By Hayleigh Gowans

Staff Writer

As we say goodbye to 2016, the staff at the Eagle Bulletin likes to go through older editions to reflect on the stories and issues that were discussed widely by the residents of the area this past year.

This year marked a year of controversy — like the implementation of a white-tailed deer management program in Fayetteville, the Interstate-81 project, Consensus consolidation and the possibility of an inland port in the eastern suburbs. There were also many successes — such as the Jamesville-DeWitt Girls Basketball team finally reaching the state title they were so close to getting the past few years. Several significant projects broke ground, including the DeWitt Community Library’s freestanding library and the Manlius Fire Department’s new station.

Here are the top stories and issues that caught the attention of area residents during the year of 2016:

Fayetteville carries out deer management program

In November 2015, after several well-attended public hearings, the Fayetteville Village Board voted to implement a bait-and-cull white-tailed deer management program to decrease the number of deer on village property. The program was intended to both combat increasing cases of Lyme disease and to prevent vehicular accidents and property damage caused by the abundance of white-tailed deer in the village.

Initially, the program included using volunteers trained in bowhunting to bait and cull deer over the period of several hunts. In January 2016, the village announced instead it would work with the United States Department of Agriculture to carry out a similar program but with certified sharpshooters.

Throughout the month of March, eight hunts were carried out at night by the USDA sharpshooters, which resulted in a total of 89 deer being culled. Most of the deer killed were female, a total of 72, and more than 2,600 pounds of venison were processed and donated to the Food Bank of CNY as a result of the program.

The program with the USDA costs about $16,000, and for the 2016-17 budget, $15,000 was set aside for the program to be carried out in January 2017. The village plans to work with Onondaga County to receive grants to continue to carry out the sharpshooter program and continue community education programs relating to deer and Lyme disease.

In November 2016, mayor Mark Olson announced the number of deer-related car accidents reported from January through October of 2016 were 22, a 48 percent decrease from the 42 that were reported January through October of 2015.

Long-time Minoa mayor retires after 26 years on the board

In January, long-time mayor of Minoa Richard Donovan decided to step down after spending 26 years on the village board and 44 years involved in community service.

“I decided that it’s time to step back. It’s bittersweet but it’s time to be looking into things to do that involve less stress,” said Donovan in March before his retirement. “Forty-four years of continuous public service has lead me to where I am today … I couldn’t have done it without the support of the community. It was always a team effort and I’m so thankful to those I’ve met and worked with over the years.”

Donovan and his wife, Phyllis, have lived in Minoa for more than 40 years and have raised children and grandchildren in the village. His list of service to the community includes 20 years in Minoa-Kirkville Athletic Association, now ESM Youth Sports, including three years as president, and almost nine years as a volunteer EMT and fireman with the Minoa Volunteer Fire Department. Donovan served on the Minoa Village Board of Trustees for 26 years and served as mayor for the past 12 years. In 2012, Donovan was elected by his peers to serve as the president of the New York Conference of Mayors.

Some of the notable accomplishments Donovan and his team have made during his time as mayor include the design and construction of the current village office, the development of the “Cleanwater Educational Research Facility” at the Minoa wastewater treatment plant, upgrades to Lewis Park and Reese Field, creation and growth of the Minoa Fall Festival and the fact that Minoa is one of the most active villages in NYCOM, said Donovan.

In the March village elections, residents elected deputy mayor Bill Brazill to take Dononvan’s place and local businessman Greg Rinaldi was appointed to the empty seat left by Brazill.

Consensus consolidation plan introduced to Onondaga County

Earlier this year, an independent group studying the government within Onondaga County, Consensus, released a preliminary plan that recommended consolidation of the governments of Onondaga County, the City of Syracuse, and county towns and villages with hopes to eventually put the plan to a vote.

