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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-03-21 - PB um 41 TOWN OF ULYSSES P LANNING BOARD BUSINESS FORUM MARCH 21 , 1994 TOWN HALL P RESENT : ACTING CHAIRWOMAN KRYS CA .lL ; MEMBERS : BUDD STOVER , GREG HOFFMIRE , PETER DEMJANEC AND GERRI KEIL ; SECRETARY : ROXANNE SMITH GUESTS : TOM SMITH ( TCTC ) , TOM MYERS ( CONTRACTOR , KRYS CAIL ' S HUSBAND ) , JIM SEAFUSE ( SHUR- SAVE ) , LARRY THOMPSON ( ULYSSES SQUARE ) , INGRID POTENZA ( ARCHITECTURAL BUILDERS ) AND SUE WHITAKER ( BLACK SHEEP DESIGNS ) ® The Chairwoman called the meeting to order at 7 : 35 PM . The purpose of the meeting was to hear from people involved in business / or people interested in starting a business in Ulysses . The Board would specifically like to hear what they could / should take into consideration to make it easier for businesses to succeed . Tom Smith introduced himself . He lives in the Village , and works for Tompkins County Trust Company . He stated some primary t hings that the banking community sees . 1 . Tompkins County Area Development ( TOAD ) , Industrial Development Agency ( IDA ) - they have a way of finding resources and getting t hings done . They do this by creating a type of a bond that t he IDA owns . A piece of real estate , plus a building will be owned initially by IDA ; ownership will revert to the devel - o per at the end of twenty or twenty - five years ( whatever length o f time chosen ) . During that time frame ( because the IDA owns it ) tax exempt bonds can be issued . The banks are more likely t o finance it . The IDA is a shell ; if there is a foreclosure the IDA is not involved . The foreclosure is on the bond . U ltimately , the person who finances it , gets back the real e state . It doesn ' t cost the taxpayer anything . Most devel - o pment that has been done , has been done in Lansing ( possibly due to the airport ) . 2 . Municipal cooperation - roadblocks are avoided . a . An area in a community is chosen ; a commercial development is started . A person can start up a business in that area , thus avoiding a zoning appeal , etc . Environmental studies still have to be done . They are called Economic D evelopment Zones . Cherry Street is a good example . It ' s a good idea to have already detirmined what type of businesses should go in . Clean businesses , like light manufacturers , h igh - tech , distribution centers would be likely . b . A municipality can help out by creating tax incentives . P ayment of rural taxes can be paid continuously by the business . The payments start out low , gradually they pay full taxes . This might be arranged over a period of ten years , increasing yearly . There is a tremendous resource with New York State Economic development . They have a representative in Binghamton . Their staff goes throughout the Southern Tier . That would be a good ® office to contact . There are other resources ; one is called South - e rn Tier East Economic Development Agency - they operate out of Corning . There are a lot of little agencies operating in the south - e rn tier . People aren ' t aware of the economic resources in the area . Economic Development has taken a high priority this year . A good person to contact would be Marty Luster . Tompkins County is sometimes not eligible for some of these things because of our low unemployment rate . If you talk to the right people you can break down the numbers in the unemployment ratio to prove Tompkins County is , in fact , under employed . Tompkins County has lower wages than any of the surrounding counties . The average income in Tompkins County is several thousand dollars ( per year ) lower t han any of the contiguous counties . yt TOWN OF ULYSSES 2 P LANNING BOARD BUSINESS FORUM MARCH 21 , 1994 The airport and the incubator at Cornell encourage high tech d evelopment firms to locate there . They give breaks in rent . He is aware that a local firm is actually developing a private incu - bator. facility . It will probably be announced in a month or so . ( It is on the other side of the lake . ) There is a lot of truth t o the statement that Tompkins County is centrally isolated . There is a limited facility airport and we don ' t have a four lane h ighway running through the County . The biggest incentive in Tompkins County is the presence of Cornell University . There are limited communication abilities . There is a total misunderstanding o f the difficulty of getting out to Trumansburg and back . ® Years ago , the Village desired to maintain their ambiance . For that reason they chose not to allow Moog Synthesizer to develop a plant in the Village . That type of thing sends a. message t o the Business community . Krys discussed the excellent relationship in the Town of G roton between the local bank , Village , and the Town ; something Mike Stamm ( TCAD ) mentioned when he talked to the Ulysses Planning Board . She asked for, suggestions on how the Board could get a better overall cooperation going on . (Mike said he has a direct line in Groton which was very helpful . ) Tom Smith responded that TCTC ' s bank president is on the IDA Board . Everyone at TCTC is very interested in economic development . He suggested that it would be a good idea to sit down with someone like Mike , and set o ut a TASK FORCE of interested parties on the part of the Village , banks , institutions , the Town of Ulysses , and perhaps someone from the Southern Tier East Economic Development Agency . Groton has been fairly agressive and have had successes ( Community Health Center , housing for elderly ) . Krys and Greg attended a conference on tourism on Saturday . Two groups that reported back ( after, the workshops ) , mentioned t he possibility of locating a resort enterprise on the east side o f the lake ( topographically it makes far less sense than on the west side ) . They did say they plan to get there by train . Reasons for locating there may be the proximity to the airport ; that side gets more sun . Tom Myers mentioned that the concrete plant has been sold . Tom Smith mentioned the closeness to Route 81 . Tourism is New York State ' s big thing right now , due to the loss of a tremendous amount of manufacturing jobs , said Tom Smith . Mike Stamm addressed the kinds of jobs we have with this " low rate " o f unemployment at the conference on Saturday . These jobs don ' t let people progress beyond entry level pay , said Krys . Tourism fits that mode again , said Gerri . Krys said that the average tourist spent 20 % on basic retail items available in the community , o utside of eating out . Tom Smith said the biggest roadblocks are in the City of Ithaca , itself . He hears that they are difficult to work with , e ven though they have promised more cooperation with developers , 0 they have in fact , not delivered . Lansing has a reputation of being very difficult to work with . Someone has to let people know t hat Ulysses welcomes business . Some of the problems are the N . Y . S . B uilding Codes which have to be enforced ; environeinntal codes , etc . Tight zoning ( which Ulysses is known for ; people like , as it protects the value of their, property ) doesn ' t bring in economic d evelopment . An economic development zone might be more of an incentive for people to come out here - there might be less hassle . The Village stymies with water and sewer . The Town was instrumental in getting water out to Alpha House . Perhaps they could be again if the need was close enough to the Village limits . Getting the information on where the Town of Ulysses ' s commercial areas are 7 TOWN OF ULYSSES 3 PLANNING BOARD BUSINESS FORUM MARCH 21 , 1994 out to the community would be helpful ( through distribution of maps to realtors , local Chamber of Commerce , offices of Mike Stamm and Marty Luster ) . If an industry wanted to move to North Carolina , the State agreed to have " x " number of trained people ready for them , said Tom Smith . Groton could probably offer that ( due to Smith Corona closing down ) , said Gerri . TC3 is interested in school to work transition , said Krys . Tom Smith mentioned that with the Clinton Health Care Program ® coming up , having the hospital on this side of the lake could be ✓ ery beneficial . There are ancillary services ; labs might choose to locate there . Krys mentioned that Cornell is bringing people here for training . Tom mentioned the elderly population - geriatrics , as having a future , too . He did say that TCTC would be very willing to w ork on the TASK FORCE . Jim Seafuse introduced himself ( he is the owner of Shur - Save ) . H e feels the water situation has got to be addressed . The Town of U lysses Zoning code currently says that you can not build anything w ithout a pre - approved permit from Tompkins County Health Department for water and sewer . The State is getting really tough on what ap - proved water is . They ' re getting stricter all the time . He has n ever had approved water in the store . He buys all his water for u sage . He honestly believes , that sometime this year , the Tompkins County Health Department will tell him he has got to have approved w ater because of state mandates . You can get it by drilling wells , getting the Village to do it , or have the Town of Ulysses step in . This is not for expansion - this is to maintain what he has . By law , in the Town of Ulysses , to build on commercial property , all he should h ave had to do was meet all the NYS building codes and do everything locally . Instead he had to have numerous meetings with professors from Cornell , Ithaca College , and local groups to prove he wasn ' t g oing to harm Smith Woods . Well , he didn ' t zone it commercial - he wasn ' t even here ! ( It has been zoned commercial since zoning was put in place . ) He feeels that no one wants commercial placed on commercial property . Now that the store is there , people feel that ' s all that should be there . He feels that that is a true statement as it has taken him almost three years to get street lights put in at t he end of his driveway ( after eighteen accidents ) , with him offer - ing to pay for everything . He needed the Town Board to do a resolu - t ion with NYSEG . Water hasn ' t been addressed . The Town agreed to form a water district for his store ( like they did for Alpha House ) , providing he agreed to get all the right - of - ways . He. agreed to pay for it all , in full , and was willing to pay a rate and a half for the water . He has been in the store four years ( since last December ) . The Town wrote a letter to the Village indicating they would support Mr . Seafuse . Krys inquired as to whether the Town received a reply from the Village ? Jim went to the Village Board Meetings for four months in a