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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-05-18TB 5-18-23 Page 1 of 12 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING May 18, 2023 Zoom Hybrid Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl Leonardo Vargas- Mendez, Cl Christina Dravis, Cl Spring Buck Elected Officials: Rick Young, Highway/DPW Superintendent Other Town Staff: Ray Burger, Planning Director Cassie Byrnes, Secretary to Supervisor Loren Sparling, Deputy Town Clerk Supv Leifer opened the meeting at 6:00 p.m. and board members and audience recited the pledge of allegiance. RESOLUTION #96 (2023) – APPROVE MINUTES Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the meeting minutes of April 13 and April 20, 2023. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes PUBLIC HEARING RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SUPERVISOR TO APPLY FOR AND RECEIVE FUNDING UNDER THE PROGRAM YEAR 2023 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM Supv Leifer opened the public hearing at 6:02 p.m. and asked that if there was anyone who wanted to testify about it to sign a separate sign-in sheet at the entrance. Supv Leifer explained that this is an application for funding to extend the sewer lines from the Varna consolidated sewer district out to Hanshaw Village Mobile Home Park. Hanshaw Village, a partner in the application, has a septic system that is failing, so either it needs to be tied into the sewer district or another solution must be developed. Supv Leifer then read the following legal notice: “The Town of Dryden is holding a public hearing for the purpose of hearing public comments on the Town of Dryden’s community development needs, and to discuss the possible submission of one or more Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) applications for the 2023 program year. The CDBG program is administered by the New York State Office of Community Renewal (OCR) and will make available to eligible local governments up to approximately $1,250,000 for the 2023 program year for housing, economic development, public facilities, public infrastructure, and planning activities, with the principal purpose of benefitting low/moderate income persons. The Town of Dryden is applying for up to TB 5-18-23 Page 2 of 12 $1,000,000 in CDBG funds to assist Central New York Manufactured Home Community (CNYMHC) for critical wastewater system improvements. The hearing will provide further information about the CDBG program and will allow for citizen participation in the development of any proposed grant applications and/or to provide technical assistance to develop alternate proposals. Comments on the CDBG program or proposed project(s) will be received at this time. The hearing is being conducted pursuant to Section 570.486, Subpart I of the CFR and in compliance with the requirements of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended. Written comments may be submitted to Bambi Avery, Dryden Town Clerk at (607) 844-8888 or townclerk@dryden.ny.us until May 22.” Cl Lamb asked how it was that we were approached about this project. R Burger explained that Hanshaw Village Mobile Home Park was purchased in the last year or two by Cook Properties. They received a consent decree from the DEC for their septic system and have to provide a solution by the end of this calendar year, at least to get the engineering started on it. Original contact with Dryden came from their engineer. R Young added that Cook Properties had talked with other developments north of Rte 13, so maybe those developments said something about sewer being present on the south side of Rte 13. If we have water and sewer that close, it would be feasible for us to do it, not to actually build it, but we could offer to maintain it afterwards. Cl Lamb asked, should Dryden receive the $1 million, whether the sewer extension would be something we could pursue as far as the money allows us, explaining that a number of homes in the vicinity of Hanshaw Village would also benefit from this project, including 84 Lumber and a mobile home park past Neimi Rd. R Burger answered that the limit is $1 million, which will more than pay for the half-mile that we are looking at. Cl Lamb inquired as to the number of units in Hanshaw Village. R Burger answered that there are 120 units currently in Hanshaw Village, equating to roughly 200 people who would benefit from sewer. Cl Lamb commented this would be great if we can get it. Should Dryden not get the grant, Supv Leifer commented that the engineers at the sewer plant said that there was an alternative pathway they could take. The hearing was opened up for public comment at 6:10 p.m. Cl Dravis asked if this would cost us anything. Cl Lamb responded no, only opportunity; he has a project in mind for next year’s round, but this won’t affect that. Cl Lamb sought clarification as to who was preparing this. R Burger responded that Laberge, the contractor for Cook Properties, was doing so. Cook Properties is paying for application preparation, costing them at least $4,000-$5,000. Scott Siegel, representing Laberge, confirmed that Cook Properties was footing the bill for all this. It’s their project and something they need to do, and the Town is being gracious enough to act as a pass-through. It