By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
After nearly three years of talks, a zone change and ongoing site reviews, it appears as though the proposed Meyer Manor apartment complex is nearing approval from the Village of Liverpool Planning Board.
The board continued a public hearing March 26 on the application of developer Cosimo Zavaglia who plans to purchase Marvin Meyer’s property at 1225 Tulip Street to construct four 27-unit apartment buildings on a vacant wooded lot.
The 7-plus-acre parcel is located just south of the Johnson Tract residential neighborhood. Many of the project’s opponents who live there turned out for the Feb. 26 public hearing. Twelve of the 16 speakers that night opposed the 108-apartment complex citing increased noise and traffic, intrusive lighting, lack of privacy and destruction of greenspace.
Less than a dozen neighbors appeared at two subsequent meetings at which the planners conducted a State Environmental Quality Review.
At the March 26 meeting Village Attorney John Langey read comments from the the Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency suggesting, for instance, that the developer should have his plans reviewed by OCWA, Central New York’s Water Agency.
Zavaglia’s spokesman, project engineer Steve Calocerinos, summarized sewer and storm-water arrangements, landscaping plans and the state Department of Transportation’s analysis of Tulip Street traffic flow.
Calocerinos said a berm with bushes would be placed between the parking lot and the neighboring homes, but planning board member Jim Rosier said that something more substantial might be needed. To block vehicle headlights and outdoor lighting on the apartment buildings, he suggested a fence.
“I think a vinyl fence, something solid, something that could be maintained, would address that problem,” Rosier said. Peg Salvatore, the president of the Johnson Tract Homeowners Executive Board, agreed that such fencing could benefit neighbors.
Board Chairman Joe Ostuni Jr. asked the planners to continue their SEQR work. They discussed scheduling construction from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Calocerinos estimated that construction could take up to two years.
Impacts on plants and animals were also discussed as was potential impact on local transportation. Calocerinos said county traffic engineers characterized the complex’s potential impact on local traffic “to be marginal.”
Project opponent Jan Quitzau, however, pointed out that the state DOT studies most often cited by the developer are four now years old. Another speaker pointed out that the village’s Comprehensive Plan repeatedly calls for “traffic calming,” but adding upwards of 162 apartment-dwellers’ vehicles to the mix would likely have the opposite effect.
The public hearing will continue at the planning board’s next meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, April 23, at the Village Hall.