By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
During its June 10 regular monthly meeting, the Cazenovia Town Board received an update on the progress of the Town of Cazenovia/Town of Nelson Route 20 Joint Water District project.
The $2.85 million project will extend public water from the Village of Cazenovia Public Water System to businesses and residential properties along U.S. Route 20.
According to a December 2017 map, plan, and report — prepared by Dunn & Sgromo Engineers, PLLC — the new district includes 10 properties in the Trush Business Park and 35 properties on both sides of Route 20, from Stone Quarry Road to 800 feet east of Nelson Heights Road.
Designed to improve quality of life and spur economic development, the water line extension project is the result of collaboration between the Town and Village of Cazenovia and the Town of Nelson. The towns will construct the water line and the village will be responsible for operating and maintaining the system and selling water to the district. The operation and maintenance costs will be included in the water usage costs.
The Towns of Cazenovia and Nelson received grants from New York State Environmental Facilities Corp (NYSEFC) and Northern Borders totaling $1.79 million. The remaining $1.06 million will be financed through a 30-year loan from EFC.
During the June board meeting, Town Supervisor Bill Zupan announced the acceptance of bids for the project.
“We are waiting for the contracts to be signed and then we will start putting pipe in the ground and getting a water tank up in Nelson to service . . . Route 20,” Zupan said. “It’s exciting. We didn’t think it would ever get done, but it got done.”
Town Attorney John Langey added that the project is going “quite well” from a legal perspective.
Zupan also said the Town of Cazenovia has been working to develop a plan to address the iron, arsenic and clarity problems in the Mt. Pleasant Water District.
In other news
Zupan reported on his meeting with Langey, Water Pollution Control Facility Operator Jim Cunningham, and engineering consultant Timothy P. O’Hara, P.E. to discuss issues relating to Empire Farm Brewery’s wastewater discharge.
“We found that some of their piping wasn’t as designed in the as-built plans, so we are coming up with a new testing point and trying to come up with equipment so we can do testing to get data on what they are providing to the treatment plant,” Zupan said.
The board authorized the supervisor to execute a letter of support for the village’s 2019 NYS Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) proposal.
Councilor Jimmy Golub reported on a preliminary conversation with the Syracuse-based architectural firm Holmes, King, Kallquist & Associates, regarding renovations to the Cazenovia Town Office (Gothic Cottage).
“It’s just the first step,” he said. “No decisions were made. The first thing they’re going to do is reevaluate the space and its use . . . and also reevaluate the prices and go through the grants to see what’s available.”
During the second public comment period, East Lake Road resident Bruce Race expressed his frustration with the recent noise level at Owera Vineyards.
“The last three weekends at Owera have been excessively loud,” he said. “The base is a little bit better, but you can’t walk out in your garden and sit on the porch without listening to the music next door.”
Race also voiced his concern that the tasting room has evolved into a full-fledged bar or “watering hole.”
Zupan said it was his understanding that the events have been closing down on time.
He also noted that the town does not currently have a noise ordinance.
“It’s [really] a last resort because it affects the whole town,” he said.
Additionally, Zupan said Owera owner Peter Muserlian said he is working to keep the noise down.
The Cazenovia Town Board meets the second Monday of every month at 7:30 p.m. in the Gothic Cottage. For more information, visit towncazenovia.digitaltowpath.org or call the Town Office at 315-655-9213.