is their responsibility, so there should be no cost to the Town. Cook Properties engaged Laberge for civil engineering services, so Laberge will be sending over documentation for the next Town Board meeting to entertain some resolutions/formality items. Laberge will also be doing the entire environmental review for Cook Properties, as well as writing and submitting the application. Laberge wants this to be as light a lift for the Town as possible, and hopefully just make something good happen. Laberge had a meeting yesterday with Town engineers and attorneys and R Burger, and we have a pretty good idea of how we want to strategize all this. TB 5-18-23 Page 3 of 12 CL Lamb asked if Hanshaw Park is at capacity right now? If you got this connection, would you be able to place more mobile home units there? S Siegel responded that the intention is not to add units, but to rectify the current situation. They are at capacity, probably over capacity, with their current septic system. They are in violation of their SPDES permit, which is what is propagating all this. My understanding is there is no expansion involved. This is to maintain service to that area and remain in compliance. Thanking S Siegel for his answer, Cl Lamb commented that he is always looking to grow more housing here. Just wondering if it was part of the mix. S Siegel responded that he wouldn’t necessarily rule it out. Anything’s possible; we can always mold a project. That’s something we can leave open for discussion. Cl Lamb returned to a previous question about this opening up more areas for potential development with sewer and water hookups. R Burger addressed this question by saying the intent is to have a 2500 ft long gravity pipe paralleling Hanshaw, so there’s a few adjacent lots between the intersection and the mobile home park, with the potential in the future to extend it. This was, more than a decade ago, proposed as a sewer district expansion, extending 2-3 miles off Hanshaw. Going down Etna Rd also has the potential for expansion. ANNOUNCEMENTS The Rail Trail opening at the Game Farm Rd crossing will be held on Saturday (May 20, 2023). The event will be held rain-or-shine. 12pm is the ceremony, but activities will take place beforehand. Details about the event can be found on the Town’s Facebook page, as well as on its website. Any event visitors should try to avoid parking near the crossing area, as Game Farm Rd will be closed. Parking off Stevenson Rd was recommended. HIGHWAY/DPW DEPARTMENT R Young stated that on Tuesday and Wednesday (May 16-17, 2023), Highway/DPW completed the repaving of Johnson Rd, putting down roughly 1600 tons of blacktop . Next Tuesday (May 23, 2023), they will begin to repave George Rd. He’s feeling lucky because last year, the price of blacktop was in the $90/ton range; right now, we’re paying $67/ton, so we’re going to do as much blacktop as we can until the prices rise again. R Young also thanked the Town Board for having allowed him to purchase a paver, because it’s working out very well. R Young asked what the Town is going to do with the Red Mill Bridge. Jeff Smith said to him that the Town can do what it wants with the bridge. He knows that a snowmobile club (the Caroline Drifters, he thinks) has shown some interest. If the snowmobile club wants it, the bridge will obviously remain in Dryden, placed out behind the American Legion. Cl Lamb stated that Ben Warner responded to our inquiry last December regarding the bridge, but wondered if we have any historic property commitments that we have to honor. R Young did not think there were, confirming that it is an old Groton bridge, but it’s rusting apart; it’s junk. It was closed 30 years ago and removed in 2015 to make way for a new bridge, so it’s been sitting around since 2015. Cl Lamb agreed that the Red Mill Bridge needed to go somewhere and stated that he will share with R Young a 2016 memorandum of agreement that the Town entered into with the Army Corps National Historic Preservation Office in Tompkins County about the preservation of the bridge. We’ll see what we can manage with regards to dismantling given the agreement. R Young reiterated that the bridge is getting worse; it’s falling apart. It’s going to be a pile pretty soon. All the cross-bracing was bad when we closed the bridge; now it’s getting worse. He understands that we’d like to do the preservation, but there’s nothing there to preserve anymore. TB 5-18-23 Page 4 of 12 Cl Buck reminded that, should the Town donate the bridge to the Caroline Drifters snowmobile club, it will need clear documentation to ensure that there are no liability concerns. R Young continued his update, stating that, at some point, he will get the numbers together for a cold storage building to be put up out back because there’s just too much equipment that gets parked outside all winter, which is not good for it. The cold storage building would also improve the visual aesthetics of the Highway/DPW property. The Fiber people also haven’t cleaned up yet. R Young has done 2000 pounds of deliveries this week. Both he and Town Hall staff have gone between buildings for deliveries. Not only has it been a very busy week for him in the field, but then he has to come back here and start unloading a truck. Other than that, we’re happy. Supv