Lysander — Despite the efforts of Councilors Bob Geraci and Roman Diamond to delay it, the Lysander Town Board has referred Marden Associates’ Melvin Farm incentive zoning application to the planning board, the zoning board of appeals and the Onondaga County Planning Board for review.
“This is a legacy item for you,” Geraci told Supervisor John Salisbury.
The Melvin Farm proposal
Developers Mario D’Arrigo and Dan Bargabos comprise Marden Associates, the applicant for the Melvin Farm proposal. Town Clerk Lisa Dell said the application was officially filed in her office Nov. 4.
Their plan is to build 447 homes on Hayes Road under the Comprehensive Land Use Plan’s option for incentive zoning. In exchange for protecting green spaces or providing other compensation to the town, the developers will be able to build more densely.
Marden Associates is offering six-foot wide walking trails, conservation easements to protect Route 370’s viewshed and a sewer pumping station connected to the Baldwinsville Seneca Knolls Treatment Plant — but they want the town to bond for the pumping station.
Salisbury had said he wanted to wrap up the town board’s involvement in the Melvin Farm application before his term ends Dec. 31. Geraci said referring the application would imply the board is in favor of it.
“The contractor specifically asked [to not] start over the whole process,” Salisbury said.
After the meeting, Salisbury told the Messenger that the developer’s presentation is “very lengthy” and the town will “have three new board members who know nothing about it.”
“We know about it,” Salisbury said.
Geraci said the board met twice over the summer to discuss the application, but he wanted to follow the “protocol” of discussing it in a work session prior to voting.
“We can have the discussion right here,” Salisbury said.
Diamond moved to table the vote, but he and Geraci were outvoted by Salisbury, Councilor Andy Reeves and Deputy Supervisor Melinda Shimer.
continued — “This is going to be one of the biggest projects on the [Cold Springs] peninsula,” Geraci said. “We ought to do it right.”
Diamond pointed out that the board has no obligation to finish the Melvin Farm application by Dec. 31. He said he had concerns about traffic.
“There’s still so much we need to discuss before sending it,” Diamond said.
Reeves said that up until now, Diamond and Geraci had “very little input” on the Melvin Farm application.
“Right now you guys want to sit on your hands,” he said.
Geraci said he had not had time to read up on the application beforehand because he received the Nov. 5 agenda less than 24 hours before the meeting.
“If all of this came to fruition yesterday, you haven’t been fair to the board, to the community,” Geraci said.
Ultimately, Salisbury, Reeves and Shimer outvoted their Republican colleagues on the board and the application will continue on to the town’s planning and zoning boards and the OCPB.
Public hearing for budget held
Also at the Nov. 5 meeting, the board held a public hearing on the 2016 budget. While Salisbury had told the Messenger previously that taxes could dip 18 percent, there was no mention of the town’s option of using $755,000 of the fund balance to lower taxes.
“The board is going to meet in a work session to discuss it,” Salisbury said.
That work session is scheduled for 5 p.m. Nov. 12, and the board is slated to vote on the budget at its Nov. 16 meeting.
Comptroller David Rahrle presented on the 2016 proposed budget. Lysander’s expenditures will total $4,670,348, a 5.9 percent decrease over 2015’s total appropriations of $4,963,026.
Right now, the tax levy stands at $2,871,832, leaving tax rates more or less equal to the 2015 rates. Inside the village of Baldwinsville, the tax rate is 69.04 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. A resident within the village whose house is assessed at $100,000 can expect to pay $69.04 in 2016, compared to their 2015 tax bill of $69.47. Outside the village, the tax rate remains $2.09 per thousand. A Lysander homeowner with a $100,000 house will pay the town $208.88 in 2016, three cents more than the current year.
continued — Some notable components of the 2016 budget include:
• The town is setting aside $10,000 for Jacksonville Rural Cemetery, Lysander Union Cemetery and Plainville Rural Cemetery. The board will negotiate the specifics of this agreement with the cemetery associations in 2016.
• $45,000 will be added to the general contingency fund for the 2016 board to discuss the creation of a deputy highway superintendent position.
• The town will see a $350,000 reduction in expenditures, a $51,000 reduction in debt payment and the loss of $400,000 in revenue due to the sale of the Lysander Ice Arena.
• The highway department will see a reduction of $75,000 in road maintenance and construction. The highway department requested an additional $30,000 for budget transfers and $45,000 for road salt this year.
The budget can be viewed at bit.ly/lys2016.
The public hearing was closed Nov. 5, but residents can still comment on the proposed budget during public comment periods at future meetings.
