Supervisor Claude Sykes and Messenger Editor Tami Scott recently met at the B’ville Diner to talk about the goings-on in the town of Van Buren. Though Sykes said it’s been a slow year so far, a few topics made it to the table.
Marion Meadows
Marion Meadows is a single family residential development currently being built directly behind Van Buren Town Hall. It’s slated for 90 homes, starting at approximately $180,000, and two units totaling 48 apartments. Dan Barbagos is the developer. Jim Giancola was the previous owner.
The town will benefit in tax revenue, though not as much as it would if a business were moving in. The latter doesn’t cost as much to the town as residential housing does.
“There aren’t any services that you have to provide for [those],” Sykes said.
The town is going to install a pump station and bill the cost over 20 years back to the people in the district that compose the new neighborhood. “It will end up [being] like $365 a year on their taxes to pay for their pump station,” he said. “The way we structured it, the quicker [the developer] unloads the lots and sells them, the less they’ll pay in taxes, so it behooves the developer to get in and move quickly.”
Sykes anticipates Marion Meadows to be built out and completed in the next four to five years.
Henderson Boulevard
A community development project is also in the works on Henderson Boulevard, Sykes said. The first phase of a two- or three-year project, Sykes said the project is to fix an underside drainage swale from the bottom up. The project is being funded federally through the Onondaga County Community Development. The town has received $25,000 to date.
State grants
The town is currently waiting on two state grants, both for $50,000. One is to install new ADA doors for all entrance doors at town hall. The other is to extend the sidewalk on Downer Street from the village line to the first entrance in the River Mall. Sykes said there’s a great deal of pedestrian traffic on that stretch and the sooner the sidewalks go in, the better.
“If you drive that at all, you see a lot of pedestrian traffic and we want to get some sidewalks in there before someone gets hurt or killed,” the supervisor said. “There’s a lot of people with wheelchairs and power buggies going through there.”
The former grant is through the office of Assemblyman William Magnerelli (District 129); the latter is through Sen. John DeFranciso (District 50).
Town historian
Town board members recently appointed Marilyn Breakey as its new town historian, replacing Elizabeth McCathy Bowers, who left in December.
“She’s doing a great job for us,” Sykes said. “She’s taken the bull by the horns and has jumped right in there.”
Residents oftentimes call on the offices at Van Buren for information on genealogy.
“We do a lot of clippings out of the Messenger and other newspapers — anything that is pertinent to Van Buren,” he said.
Look for an article in next week’s issue of the Messenger about Marilyn Breakey on what she’s done, what she’s doing now and how you can contact her through the town.
