By Lauren Young
Staff writer
While the proposed Alzheimer’s Special Care Facility in Manlius could mean specialized care for up to 66 patients, it could also aggravate the stress of local ambulances without the funding to do so, according to the mayor of Fayetteville.
On Wednesday, Nov. 28, the Manlius Town Board held a public hearing to approve a special permit for Fayetteville Care Group LLC’s proposed Alzheimer’s facility at Medical Center Drive in Fayetteville, but village Mayor Mark Olson expressed some concerns about it increasing village ambulance services and potentially under-taxing the developer.
The proposed skilled nursing facility, a one-story Alzheimer’s facility to feature 66 beds, will be located at the southeast corner of the intersection between Avriel Drive and Medical Center Drive in the village of Fayetteville (within the town of Manlius), and will have three different kinds of units to meet the needs of residents with different income levels. The facility will be equipped with a full-time staff of 45 workers (at occupancy) with registered nurses onsite 24/7.
While the village is not opposed to the project, Olson said it is considered a “high-need facility,” and “66 beds do have an impact on the ambulance.”
Already that day, the village’s ambulance made four trips to Resort Lifestyle Communities in Manlius, said Olson.
But that is not the only nursing home in town — other nearby nursing homes include Maple Downs and Brookdale East Side in Fayetteville and Clare Bridge of Manlius.
According to Olson, the Fayetteville Fire & EMS Dept. already responds to about 3,200 ambulance calls per year.
On average, of over 50 facilities like this one across the nation, about three to four ambulance calls are made per week, said Rachel Rudiger of the project’s development team. A similar facility, the Juniper Glen Alzheimer’s Special Care Center, exists in Amherst.
Because this facility is considered “high-need,” Olson said the developer should be taxed accordingly, “because they use more than what they pay in taxes.”
Controlling the town’s sewer capacity was another concern, as earlier this year, the village and town of Manlius and village of Fayetteville, along with the town of DeWitt and the city of Syracuse, were hit with a consent order by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fix the Meadowbrook Wastewater Treatment Facility in Manlius. Because of this consent order, Olson said the village cannot partake in any additional projects and wondered how the town could.
“If that flows into Meadowbrook, I don’t know how you guys can put this facility on without talking to the DEC and EPA about this, because we can’t even put on any projects in the village right now because of that consent order,” said Olson.
Town Engineer Doug Miller said the town is looking to offset additional flows, considering measures like installing “rain dishes” in manholes prone to flooding. Though the consent order is in negotiation, it has not yet been officially accepted, but the issue will further be reviewed, he said.
On behalf of the project applicant, Rod Ives of Napieralla Consulting said an underground storage for stormwater during peak flow mitigation is also planned.
Traffic concerns were additionally reviewed, though the planning board determined that the project would not have a significant impact on traffic, said Ives. Town Councilor Nicholas Marzola, however, questioned the facility’s entrance accessibility, which entails driving up the road and crossing traffic to make a left-hand turn from N. Burdick Street, and could have a “real impact” on traffic volumes.
Councilor Vincent Giordano also directed his question toward traffic, asking if the facility was accessible for emergency vehicles and if quick turns could be made, to which Ives said the facility has secondary access and, at the board’s Oct. 10 meeting, stated that emergency vehicles would be onsite during construction to confirm accessibility.
After the board performed a SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review), determining there to be no significant environmental impacts because of project construction, it unanimously approved the amended special permit to include site accessibility and circulation to and from the facility. The public hearing was closed and was referred to the planning board, where a site plan review will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
If everything goes as planned, Rudiger said construction could take about 18 months.
The next Manlius Town Board meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 12.
