, we'd be really interested in hearing about that now —not the day before the project begins. The Purpose of the Work In terms of the work; the original letter we received from the Highway Department noted the condition of I-Turd Road, particularly the "deteriorating section" to which a lack of sunlight was a contributing factor. We walk this road daily with our dogs and are well aware of the problems with the road surface. What we're not convinced of is how tic connection was made to the trees and shade, especially given this year's "unusual weather." This is winter, and the vast majority of the trees, Including those cut, are deciduous and don't have shading leaves this time of year. The Department does plow this road, so it isn't as if a lot of snow or moisture sits on the road (and especially not this Year). We're no engineers (but, then again, there's no evidence that any one in the Highway Department is either), but we've always believed that severe road surface problems of this sort have 1.0 do with drainage problems (i.e. where and how does it drain ?). 11 anyone had bothered to walk the road beforehand and examine the condition of this specific road, the correlation between particularly shallow and often- clogged drainage ditches and the portions of the road that are particularly torn up would have seemed obvious. Over the past eight years in which we've lived in our house, we have seen multiple instances every year when the water overflowed from the ditches onto the road and/or sat in the ditches, saturatins the road underneath. Both circumstances result in the freeze /thank,@ cycles which cause the type of damage you see on the road. Which brings us to the major issue: • It isn't the shade from the trees • It is the drainage ditches, especially when they aren't lent clear of. ' debris • The recent u•ee cutting process solved none of this, while • Actually making it worse by leaving behind substantial waste in the ditches (more leaves than usual; branches, even entire tree trunks, not to mention the used earplugs), and • Stripping the ground above the ditches of trees that previously helped keep some of the erosion down Basically, we want to make the point now, publicly and on the record; that the matters behind the condition of Hurd Road twill worsen, not get better because of what has happened. This year may not be bad simply because we will not have heavy snow melt, but in the next year or two, substantial drainage From snow or rain will cause more damage to the road unless the Department gets a lot better ,about maintaining the ditches. So please don't come back ajid tell us that not enough trees were cut the first t:itne to solve the problem. And note ghat the design of the ditches and piping is fully capable of handlnlg the water flow if properly taken care of. We don't need deeper ditches, just better day -to -day care. And although %ve'vc pulled our share of branch and leaf blockages away from the pipe openings, that would seen] to be part of the Highway Department's normal duties. The Procedures Used We presume that everyone involved has access to the original letter we received. If nm we'd be happy to supply copies. 1� %e dou.'t believe the letter to be clear as t►7 the nature and extent of tlae work intended, but in light of what has happened since and other information now available (e.g. the SL- "QR filing) a certain sense olfambiguity was probably intended, That may be an issue in and of itself, but that can be discusses! separately. What we do have a problem with is the speed with which trees were marked and cut. Notification seemed rather abrupt (ti or 7 days, we got the letter on 2/13 or 2114). We only had three small saplings, that we know of, removed from our properly and did have a chance to speak with the Superintendent prior to the cutting. But that oppornunity was dumb luck. We walked our dogs at 7:15 on Wednesday, 2,120 and no trees anywhere near its were marled. We arrived ]tome after dark . that night. We. again walked the. dogs at 7 :15 on 'I'h WAS slay, 20121 and found trees marked and work in progress. 'fhe crew kvas in front of our house by 5:30, so we basically had about an hour practical notice on what was cut. Again, our three saplings didn't really make a difference, so we didn't raise a stink (though we do feel much safer now that those troublesome trees are out of the. way). But this road has some nonresident landowners who would have had very little chance to note the extent of.'tile operation or how many of their own trees were nnarked before they went in the shredder. If everything is above - ground here and the project is as legitimate as the Superintendent implies, we're not real clear on what the point of this blazing pace might be. Why no time to canvas the community on the project? Why no reasonable period of time between project scarification, marking, and commencement