With a colossal warehouse and distribution center being planned a half-mile north of the village and lane closures proposed at Onondaga Lake Parkway just south of the village, Liverpudlians are starting to feel squeezed.
Mayor Gary White, a former deputy chief of the Syracuse Police Department, called a Dec. 2 village-wide meeting to discuss the state DOT’s parkway proposals (see our coverage of that meeting on page 1).
Meanwhile, back on Oct. 28, White penned a strongly worded four-page letter to the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency expressing the village’s “deep concerns” regarding the big warehouse being planned on Morgan Road on the property now known as the Liverpool Public Golf and Country Club. While the new facility would be built in the town of Clay, the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) is the project’s lead agency. OCIDA and the Clay Town Board and Clay Planning Board have approved tax breaks, a zoning change and site plan for the historic development that could create some 1,000 jobs here.
Back in September, the Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co., considered one of the nation’s most prolific commercial real-estate developers, announced a plan to build a 3.7 million-square-foot distribution facility on Morgan Road that would involve an annual payroll of some $30 million.
“The village did not become aware of this project until its formal public announcement [in September], and no village officials were formally contacted in advance for village input,” White wrote to OCIDA Chairman Patrick Hogan.
Traffic top concern
“After reviewing preliminary traffic date and other reports supplied to OCIDA … our board [of trustees] also has serious concerns and reservations concerning the project if it is undertaken without the traffic and quality-of-life mitigations as generally discussed in this correspondence,” the mayor wrote.
The current Traffic Impact Study filed with OCIDA fails to assess the impact of the project to any of the side streets on Tulip Street within the village, White wrote. The developer’s own study predicted that current traffic levels could double along Tulip Street and has suggested creating a dedicated left-turn lane from Tulip onto Oswego Street, which may also necessitate widening Oswego Street along the north side of Johnson Park.
White is especially upset that the DOT wants to proceed with radical changes on the Onondaga Lake Parkway while the potentially negative impacts of the warehouse project have yet to be fully understood.
“The village is extremely concerned that the NYSDOT project, combined with the proposed warehouse project, will have a much greater impact on the Village of Liverpool and its residents than if each project were considered on its own,” White wrote. “This will potentially be compounded by the [108-unit] Meyer Manor apartment complex as it approaches completion [at 1225 Tulip St.] The Village therefore requests that these potential impacts be carefully reviewed by OCIDA.”
Long-sought changes to I-81 should also be taken into consideration, the mayor said.
“The developer’s traffic experts should incorporate into their analysis the impacts from the ‘Community Grid’ proposal which has additional potential to impact the proposed project and all traffic in the area,” White wrote to OCIDA.
Mayor White’s making a simple request — let’s look at the big picture rather than take a piecemeal approach. It’s a logical, common-sense request that should be granted.
Animated Christmas comedy
The village’s purple-door church is the place to be on Saturday morning, Dec. 7, when The Star Family Event offers a warm breakfast, a movie and a visit from Santa Claus. The purple doors open at 8:30 a.m. at Liverpool United Methodist Church, at 604 Oswego St., when French toast will be served, followed by an appearance by Santa and a screening of the Christmas movie, “The Star,” at 10:30 a.m. “The Star” is a 2017 computer-animated Christian comedy film based on the Nativity of Jesus. Admission is free; 315-457-5180.
Fewer signs, better food
Hey, ever since Election Day, the signage at Corinthian Court has taken a turn for the better with the massive election placard mercifully removed and fewer sandwich signs in front of the multi-business building at 514 Oswego St., at the corner of Vine.
BTW, the Corinthian Court’s most-talked-about business, JT’s Creamery and Café, has impressed scores of hungry customers by serving gluten-free and vegan dishes along with a regular menu of soups, sandwiches, salads, breakfast sandwiches, bagels, pastries, juice, smoothies and Bassett’s Ice Cream. JT’s mission is to provide its patrons, no matter what their dietary restrictions, with nutritional food choices; 315-451-1991; jtscreameryandcafe.com.
JASS Jam Sunday, Dec. 8
Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse President Bobby Morris, who lives in Liverpool, has arranged to move JASS Jam Sessions to a new home and a new day of the week. The swinging holiday session will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N. Clinton St., on Syracuse’s North Side. Listeners will hear traditional New Orleans jazz tunes such as “Bourbon Street Parade” as well as seasonal standards like “Let It Snow … ”
Admission is free, and all musicians and vocalists are invited to sit in; jasscny.org; 315-439-3435. The next JASS jam is slated there on Feb. 9, 2020.