Leifer returned to the topic of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and closed the public hearing at 6:25 p.m. He stated that the resolution associated with the CDBG grant had been voted on by the Town Board last month, so no vote was necessary tonight, but people can still submit comments in writing until May 22, 2023. PLANNING DEPARTMENT R Burger posted the Planning Department update for May on the website, stating that it has a few things that are on the agenda tonight. The only other thing that he’d like to highlight is that we have a Request for Proposals (RFP) out as of last Monday to get a consultant on board to help us examine and potentially modify our zoning and subdivision laws. The RFP will be out there until June 30, and then a month or so later, hopefully we’ll have somebody on board. COUNTY BRIEFING None. DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS Appoint Board/Committee Liaisons Supv Leifer acknowledged that the Town needed to reshuffle committee assignments due to the departure of Loren Sparling to become Deputy Clerk. Agricultural Advisory Committee (AAC) - Supv Leifer will serve as liaison to the Agricultural Advisory Committee, with Cl Vargas-Mendez as alternate. Supv Leifer noted that he served as liaison when the AAC started out, and would be happy to get them engaged again, especially once the zoning update begins. The last time we did zoning is when the folks who started the AAC were pretty involved, so it will be important to get them re-engaged because they will want to be involved. Conservation Board - Cl Buck will serve as liaison to the Conservation Board, with Cl Dravis as alternate. Climate Smart Communities Task Force - Cl Dravis will serve as liaison to the Climate Smart Communities Task Force and will also represent Dryden as liaison to the Community Choice Aggregation spin-off of the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG) Energy Subcommittee. TB 5-18-23 Page 5 of 12 Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission (DRYC) - Supv Leifer will serve as liaison to the DRYC, with Cl Vargas-Mendez as alternate. Cl Lamb confirmed that Supv Leifer will charge the DRYC with overseeing the development of the fields. R Young stated that he had asked Marty Conger, Recreation Director, to look into Cortland’s Gutchess Fields. A lot of that is sponsored money, and M Conger is looking into the same type of sponsors. If you ever go by there on a weekend, the fields are packed . He is working with M Conger on applying for a grant because he feels that would bring a ton of business to the Town. There are already people who come to Dryden from Cortland, and because of all the travelling teams and parents, it would be a good thing for Dryden to get that going. Supv Leifer added that, at the start, you can rough something out while you find money; things do not need to be perfect. We did the Master Plan, but he doesn’t think the grant application that contained a more detailed plan was in that; it should be in the archives. R Young stated that it would be nice to get some of that going, and also get our feelers out for sponsors. Again, all of these traveling teams are looking for places. They pay to use those fields. R Young then made the Town Board aware of a bulldozer that has been abandoned out back for the past 15 years. The question arose of whether there was thought about building a concession stand for the recreation fields. Supv Leifer answered that he was sure there was. The old plan was not only to build fields, but also a building for recreation. He remembers that, in the grant, t he cost of the building and fields combined was somewhere between $1.1m and $1.5m. The grant money would have come from Empire State Development. It would have been pretty expensive to do. I think we’re in a better position to do it today, because of the f und balance. R Burger interjected to say that Dryden Village is actively redrafting their application (which failed last year). It might be good to tie in the rec reation fields to their application. Cl Dravis asked R Young if he knew who the sponsorships were in Cortland. He didn’t, saying that M Conger was looking into it. She was interested in baseball and softball because there’s a ton of that out there, but soccer is growing immensely too. We could capitalize on that by having a couple of baseball fields as well as a couple of soccer fields. Lacrosse is also getting bigger, but they don’t have the facilities, so teams are going around, putting the money out there, saying if you build the field, we’ll bring the people. The DRYC could work with R Young on this. Brad Will and Chris Morrissey, both of the Planning Board, might be able to help out as well. Supv Leifer hopes that a small area might at least be scoped out so that people can begin using that while we get plans together, because this will be another multi-year project. If you can move the dirt and plant the grass, then we can get something going. We would need to bring a road to a parking area back there, and the best place might be through where the old community garden was. Supv Leifer said that he will get together with M Conger and the DRYC to scope out a rough flattening, potentially for the fall. R Young mentioned that the hardest thing about sports is