of activities'? Why, once evidence arose of at least Some concern of residents, was the pace speeded up instead of taking << break to address those concerns'? What was the plan behind the cutting pattern'? Although the trees we really hated to see go were the large ones, the vast rnajority of the 500 -900 trees that disappeared were very tiny— hardly the kind Oftrces to provide a canopy that shades die road unduly. We just don't quite get what the plan is here. Which brings us to: 6ivlrat's Going On We've come to our own conclusion that one of two thinks seems to be happening here: • The charitable view is that the Superintendent is maki_ag this up as he goes alongy. V that there is no plan, and this is just a variety of ill- considered decisions that try out new stuff that's in the trade journals or that keeps the .workers occupied. The od hoc fashion in which resi den tsita:xpavers are notified, documents are filed, work is planned, etc. may support this view. As taxpayers we have concerns about the efficiency of the approach, but we are less affected personally. • The more sinister view is that something bigger is going on. Given the indications in the SEQR that "road straightening" is intended as 1.vell as suspicions that widening or other activity may also be in the offing, (none of which is mentioned in the letter dated 2!1. 11 the day before date of the SEQR tiling), we have concerns that the Superintendent may not be clone "improving" our road for us. When we mowed to Ithaca, we sought out a house on a wooded lot on a forested lane. hor a lot less money, we could have bought something similar on Route 79 or Route 13, but that wasn't the kind of area in which we wanted to live. Hurd Road, though it does go through between M.Idlineffrish Settlement and Ellis Hollow, is not intended as a thorottghtare. The woods come right Lip to the road (or at least, did come right up to the road). iblost drivcr.s on the road, whether they live on it or not, recognize that the street is rivisrylturny and has the potential of having pedestrians, bike- riders, children; animals (domestic and wild), tree branches, stones, etc. in the road at any time. As a result, they go a reasonable speed and the road is perfectly safe. Given plenty of alternatives, incltiding a fine road in Route 13 that goes right to the heart of Ithaca from Dryden, we're not sure why the community would need an "unproved" road with liigher volume and higher speeds. We can't speak for everyone on the road, but we doubt the tither residents want such a thing either. 'I'lhe loss of ambiance on the road is already apparent from this cutting. if further activity is intended, we'd really like to know now. We'd also like to blow what the overall plan is, not just for our- road but the place of it in the Dryden system of roads. Is all of this activity and spending purely at the discretion of the Highway Superintendent? Is there a plan in place or are our property values and quality of life Tieing threatened purely on a whim`' Sincerc��y, Xan -M. Bonascra & G. Scott Erickson 363 Hurd Road • (.. . 7 Sunny 1Ccuo11 Ithaca, NY 14850 March 6, 2002 Mark Varvayanis, Town Supervisor Town of Dryden 65 E. Main St. Dryden, NY 13053 Dear Mr. Varvayanis, The Town of Dryden Highway Department needs increased oversight by the Town of Dryden hoard. The town board has the authority to do so and should exercise it. Considering that the highway budget accounts for 53 percent of the overall town budget —$2.3 million in a total budget of $4 million — decisions on spending should be made with the full involvement of the board rather than be left solely with a highway superintendent. And decisions should be based on realistic community needs. There is a pattern of overkill on highway projects: doing work that does not isneed to be done; at all; and expanding the scope of work far beyond what is needed or wanted by town residents. Freese Rd. is an example. The owner of the property on which the majority of this work was done had asked that the highway department cut down trees on his property. The owner said that the trees were a safety hazard, in particular because —he claimed —there was erosion on the hillside. Other residents of the road and those who often travel it saw neither trees that posed an imminent danger to the public nor significant erosion on the hill. Many of the trees that the highway department cut down were 50 feet away from the road. The department shouldn't be in the business of private logging. If that is the direction the department wants to go, then it should charge individual homeowners when they request this service and not make all Dryden residents pay the bill. But first there should be a public referendum on whether taxpayers in fact want the highway department to be partly privatized and have its attention diverted from primary road work. The scale of the