The town of Nelson has “made the list” to be considered for up to $200,000 in state funding for potential rebuilding and revitalization assistance to improve town infrastructure damaged by the severe flooding that affected the area in June and July 2013 and therefore mitigate the potential for future occurrences.
The funding, being offered through the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program, was created by the state to “facilitate community redevelopment planning and the resilience of communities,” according to the New York Rising website.
The state previously asked all the effected towns in Madison County to create a list of infrastructure projects they need completed in order to mitigate potential future flood damage, according to Nelson Town Supervisor Roger Bradstreet. Nelson Highway Superintendent Jack Sevier submitted a list of seven projects for the replacement and enlargement of culverts on Hughes, Jones, Thomas, Green and North Lake roads and Sunrise Boulevard, totaling $192,000 worth of work. All seven made the first cut of projects in line for potential funding, Bradstreet told the town board at its March 13 regular monthly meeting.
“It’s still no guarantee that it will get done, but I feel very good they left all our projects on the list,” Bradstreet said. “So we’ll see what happens.”
Phase 1 of the New York Rising project has announced $3 million available for Madison County infrastructure repair work, although $3.4 million in town projects were submitted, so Nelson may lost one or two of its proposed projects in the next round of culling, Bradstreet said.
The summer 2013 flooding effected numerous Madison County towns, including Deruyter, Eaton, Nelson, Lebanon and Brookfield, with the city of Oneida receiving some of the worst damage.
Any repair funding the town receives from the state is expected to be received by this summer so the work can be completed immediately, since its intention is to prevent further flooding damage issues, Bradstreet said.
Also at the meeting, Councilor John Laubscher told the board that the town planning board had, on March 11, approved a resolution to adopt its own list of community development actions that can be considered Type II under the State Environmental Quality Review Act. The purpose of the resolution is to make certain projects needing approval from the planning board quicker and easier for both the applicant and the board to approve.
SEQR requires government agencies — in this case the town planning board — to identify and mitigate any significant environmental impacts that will be caused by a proposed or permitted construction project which the agency has the discretion to approve. Type I actions are determined to have significant environmental impacts and require the completion of an Environmental Impact State and accompanying paperwork. A Type II action are actions which never require further SEQR review.
The state has a list of 37 Type II actions that it has determined do not have a significant adverse impact on the environment, and therefore no paperwork is needed to state it as such. Some examples of these include rebuilding or replacement of facilities, inkind, on the same site; routine activities of educational institutions, including expansions of existing facilities by less than 10,000 square feet; and maintenance and repair activities. The items included on the town’s new Type II list are lot line changes, lot consolidations and Type I minor subdivisions as defined in Section 902.2 of the town of Nelson Land Use and Development Law.
The board also approved during its March 13 meeting the resignation of Zoning Board of Appeals Member Diane Cass. Her resignation was necessary in order for her to take her seat on the town planning board, a change that the town board approved at its February meeting.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