row after his written request was submitted . They either t abled it or didn ' t bring it up . He had a certified check for the ✓ equired amount along with the formal request submitted to the Village . ® Before the fifth month he called a Village Board Member and asked if they would be addressing water . He had to go out of town ; if they were , he would send someone else to represent him . He was told no ; they wouldn ' t get to it . It is his belief , that at that meeting , t hey brought up his water situation ( because he was not there ) , and ✓ oted not to do it . The certified check was returned to him three weeks after that meeting . He feels that the first thing that needs t o be accomplished is to have the Village and Town realize that they are one and the same - that they ' re not enemies . If the Village and Town can ' t do it perhaps the community can . Tom Smith mentioned that he ' s heard this story before ; he cited Wilcox Press . Larry Thompson ( Ulysses Square ) asked what the feasibility would be to go with Bolton Point ? The Village is almost at capacity he said . 77 TOWN OF ULYSSES 4 P LANNING BOARD BUSINESS FORUM MARCH 21 , 1994 When you run lines , you pay by the foot said Krys . The highest spot ( needed to build up pressure in the Town of Ulysses ) , is the property owned by Wilbur Briggs . It is at the top of Jacksonville , ✓ ight at the end of Halseyville Road . You could run a line down H alseyville , go back down Perry City Road , to Route 96 ; you could go down Halseyville to Route 96 ; Bolton Point is at Iradell now . B olton Point wants the loop , water isn ' t getting any cheaper , and it isn ' t getting any better . You need about five Town Board Members who have poor water , said Jim . An approach could be taken by the Town , where they state to ® the Village , that they would offer to alleviate some of their water problems , and in return , the Village would sell Ulysses a certain n umber of gallons , said Tom Smith . Referring to Bolton , Krys said , there is a pumping station on Wolf Lane with major maintenance problems . The guy is there , fre - q uently . If a municipality is sincere they need to show proof . There is no reason to take as long as it does to get approval . Road blocks put up against developers happen in Lansing , and Ithaca too . ( Tom cited several examples . ) K rys stated that the two things she hears are : 1 . things don ' t move quickly enough and 2 . there isn ' t enough clarity about what is needed to begin with . J im disagreed with the clarity issue , stating that the Town of U lysses is pretty fortunate in having an Alex Rachun . He knows what is going on . He was a big asset to Jim ; at times perhaps the only asset . H e walked Jim through each stage . A specific time frame would be helpful , said Krys . Water is critical . You can have any zones you want , but if the Health De - partment won ' t give approval , nobody is going to do it . Shur - Save is trying to get approval for an addition now . Jim has all the permits from the state saying he has twice what is needed ( in capacity ) . He ' s been talking to John Anderson in excess of three months , trying to get him to write a letter saying that he can put in another restroom . John ' s response was that the water is a prob - lem . Jim said that he has done everything he said he would do with t he water . He ' s not asking to put in a drinking fountain , just a ✓ estroom . Give him an approval for the restroom and he ' ll have a d rug store in by July . Larry mentioned that besides the on going maintenance for his water ; Congress has required that a new test be done ( based on what ' s happening on the west coast ) that has cost h im $ 700 . This will be a yearly requirement . They were suppose to t est for chemicals that aren ' t even used in this area . N ow , you have to buy the land on speculation that you ' re going t o have water . If you buy the property ; drill a well ; do everything you are suppose to do ; then the test results don ' t pass , what ' s ® the guy going to do ? You ' ll never be able to sell the commercial property , said Jim . He really approves of Tom ' s idea of the TASK FORCE . When the Village doesn ' t want to give you water , they ' re al - ways at capacity . Yet , they ' re watering the golf course to the tune o f hundreds of thousands of gallons . He uses five hundred gallons a day and he can ' t have it . For three years Jim has been trying to get the OK from the State t o dispense food stamps . His store has a customer base of nine zip codes . ( He took a random sample from the five thousand or so cash cards he has on file . ) Because there were under two hundred served in the 14886 zip code ( for food stamps ) the State denied him the ✓ ight to dispense . He wrote a letter to the State indicating that TOWN OF ULYSSES 5 P LANNING BOARD BUSINESS FORUM MARCH 21 , 1994 there were more than two hundred eligible if they looked beyound just t he 14886 code and counted the other eight zip codes that he serviced . That didn ' t matter to the State . Jim continued to submit requests , and he continued to get the same form letter, back , denying him . Once he went over the magic number of two hundred he received a letter from the State . They said he now has been approved ( a week ago , to - morrow ) , and he has to have everything in place in seven days ( secur - ity