scheduling locations at which to play. Cl Lamb noted that the village is going to get bigger. From the North Street project proposal, we could have 2,000 more residents in the next 10 years. Emergency Medical Services for Children Day – Cl Lamb explained that the new Emergency Services Coordinator for Tompkins County is encouraging us to recognize May 24, 2023, as Emergency Medical Services for Children Day. This would be one day out of the week TB 5-18-23 Page 6 of 12 that Dryden has already designated as National Emergency Medical Services week in the town. Joe Milliman, the new Emergency Services Program Director, also wanted us to recognize this, and he wants to compile these altogether on the County’s website to show that there’s universal support throughout the County. This proclamation basically looks at the special circumstances that children in emergency situations need and the need to have training and equipment at our EMS providers to recognize these different needs. RESOLUTION #97 (2023) – EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN (EMSC) DAY PROCLAMATION Cl Lamb offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: WHEREAS, millions of children receive emergency medical care each year due to illness or injury; and WHEREAS, the needs of children are different than the needs of adults in medical emergencies; and WHEREAS, the goal of Emergency Medical Services for Children is to help states and communities prepare for an emergency involving a child through the provision of pediatric-ready emergency departments and emergency medical services (EMS) agencies; and WHEREAS, the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program supports research and improvement science to drive transformation of emergency care systems; and WHEREAS, Emergency Medical Services for Children relies on its established partnership within the EMS community, as well as multidisciplinary teams of healthcare providers across the emergency care continuum to help states and communities reduce child and youth disability and death due to severe illness or injury; and WHEREAS, Emergency Medical Services for Children, the tens of thousands of prehospital and hospitalbased clinicians and families it serves, and the professional organizations and federal agencies in which it partners are committed to ensure the delivery of high-quality of emergency care children; and WHEREAS, it is proper and timely to bring recognition to the value and accomplishments of Emergency Medical Services for Children and the dedicated personnel who work tirelessly to improve the delivery of pediatric care across emergency care systems. Now, therefore the Town of Dryden hereby proclaims the date of May 24, 2023, as EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN (EMSC) DAY as part of National EMS Week in the Town of Dryden, New York and we urge all citizens and health care professionals serving the pediatric population to celebrate the EMS Strong theme, EMS WEEK: Where Emergency Care Begins, to become familiar with EMSC, its programs and activities in our state and nationally, and to support and participate in educational and outreach programs to increase their knowledge of best pediatric medical care practices. 2nd Cl Dravis Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb Yes TB 5-18-23 Page 7 of 12 Supv Leifer Yes Introduction of a Local Law Implementing a Billboard Overlay District and Accompanying Regulations – Supv Leifer explained that the purpose of this resolution was to introduce a local law implementing a billboard overlay district and accompanying regulations and to set the public hearing for this local law for June 15, 2023, at 6:05 p.m. R Burger added that the billboard overlay district would be established along two stretches of Rte 13 contiguous to our industrial zoning d istricts. One stretch runs roughly from the storage facility east of the NYSEG intersection to the Rail Trail intersection; the other stretch runs from Lower Creek Road to the western town line. Billboards will be limited to these two zones. Supv Leifer noted that the resolution identifies the overlay district by way of tax map numbers. RESOLUTION #98 (2023) – RESOLUTION INTRODUCING A PROPOSED LOCAL LAW IMPLEMENTING A BILLBOARD OVERLAY DISTRICT Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: WHEREAS, a local law entitled “A LOCAL LAW PLACING PORTIONS OF TAX MAP NUMBERS 42.-1-2, 42.-1-9.11, 42.-1-9.2, 42.-1-11, 42.-1-44, 42.-1-31.4, 42.-1-31.3, 42.-1-36.2, 42.-1-35.5, 42.-1-35.3, 42.-1-35.2, 52.-1-4.31, 52.-1-4.32, 52.-1-4.6, 52.-1-4.11, 52.-1-4.12, 52.-1- 4.2, 52.-1-14.1, 52.-1-14.2, 52.-1-5, 52.-1-13, 52.-1-13.1, 52.-1-8.5, 52.-1-8.6, 52.-1-8.1, 52.-1-8.2, 52.-1-8.3 WITHIN THE BILLBOARD OVERLAY DISTRICT” was introduced at this meeting; and WHEREAS, the Town Board desires to hold a public hearing with respect to the adoption of said Local Law. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that a public hearing will be held by the Town Board of the Town of Dryden with respect to the adoption of the aforesaid Local Law on June 15, 2023 at 6:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter may be heard; and it is further RESOLVED that the Town Board hereby declares itself lead agency pursuant to SEQRA for this action, and finds and concludes that the proposed action is a Type I action within the meaning of 6 NYCRR 617.4 and therefore is subject to review under SEQRA and the regulations thereunder; and be it further RESOLVED, that the Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to cause public notice of said hearing to be given as provided by law. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes Introduction of a Local Law Amending Chapter 270 of the Town Code Regarding Billboards – R Burger explained that this local law would establish the parameters for putting up a billboard. Our prior law did not address electronic digital billboards. This one does, but TB 5-18-23 Page 8 of 12 electronic billboards are very restricted; there must be a 1-mile setback from the nearest billboard, a 500-foot setback from residences, and a 500 -foot setback from intersections. Cl Buck asked if the expectation was that the Town would own the billboard and rent out the space. R Burger responded no, all of these would be leased from private property adjacent to the DOT right-of-way. Cl Lamb clarified that for Park Outdoor to put up an electronic billboard where they want to put it up, they would have to take down at least three of their existing signs (which are located within a mile of the proposed location). Cl Lamb views this as a net win, getting rid of three legacy billboards in favor of something smaller and more modern that we m ay occasionally get to use for public announcements. Supv Leifer set the public hearing for this local law for June 15, 2023, at 6:05 p.m. RESOLUTION #99 (2023) – RESOLUTION INTRODUCING A PROPOSED LOCAL LAW AMENDING CHAPTER 270 OF THE TOWN CODE REGARDING BILLBOARDS Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: WHEREAS, a local law entitled “A LOCAL LAW AMENDING CHAPTER 270 OF THE TOWN CODE REGARDING BILLBOARDS” was introduced at this meeting; and WHEREAS, the Town Board desires to hold a public hearing with respect to the adoption of said Local Law. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that a public hearing will be held by the Town Board of the Town of Dryden with respect to the adoption of the aforesaid Local Law on June 15, 2023 at 6:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter may be heard; and it is further RESOLVED that the Town Board hereby declares itself lead agency pursuant to SEQRA for this action, and finds and concludes that the proposed action is a Type I action within the meaning of 6 NYCRR 617.4 and therefore is subject to review under SEQRA and the regulations thereunder; and be it further RESOLVED, that the Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to cause public notice of said hearing to be given as provided by law. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes ADVISORY BOARD UPDATES Agricultural Advisory Committee - The May 10 meeting of the Agricultural Advisory Committee was cancelled. Climate Smart Communities Task Force – Supv Leifer noted that the LED lighting project is closed out. We didn’t do Smart Cities because the $20,000 grant that would have gone towards it would have paid for next to nothing, so we just applied that figure to the price TB 5-18-23 Page 9 of 12 of the project. We also didn’t do the maintenance agreement because no repairs have been undertaken with the warranty that we’ve had for 20 years. Conservation Board - The April 25 meeting of the Conservation Board was cancelled. Supv Leifer reported that Gian Dodici, Conservation Board chair, had asked him to send a letter to the Village of Dryden regarding ditching, as he did with Freeville last year. Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission - The Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission met on April 26. The Recreation Department reported that all acts for this summer’s Music in the Hollow have been booked. The VFW venue still has a few more spots available. Kate Shanks-Booth, director of Tompkins County Youth Services and its liaison to the DRYC, gave a brief presentation on its Municipal Youth Services System (tompkinscountyny.gov/youth/myss). The presentation highlighted the System’s focus on Positive Youth Development (PYD), which emphasizes positive outcomes, youth voice, strategies that aim to involve all youth, long-term involvement, community involvement, and collaboration. The core features of PYD are competence, character, contribution, confidence, connection, and caring. For more about Positive Youth Development, the Commission was referred to actforyouth.net. Planning Board – Cl Lamb reported that the status of the RFP and the status of the Plantations building were among the items discussed. No building permit application has been received regarding the Plantations; the hope is that the owner will start construction this year. The new North Street Development Intermunicipal Committee, an offshoot of the Planning Board, met for the first time this week. Participants included Mike Murphy and Deb Fisher of Dryden Village, Cl Vargas-Mendez, and R Burger. We started talking about ways to develop the property that was scoped out in the plan that we paid the Cornell City and Regional Planning Department to undertake. Lucenti remains engaged at the village level to have a 12-phase development to bring close to 1,000 units of housing to the area south of Mott Rd and north