The study group claimed local governments are spending more than $100 million on redundant services and there is an opportunity to reduce government spending by nearly $20 million if services were consolidated at the county, city, town and village levels. Services to be considered for consolidation include: street and highway maintenance; water and wastewater infrastructure; solid waste collection; parks departments; fire, EMS and police protection; correctional facilities; and municipal operations such as libraries, financial administration, courts, social services, clerks, code enforcement and tax assessment.

Reactions to this proposed plan were mixed, and several community meetings were put on by the group, including meetings on Feb. 1 at the DeWitt Community Library and on March 10 Wellwood Middle School in Fayetteville. At the Wellwood meeting, a few residents were supportive of consolidation efforts – or at least supportive of additional study – but most of those who commented on the plan were extremely wary that government consolidation would do more harm than good.

Consensus held a public comment period through May 1, and planned to release a final report, but there has been no indication to one being released.

DeWitt Community Library breaks ground on $8.3 million freestanding building

For the past decade, officials at the DeWitt Community Library had been making plans to build a freestanding library and move out of the limited rented space at ShoppingTown Mall to help provide a wider array of service to its patrons.

Planning for the project was carried out in 2015, brought to the DeWitt Planning Board earlier this year and approved on May 12. A groundbreaking ceremony for the 24,000 square foot library was held on Oct. 28 at the location, 5100 Jamesville Road in DeWitt.

The new library “will embrace the possibilities of what a modern library can be,” said DCL Director Wendy Scott. “[It] is conceived as a community space, a gathering space and an inspiring space to learn.” The new library will allow for the addition of an expanded teen area, quiet study areas, meeting areas, rooms for tutoring, outdoor space for meetings and programming and a dedicated area to be used as a maker space.

It is expected to cost somewhere around $8.3 million, but almost $3 million has been set aside by the library, according to Scott. In the May 17, 2016 library budget vote, an additional $54,526 was approved over the 2015 tax levy, which has resulted in a tax rate of $88.69 per $100,000 home assessed value, and a capital project of raising $1 million with $400,000 already raised was announced at the groundbreaking.

The library is planned to be completed sometime in 2017.

J-D Girls Basketball gets long-awaited state title

Of all the accomplishments and accolades gained by the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball program over the decades, one moniker – state champions – had not applied. Or at least it did not until the night of March 19.

Claiming the prize that eluded them for so long, including back-to-back title-game appearances each of the last two years, the Red Rams routed Floral Park 82-37 in the state Class A final at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.

Instead of anguish, as it got when it fell to Pittsford Sutherland in 2014 and Williamsville South in 2015, there was nothing but exultation for J-D, who took charge from the opening tip and put together one of its best all-around efforts at the best time possible.

Early omens were found in Meg Hair’s hot shooting touch. The star sophomore hit on a pair of 3-pointers, one of them banked into the net, as J-D sped out to a 17-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. And it kept going from there, the Rams outscoring Floral Park 50-21 in the second half, continuing to add to its margin in the fourth quarter, even with its starters on the bench beginning to celebrate. Kasey Vaughan chimed in with 12 points, with Jamie Boeheim getting 11 points and seven rebounds. Juila Kelner contributed nine points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Angela Bussone managed six points.

Residents react to area inland port possibilities

While the possibility of an inland port in the DeWitt/Manlius area has been discussed for some time now, this idea was another topic that came up among local residents in 2016. In the end of 2015, two projects emerged as possibilities to fill the need for an inland port in the area.

An inland port is an intermodal container transfer facility with the capabilities to process international trade — both imports and exports — with some key features, which includes container handling, storage and chassis maintenance. Projects have been proposed in the past due to Central New York’s proximity to a day’s drive within 1/3 of the population of the United States and Canada, but none have come to fruition.

One was proposed in October 2015 by the Port of Oswego with support of Centerstate CEO and would have been located in the Jamesville Quarry, but backlash from residents and the DeWitt Town Board caused the push of the project to die out.

