By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
If you’re looking to hold a race in the town of Lysander, soon you’ll have more paperwork to fill out. At the work session preceding the April 5 Lysander Town Board meeting, Town Councilor Bob Ellis proposed a checklist for walk/run organizers based on Onondaga County Parks’ special events permit.
The discussion of the proposed policy comes ahead of the Earth Day Half Marathon and 5K, which takes place April 22. Starting at Emmi Farms, the half-marathon’s route traces town roads including Vann Road, Fenner Road, Plainville Road and Reeves Road. The race begins near the Beaver Lake Nature Center lookout.
“What we want to do is come up with a policy regarding all run/walk events on town roads,” Supervisor Joe Saraceni said. “This whole issue revolves around communication, making sure that everybody’s on the right page and that all the impacted parties understand what’s going on.”
Saraceni said there has been “miscommunication” regarding the Earth Day Half Marathon and the portion of the route by Beaver Lake, so the goal of forming guidelines for race events is to avoid communication issues in the future.
Ellis, who served as director of operations for Onondaga County Parks, said the county’s special event permit application includes a map of the event’s proposed location or route, admission costs and profits, a safety plan including emergency medical services information, event setup, and permits and vendors for food and alcohol.
“We can certainly modify this to make sense for the town of Lysander,” Ellis said. “It’s just a great series of questions that someone — [Recreation Supervisor] Tony [Burkinshaw] or the board — would sit down with an event promoter and go down through this and have it all make sense so that it’s clear as a bell who’s responsible, what date it’s due by and the monies involved.”
Deputy Supervisor Bob Geraci, who worked as commissioner of Onondaga County Parks, said the application should also take into consideration what businesses or other entities will be affected by a race event. Ellis said Lysander’s form could also include a letter for residents who would be affected.
Geraci said event organizers should be required to submit the event application well in advance, and the event would be subject to the town board’s approval.
“If you’re going to do an event, you better come see us at least three, four months in advance, if not even further out,” Geraci said. “Don’t expect to go through this and have your event happen in two weeks. It’s just not going to happen.”
Saraceni said the checklist would be shared among the parks department, the highway department, code enforcement, fire police, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office in case of issues or emergencies. Geraci said the town could form a special events committee with representatives from the town board and the parks, code and highway departments.
“You always get good perspective from those different sets of eyes,” Geraci said.
Also on the agenda
The town board approved the following items at the April 5 meeting:
• Speed study: The town board approved a request to the state for a speed study of the stretch of road between the railroad tracks on Smokey Hollow Road and the village limits.
Supervisor Joe Saraceni said a resident expressed concern about the inconsistent speed limit on Smokey Hollow Road in front of Lysander Park. Recreation Supervisor Tony Burkinshaw said the speed limit from Hencle Boulevard to the village limit is 40 mph, but it is only 30 mph going the opposite way.
“Due to the increased use of Lysander Park, now with the addition of that other football field and in the future with the spray park, a resident across from the park came in to request a speed study because there seems to be an inconsistent speed between lanes,” Saraceni explained during the meeting.
• Radisson parking: The town board approved a local law restricting parking on certain roads in Radisson during the annual Mother’s Day weekend garage sales. Parking restriction signs will be posted on one side of the street to keep the roadways clear for first responders.
The local law prohibits parking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the Friday and Saturday immediately preceding Mother’s Day on the side of the street as posted on the following rtreets: Oak Brook Road, Twin Flowers Road, Van Wie Drive West, Alletta Circle, Corlear Drive, Van Wie Drive East, Madeleine Drive, Briar Patch, Reston Drive, Grey Birch, Stanford Drive and Marinus Drive.