road work on Freese Rd. was monumental. It looked like something undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers! Month after month, there was a large crew of employees, a flotilla of heavy equipment, and many tons of material used. Was this necessary? Taxpayers were never asked; few, if any, realized the scale of the work planned. z Now that Freese Rd. has been widened as part of this work, drivers are going faster. They Shouldn't be: much of the road is winding and steep. It can't accommodate fast speeds, and there are likely to be a greater number of accidents. Hurd, Genung, and Dodge roads are other examples of wasteful spending. Two of these three are lightly traveled roads, while the other is only moderately traveled. Yet large crews and expensive equipment were on these roads day after day for long periods of time unnecessarily cutting trees. On Hurd Rd., a lightly used back road, around 1,000 trees were cut. Moreover, the department received only verbal easements (and from only some Hurd Rd. residents). Written easements are required fora legal right -of -way, however. The highway department did not submit a SEQR form in advance of the project, as mandated by state law. It submitted a SEQR form only after the fact and backdated it to make it appear as though it were complying with the lacy. In addition, it listed itself as lead agency, when in fact the highway department cannot serve as the lead. agency. There is also a question about George and Livermore roads. Both of these involved what could be considered excessive approaches to the repair work, when more economical measures Would have done the job. One lobrical step to take would be the establishment of a Citizen's Transportation Advisory Board that would meet with the highway superintendent, an excellent idea that has been proposed by another town resident. The town board should take whatever remedies now possible to deal with recent work that was excessively and illegally done by the highway department and gain some manner of control over its future undertakings. No significant tree cutting should take place by unilateral decision of the highway department. The basic issue, however, is that residents should have much more of a say in the highway department's actions, since it is their tax money, property values, and quality of life at stake. Sincerely, 1 Zorika Henderson cc: Deb Grantham Charlie Hatfield Chris Michaels Steve Stelick Metro To: The Town Board of Dryden, New York From: Laura Stenzler, 147 Hunt Hill Rd., Ithaca, New York 14850 Re: The Town Highway Department and Road Projects Date: March 6, 2002 Dear Town Board Members: 1 am writing to support the cornmenu, of Robin Seeley and many others, who spoke to you at tonight's Town Board meeting about the need for the Town Board of Dryden exercise its power (under state law) in approving and funding individual road projects. The Board must make decisions based on the demonstrated need for a project, and the cost to taxpayers of each project. The Town Board must not allow the town highway superintendent. to be the sole decision -maker on these costly and often disruptive projects, as has occurred on Hurd Rd. In addition, i would like to emphasize the importance of the proper handling of the SEQR environmental review of each project. The highway department submitted a SEQR form with the Highway Superintendent as the applicant and reviewer of the impacts. My understanding is that the Town Board should review SEQR forms and projects, not the Highway Department. The Highway Department should have submitted the SEQR form to the Town Board for its review. In addition, project descriptions submitted under SEQR must include the entire project, not just one piece of the project. Finally, our Town Supervisor should be carefully reviewing all of the proposed expenditures of the tax payers' money! Is theTown Board able to justify spending our money on unnecessary tree - cutting and bank - cutting road projects on lightly- traveled roads in Dryden? Does the town board know how much these projects cost us, just. in dollars'? There is also the very important quality of life element to be considered. These are rural,roads. where trees form a large part of the beauty and environment which we seek when moving to Dryden! Highway department plans that are severe in their removal of trees are NOT what the public desires! Thank you for your consideration of my views. I hope that. when it comes time to do the badly needed work on Hunt Hill Rd., these issues will have been resolved! Sincerely, /auo/� Laura Stenzler is147 Hunt Hill Rd. Ithaca, New York EL�IE GVTCHESS DOX 555, DRYDEW, NY 13053 607.844. S S 04 G March, 2002 Mark Varvayanis, Supervisor. Town of Dryden E Notain Street Dryden NY 13053 Dear Supervisor Varvayanis, drydentownhistorian @cny.net I ain appalled at the wanton destruction of our natural