cameras , separate telephone line , circuts for the computer ) : Tom Myers introduced himself as a remodeling contractor within U lysses . Serving somewhat narrower interests here ; he did want to ® state one thing that he felt helps his business ; efforts made in up - h olding the quality in housing stock in this Town . He likes the square footage rule as it helps keep modulars out . They ' re basically a lower quality house . When it comes time to remodel ( or add an addition ) there is a real difference . The idea of having corridors , with strip malls , etc . would seem to lower the quality of housing and life in those areas , to a degree . ( People will tend to build away from them . ) If there were areas of water and sewer obviously that would be better for commercial development . P hilosophically , Gerri stated she had a problem with Tom ' s comments about modular housing . In an attempt to keep housing stock high , can affordable housing still be offered ? She stated she could probably not buy her property today , if she was just starting out , or. ✓ etiring . She said that the Planning Board has been discussing set back as a means for diversity . They haven ' t discussed it much for Single residences though . Jim pointed out that there are more taxes ✓ eceived now , than with the land sitting empty ( he cited modulars o ut on Cold Springs Road , and the new home next to Tom Majors on Main Street ) . Gerri also mentioned the tree planting incentive the Village offered . ( They ' ll pay 50 % - up to $ 75 . ) Perhaps the Town could o ffer this too . Tom Meyers did state that he is Krys Cail ' s husband . Ingrid Potenza is an owner of Architectural Builders . She has been here for fourteen years . Though she is not located in the Village - she is very interested in it . She has done a lot of listening ; there appears to be a divided Village . The first group likes T - burg the way it is with no growth / change . The second group is for growth . Of t hat group , one part desires growth , any growth , any place . The sec - o nd part says growth with zoning , and a Master Plan . She falls within t hat part , of the second group . The Village needs a face lift . The whole picture is not addressed . There are a lot of grants available for improvements , and that is where volunteers are needed . Some of h er ideas / comments are : sidewalks are needed , from beginning to end , t he Village is not inviting . ( People have to walk to the fairgrounds in the road . ) There is too much asphalt ; there is a need for more green . Tourism is a positive thing . A community she knows of bought street lights and it made all the difference . There are a lot of services ; n ot enough retail . ( Perhaps the right kind of retail is needed . ) J im mentioned that when Carl Mann was mayor he wanted to install n ew sidewalks . A lot of effort went into a presentation at the fire ® hall . He offered the Village ' s involvement . You ( merchant ) could pay u p front , or put it on your tax bill and pay it off over a ten year period . The Merchants didn ' t care . The sidewalks aren ' t kept shoveled in the winter time . The kids walk to school in the street . We have n o ordinance stating that if the side walk isn ' t shoveled ; the Village will come through and do it and put it on the owner ' s tax bill . Obviously t he Merchants in Trumansburg are satisfied with the business they are d oing or they would do something different ( new facades , sidewalks [ shovel ] , new trees ) . Torn Smith mentioned the Downtown Development D istrict . Jim said they ' ve been trying to get rid of the telephone poles for, fifteen years now . L arry mentioned that tourism isn ' t in the Village , it ' s in the 7f TOWN OF ULYSSES 6 PLANNING BOARD BUSINESS FORUM MARCH 21 , 1994 park . We need a draw like a hotel . One thing for sure is there are going to be some changes once the Octopus is completed . We are at a juncture where we can have some e ffect on that ; or not . The next step will be to meet as a Planning Board on Monday to sort through all this information . The idea for a TASK FORCE is excellent , said Krys . It is important to note that we . are an advisory board only . The Town Board is made up of elected o fficials . Each citizen has an obligation / responsibility / an interest in getting the right officials on the Town Board to support the things t hey are interested in . A lot of work needs to be done in terms of ® who is on that Board , said Gerri . Krys stated that she has great faith in peoples educability . If you get the right people to come speak , w ith the right information ( people with expertise in certain areas ; Mike Stamm ) change can occur . Tom Smith is on the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce ' s B oard . Once a year they look for board members . He also chairs the L egislative Affairs Committee . They discuss economic development ; what the state laws are ; and resolutions . Trumansburg ' s president o f their local Chamber would be responsible for keeping the larger Chamber informed ( Herb Brewer ) . Krys thanked everyone in attendance . Larry Thompson indicated t hat he would be very interested in participating on the TASK FORCE . The next meeting will be March 28 , 1994 at 7 : 30 PM at the Town Hall . Greg made the motion for adjournment and Gerri seconded . The meeting adjourned at 9 : 20PM . •