Another was proposed at the current CSX port off of Fremont Road in Manlius by a company called 3Gi CNYIP. A series of public meetings on that project were held in March and April 2016, and the developers planned to gain federal grants and move onto the environmental review stage, but there hasn’t been any word on that project in a few months.

F-M looks begins process to make major facilities updates

Over the past few years, the administration at the Fayetteville-Manlius School District has been making preparations to undertake major facilities updates. After conducting a building conditions survey, the district found that repairs are needed in all six buildings, but Wellwood Middle School in Fayetteville and Enders Road Elementary School in Manlius have repair costs that would exceed the cost of replacing the current buildings with new ones. F-M High School was also found to be most in need of updates and repairs.

In June, the district held public meetings that introduced the steps the district had taken so far and what will happen in the future to make decisions on facilities projects over the next few years. A survey was administered to area residents to gauge the priorities the facilities committee should take into account when drafting possible capital projects to put to public votes.

In November, the district released a list of possible options the district could take in order to make comprehensively update all of the school’s facilities.

Public meetings were held in December and members of the community gave feedback on the proposed options, and the board of education voted to maintain the kindergarten throug eighth grade “community campuses” in Manlius (Enders Road and Eagle Hill) and Fayetteville (Fayetteville Elementary and Wellwood). The district hopes to have a capital project to update the high school by the end of the 2016-17 school year. 

Ground broken on new Manlius Fire Station

What started off as a controversial project for the village of Manlius finally came to fruition in 2016 following a groundbreaking of the facilities located at the corner of Enders Road and Route 92.

Starting in 2014, a proposal to build a fire station to replace the current two stations for the Manlius Fire Department was introduced in order to bring the the group’s facilities up to date with current safety and building regulations. In March 2015, residents voted by a small margin to approve a $10.8 million bond resolution to construct a new fire station with a vote of 266 to 243. The original bond amount for the approved was $10.8 million.

In June 2016, the bids for construction were awarded and a groundbreaking was held at the site on Sept. 8, 2016. Also in September, the Manlius Village Board voted in favor of submitting serial bonds in the amount of $10.2 million for the project, about $500,000 less than the original bond amount, due to lower than expected constructions costs.

I-81 project brings controversy to the eastern suburbs

Starting about eight years ago, the New York State Department of Transportation has been considering the restructuring of I-81 through the city of Syracuse due to environmental, social, traffic and structural problems the city of Syracuse has seen by having the elevated highway run through the city.

While many options have been considered, there are three alternatives still on the table other — rebuilding a taller viaduct, building a tunnel, or a “community grid” option.

The community grid option would cause the current I-81 structure through Syracuse to be demolished and re-routed through the current I-481, which runs through the eastern suburbs. This option has caused some controversy among area residents. On Aug. 22, the DeWitt Town Board passed a resolution that outlined the position the board takes that the community grid option of re-routing traffic on I-481 would transfer the problem Syracuse is having with I-81 to DeWitt, and would bring environmental, social and infrastructural problems to the residents of the eastern suburbs.

An open house was held on Nov. 15 at J-D High School so residents could become more informed on the options. Since then, local elected officials such as DeWitt Supervisor Ed Michalenko and deputy supervisor Kerry Mannion have come out against the community grid option. The DOT will hold a public comment period and plans to give their final recommendations in 2017.

DeWitt eyesore Howard Johnson’s hotel is demolished

After years of decay, the former Howard Johnson’s hotel building off of Carrier Circle in DeWitt is finally in the process being demolished to make way for two new hotels, the first being an 80-room Home-2-Suites hotel.

The developer, Hampshire Hospitality, has finally made it over obstacles that prevented it from being torn down earlier, such as property right issues and problems linked to a decaying building, and have gained necessary permits to being demolition.

Development of the land was much preferred to the alternative, said Supervisor Ed Michalenko, which would have been for the town to wait a few years to acquire the property on back taxes, and then to pay for a demolition that could have cost taxpayers upwards of $500,000.

The demolition was officially kicked off on Dec. 2.