of Enterprise Dr. Two things came out of this meeting. The first is that Dryden Village has a policy that any new development must include sidewalks, so it’s a given that sidewalks are going in here. However, some of that property is interspersed between the town and village. We would have responsibility for a portion of the local match for the sidewalks, which could amount to $50,000; that would be money well-spent because we’ll get sidewalks in this area that has languished in that department. We may pursue additional funding for sidewalks on both sides of North Rd, and we could pursue TC3’s cooperation with that because some of that leads right up to their entranceway. These are things that the Town would have to invest in at some point. However, if we get 2,000 new residents there, we’ll need new sidewalks; this is almost double Dryden Village’s current population, and it’s going to be workforce housing. The second thing that came out of this meeting is that there’s a little rectangle of property bordering Enterprise Dr, Ellis Dr, North St, and Freeville Rd. That property’s all town land, and it’s basically blight. We need to look into the status of that property . If it’s a brownfield, we should get a brownfield redevelopment grant . There was talk about a community center at the old Dollar Store location; I would suggest that next year, with the help of the DRYC, we go in on a community center there. Supv Leifer added that DOT is aware that numerous accidents have occurred at the intersection coming up from TC3. He wonders if we could get this on a TIP grant, because by TB 5-18-23 Page 10 of 12 the time all the planning for the North Street Development is done, there might be money for it. Varna took forever. Cl Buck doesn’t know if childcare would tie into the community center, but there’s money for that. To this end, Supv Leifer mentioned the Safe Streets grant program. Cl Buck asked, from a logistical standpoint, based on the number of initial builds, how easy will it be to work on a 5-10 year operating budget plan, on how much it’s going to increase operating budgets, so that it is planned out for those who are taking care of the roads? Cl Lamb responded that the project is going to start small, with probably 40 -50 housing units initially. Cl Buck added that once the sidewalks were up, we’re going to have to maintain them , so we’re going to have to put that in the long-term budget plan. Cl Lamb asked R Young how it would work if we have sidewalks that were on land, some of which is owned by the Town and some of which is owned by the Village. Debra Eichholtz informed the Town Board that she used to live in the Town of Manlius, and that the Town and Village of Manlius collaborated to get a National Safe Routes to School grant, which partially paid for sidewalks on both sides of the street being built from Wellwood (Middle School) in the Village of Fayetteville. Anything to offset property taxes was appreciated. She knows the Town Supervisor of Manlius should the Town Board want to talk. R Burger provided an update on the Safe Streets for All program, stating that we are in the process of interviewing consultants to do safety plans for the whole County, so we should have someone on board in a month or two. Getting a Safety Action Plan for each individual municipality is the entry step for next year’s Safe Streets for All, which will be fund ed with $1b. Then we go for an infrastructure grant, which will cover sidewalks, pedestrian crosswalks, etc. The Federal TAP grants are set to be announced in the next few months, and that’s an appropriate program for sidewalks. TIP is really focused on st reets. The fact that we got the Varna sidewalks done in the TIP was pretty unusual. Mike Murphy will be submitting the TAP application, which will include Town lands. Cl Buck asked whether a result of that will be that we have shovel-ready projects at hand should federal funds suddenly get pushed out quickly. R Burger responded that the North Street Sidewalk Project would be advanced to get early money. Other things that come out of the Safety Action Plan would be for 2024. Given all the planning that went into the sidewalks on the south side of Varna, the sidewalk project on the north side is pretty advanced towards shovel-ready; that would be the logical next project. Cl Lamb asked for clarification about the DOT (NYS Dept of Transportation) property within the North Street Development Project zone (on the west side of Ellis). R Burger clarified that it was a candidate site for DOT facilities, but now that DOT facilities are at the airport, DOT no longer needs this land and is looking to get rid of it. The Village is looking to get first option on it. Lucenti is also interested in purchasing the property from DOT. Cl Lamb added that we are in discussions with TC3 about a trail going down to meet the intersection of North St and Freeville Rd. We’ll be having a meeting about that soon. Rail Trail Task Force - Bob Beck stated that the Finger Lakes Running Club (FLRC) uses the Rail Trail a lot and would like a porta potty near Stevenson Rd. Their board has approved a donation of money to pay for a porta potty to be put there on possibly a six month contract. They have asked him to talk with R Young, the Town Board, and Cornell Ag to get