environment that is occurring along the roadways an the 'Town of Dryden. I believe that nearly all of the tree, branch, and bush removal is completely without merit 40 and, indeed, detrimental to both the intrinsic and the financial value of the properties being affected. This should be stopped at once. The harvesting program should not be resumed until a rational plan is Formulated with input. From all the concerned and .affected paxties kind then advertised so that :ill residents are informed. I strongly suggest that the '.Gown of Dryden board review the 1995 ordinance adopted by the Ossining, New York community concerning tree protection. If an Environmental Advisory Committee could be formed on our town, T would be the first volunteer to be on that committee. W 44W Elsie Gutchess Gordon Rowland, 03:05 PM 03/11/2002 -0500, Dryden Roads Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 15:05:50 -0500 From: Gordon Rowland <rowland@ithaca_edu> Subject: Dryden Roads To: Drydent @lightlink.com Reply-to: rowland @ithaca.edu Organization: Ithaca College X- Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 (Macintosh; U; PPC) X- Accept- Language: en,pdf Dear Bambi, Please pass the message below along to Charlie Hatfield. I have sent it to others on the Board via e-mail. Thank you. Gordon Rowland Dear Members of the Dryden Town Board, I have been participating in discussions with other residents concerning road work done by the Town of Dryden and Tompkins County Highway Departments, While I have not joined in legal actions, I have to say that I share others' concerns about the nature of work being. conducted and the processes. I hear of residents being asked for permission to carry out modest roadside maintenance then the work going far beyond what was described. Driving across Hurd Road I see many trees cut down well back from the road. In my own neighborhood on Dodge Road I see all branches of an entire roadside stand of pine trees cut to twenty feet 4 high when the trees are well back from the roadside. And while I have not personally observed these conversations I'm told that our Highway Superintendent has treated residents' concerns with indifference. I have two requests. First, if you have not already done so, please take the time to inspect the areas I've referred to above. Having walked along Dodge Road hundreds of times, for example, it is hard for me to understand the necessity of the large ditch and tree cutting. Second, with all that is happening it seems to me that it would make sense to step back for a time and resolve questions of authority and process before proceeding with further work. I can think of few negative and many positive consequences to doing so. I understand that you may not have direct authority over such, but I ask that you to use whatever leverage is possible to prevent further work that town residents do not desire. Thank you. Respectfully, Gordon Rowland 1166 Ellis Hollow Road 272 -0173 Printed for Dianne <drydent@,,lightlink.com> NagetotI 03/12/2002 • TEL NQ,607 +256 -1617 Mar 03002 12:12 F.01 �/Y9si9 �x I PIP* r Jr �. dddddd. r �' t 11 1 3 1V 7 • TEL N0.E07T266 -1617 Jame E. Slaieyy, Ph.l)• 440 Dryden Rd1 (6n 256-1617 Ithaca, N Y 1 48.50 Cg1�Ti�►_� Ira Mar 05102 JhSiraley*aol.coni To: Dryden Town f#uerd Ref. Recent Concerns over Road M,ainl.eaance, 'Tree Cutting, SIEQR and 'Town Board Oversight. •/' ' IMIt ♦ t •'1 V: 1- 1 =S 1 ♦ 1 • • ►' 141 MEMO= MOM l ♦, ♦•:' 1 ► 1`IL ► 4 .. �1, /y 1 :111'.1 ► ♦ '1 11 1 • 1.. ♦ ` i ► : ♦ p':: • . ► ,. , , ;tl / 1•.• 11 .1 • ♦, 1 • ► 1 ► If ♦ ♦ +r': 1 d ►•: • { ► : : 1 :.1 ►' ♦ : : 1 : 1./ • 1 1 •' 1 • : l / :.f t .a 1 1 • 1 1 c•♦'••• ` 1 • J 1� '1••.11.1 1 11 CI • 1:1 1 1 1: 1 ./ I r ♦1 1 1: : 1 1 1 : :1 . � 1 �� � 1 - 1 1 i+. • r •' 1 ♦ • 1 • '16 1 ' 1' ♦ M " ♦ 1 / •: 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' ,1 / 1 1 1 • . 1'•• saw""# r 1 1 :V S ,: • • 1 Town officiats, elected or otherwise should not be permitted to exems'se their oilioes above the law or in violation of the law. I U ^g6 you to exercise dm oversight of your office and to pmvaH on the �iighway Superintendent to follow State aid local guidelines in maintaining the Town Roab in a000rdareee with public iupui. eye: Mr. Jade Bush, highway E.r nrse,�f�!rt%s� RECEIVED 02 DRYDEN TOWN CLERK J. -Down of Dryden Town Board Meeting .March 6, 2002 Name - ,Please Print} A^8ese, Address ,CANEAO W "U. rj- \acti ;;721 14400.,S l,a w 14d , 1--Le- 2 �_ zo�- Sr �9ps� 14� 4CA(N� f ll /4l/ � Ke 32 E-60 12,E 3 g3 Town of Dryden Town Board Meeting is March 6, 2002 Name - {Please Print} C 1 en %, " C Vee. (iuT -✓1rt G1�SG /J Jt:AIJ AY 42(: /,, �.�a v tzr6 .1f i� by Z y1 + 1W Address 0-1 /7 PI/9 D �oAa 1 S�q R61S ACL0,1j ) f I (4 a cu Tlj&� Y- - I PC�cr �� 5 y Town ot Dryden Town Board Meeting March 6, 2002 Name - (Please Print) �< - 40�f f 0 Y4 60�-/t 41/� bt4 Address f drry {r ASS ea s / GCa,�j R