By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
Onondaga County has awarded more than $600,000 in grant money to the three villages comprising the Town of Manlius, enabling revitalization to occur in the primary thoroughfare sections of each municipality.
The apportionment of these grants dispensed among the villages lines up with the county’s $1.5 million Village Main Street initiative.
“We want our county to be a place where people want to live, work and play,” Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said during a press conference on March 5. “The challenge is that consumer behavior changes. When that happens, communities need to reassess where they are so that they can keep residents. By investing in the public infrastructure, that makes it more appealing for residential growth, which then drives commercial investment.”
McMahon said he intends for work to begin on the following projects this year.
Manlius
Manlius, the oldest village in the county, received approximately $298,000 to be directed toward a string of projects, one of them involving upgrades to Clock Plaza.
Located at the intersection of East Seneca and Fayette streets, the plaza will be met with landscaping, repairs to its clock and visual improvements to conceal utilities.
The plans for Manlius also include the creation of two additional plazas on East Seneca Street, one of them abutting the Bruegger’s Bagels shop.
Throughout the village there will be tree plantings, new seating areas, inclusion of ornamental lighting and facade improvements to local businesses and other properties.
Paul Whorrall, the mayor of Manlius, said the revitalization projects will make the village more “pedestrian-friendly.”
Once this first phase has been completed, ensuing projects will entail construction on Fayette and West Seneca streets and later parking restructuring and traffic refinements.
Fayetteville
For its Main Street revitalization, Fayetteville has received $275,000 from the county.
In coordination with the Town of Manlius, the Village of Fayetteville will install stretches of sidewalk in front of the Craftsman Inn & Suites on East Genesee Street and at other spots, helping to connect the village and increase walkability.
Signs welcoming people to the village will be added near the restaurant Kirby’s, the coffee shop Freedom of Espresso and Highbridge Street.
The village also plans to grind down and repave Brooklea Drive, put in new lighting and benches as part of village gateway improvements and turn a vacant parcel into a part of its park system.
Mark Olson, the mayor of Fayetteville, said the village remains unwilling to raise taxes for residents but had done as much as it could with its public money by the time the county awarded the grant.
“I give all the credit to the county executive for coming up with this fund and saying to villages, ‘What can we do to help you?’” Olson said.
Minoa
Minoa, a village split by railroad tracks and connected by a green pedestrian bridge, has received $30,000 through the county’s grant program.
The municipality will use the financial assistance to craft an engineering plan laying out desired development for its south side as well as approaches to create walkability and continuity appearance-wise throughout the community.
Bill Brazill, the mayor of Minoa, said the village will be in a better position to apply for more grant money once it finalizes a plan.
Brazill said he hopes to collect input from committees formed by residents of the village’s south side.
Minoa’s commercial corridor starts at the municipal building and runs past Lewis Park.
Planned improvements will include new curbing, sidewalks and ornamental lighting.
“There’s still work to do on the north side too, near Trapper’s,” Brazill said. “Little by little, we’ll get everything on the same page on both sides on the village.”