approval. He is suggesting that the porta potty be put at the far end of the compost road, where the road splits off from the trail. B Beck then asked for thoughts on the FLRC donating money to the Town for us to execute the contract with the porta potty company. TB 5-18-23 Page 11 of 12 Supv Leifer inquired why do they want us to contract with the porta potty company, instead of just asking us for permission to put the porta potties in. B Beck responded that he was unsure and that he’ll get back to them. He also did not know the amount of the donation. Supv Leifer stated that he would have to consult with Amanda Anderson to find out if this was something that the Town could even do. R Young noted the problem of precedent; if a porta potty is placed on the eastern portion of the trail as requested, trail users will also want a porta potty on the western side, say, on the Jim Schug Trail. Cl Lamb stated that the Town will say to them to find a sponsor and gave the example of the Finger Lakes Running Club porta potty sponsorship. R Young also mentioned problems with ADA-compliance and vandalism. He inquired whose responsibility it was should a porta potty get destroyed. None of his employees are cleaning up urine. Who is going to pay for it? Who is going to clean up the mess? Cl Lamb thought that the Friends of the Dryden Rail Trail allowed us to accept donations. B Beck confirmed that the Friends of the Dryden Rail Trail is not incorporated and is no longer functioning. Cl Buck cited the logistical question of snowplow service. The compost road does not have municipal plowing, so that may be a challenge if the proposed porta p otty there starts overflowing. Cl Lamb clarified the thought that people will use the porta potty in the winter, and it will need to be cleaned when it is snowy. R Young does not plan on plowing the Rail Trail during the winter. Supv Leifer returned to the porta potty being under a 6 month contract, so it would be picked up for the winter. Supv Leifer reiterated that his first question to A Anderson would be whether we can take a donation for something like this. It’s not a no, it’s a how-do-you-do-it. Affordable and Workforce Housing Committee – Cl Vargas-Mendez reported that the committee met on May 3. No decisions were made. We’re still working through some ideas for where affordable housing ought to be. One of the big conversations was connecting with the Town of Danby regarding their affordable housing opportunities study that is in the works. We’re trying to see if we can join that study. R Burger added that Danby is doing grant research. We might piggyback on that, and as part of securing the funds to pay for that contract, we’re going to put in for a small Tompkins County grant ($5,000 for working on housing). Safety & Preparedness Committee – Cl Dravis reported that the meeting was cancelled due to both members being unavailable. We were able, though, to schedule one of the Citizen Preparedness presentations put on by NY State. The last one we had was held at Neptune Hose back in 2019, so we’re going to bring it to the other end of the Town (Varna Community Center) on Wednesday, July 12 at 6:00 p.m. Broadband Committee – Supv Leifer reported that residents near Varna and the mobile home park on Pinckney Rd are beginning to be hooked up. We had contributed money for Point Broadband to lay fiber down Mt Pleasant, so we will use our access to fiber to market to residents who didn’t sign up with them. That will bring broadband down to Varna proper. We’re also working on a lot of pole attachment agreements. There will be a meeting next Wednesday with Laberge, who manages Frontier’s broadband. We’ll be talking about a conduit that Frontier has, so that we can finally complete the loop over to the Highway building , so TB 5-18-23 Page 12 of 12 we’ll shortly be able to start serving residents of the Village of Dryden. The speed at which it goes out depends on the pole attachment. The $75,000 received from the County (mentioned last week) will go towards fiber along Bone Plain Rd. There was a strong letter that Sen Schumer’s office put in towards our USDA ReConnect grant that is separate from Sen Gillibrand’s congressionally directed spending. We have support from both US Senators for this project. Harris Weiss, the local representative for the governor, met with us a few weeks ago to help us out with ReConnect, and now ConnectAll wants to meet with us. We asked Anna Kelles to introduce legislation to work with Rachel May, and last night, that legislation passed. We’re laying the groundwork for the larger marketing effort that will start between mid - July and the beginning of August. We have a marketing consultant that we met with, and he has a proposal for us. CITIZENS PRIVILEGE Debra Eichholtz appreciates the planning and awareness of cost regarding paving. She was excited about the Town taking advantage of NYSERDA grants for heat pumps for the Town DPW building. She also thanked the Town for passing a resolution on May 11 to enter into a relationship with NYCLASS to generate some additional interest income revenue. We don’t know how long interest rates will be high. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:38 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Loren Sparling Deputy Town Clerk