CAZENOVIA — On Feb. 10, the Cazenovia Town Board authorized the seasonal closing of a section of Stanley Road.
For the remainder of the 2025 winter season, the section extending from the Yates residence at 2063 Stanley Rd. to Rathbun Road will be closed.
“We discussed that for the health and protection of our residents, we would deem that unsafe for travel,” said Town Supervisor Kyle Reger. “This was a road that used to be a seasonal road; we are going to turn it back into [one].”
Councilor/Deputy Town Supervisor Patrick Race, the highway department liaison, announced that the road closure would be effective immediately. He also said additional signage would be erected to alert drivers of the closure before they get too far along the road.
The closed section of Stanley will reopen on April 1 and remain open until Nov. 1.
Reger informed the board that he already alerted the Madison County Office of Emergency Management, the Cazenovia Fire Department, and the Cazenovia Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps of the change, and he planned to send letters to the New York State Police and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.
Battery energy storage systems
The board adopted a local law to amend the zoning chapter of the town code to prohibit Tier 2 and larger battery energy storage systems.
According to the resolution, the local law is intended to advance and protect the public health, safety, welfare, and quality of life of town residents.
“The town has carefully and diligently studied regulations that would address the establishment, placement, construction, enlargement, and erection of battery energy storage systems and balanced these objectives with potential land use regulations for provisions to specifically regulate the same,” the resolution states. “Included in these considerations is the likelihood of chemical and electrical fires which connect into such systems and the inability of the town and its limited fire response capabilities to adhere to and address these issues in a satisfactory and safe manner given the availability of equipment, resources, and training. Upon reflection of these risks and harms, the town board has determined that prohibiting the establishment, placement, installation, construction, and erection of certain battery energy storage systems town-wide is in the best interests of the town.”
The local law defines Tier 2 battery energy storage systems as having an aggregate energy capacity greater than 600 kilowatt-hours or comprising more than one storage battery technology in a room, contained, or enclosed area.
Before adopting the local law, the board held a public hearing.
Town resident Mark Braiman said while he thinks the proposed local law is a good start, it does not address potential concerns associated with the disposal/recycling of the materials involved in the batteries. He also commented on the 600 kilowatt-hours size limit specified in the Tier 2 definition.
“Ultimately, that’s probably too large,” he said. “[That’s] a lot of power. I would expect very few individual homes would ever need that much power, so I can envision you wanting to, at some point in the future, put a lower cap for individual residences.”
Before voting on the proposal, multiple board members commented that the local law can be amended in the future if needed.
“One thing we talked about was if somebody should develop a battery that is not a problem for fire or otherwise, we would be open to that, but we’d have to amend the law,” said Councilor Jimmy Golub.
‘Farm and Farming’ and ‘Farm Operation’ definitions
The board next introduced a proposed local law to amend the zoning chapter of the town code with respect to the definitions of “Farm and Farming” and “Farm Operation.”
“The proposed amendments to the definitions [are] designed to provide additional clarification relative to the uses allowed in residential areas and to assure consistency with same, while balancing the rights of property owners to enjoy their property with those who wish to conduct farming and farm operations in a reasonable manner,” the adopted resolution states.
The proposed amendments specify that farms and farm operations are to be conducted on parcels — unless located in the State-Certified County Agricultural District — with a minimum of seven contiguous acres upon special use permit approval from the Town of Cazenovia Zoning Board of Appeals.
After determining that adopting the proposed local law would have no adverse impact on the environment, the board adopted a negative declaration under the NYS Environmental Quality Review Act.
The board referred the proposed local law to the Madison County Planning Board and scheduled a public hearing for March 10, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. at the Gothic Cottage.
Updated comprehensive plan
The town board also adopted the updated comprehensive plan for the Town of Cazenovia, titled “Town of Cazenovia Comprehensive Plan Update 2030,” which will be available for viewing on the town’s website under “Community Planning.”
Reger said the Comprehensive Plan Review Special Board worked to develop the updated plan for the better part of three years.
“Thank you to our whole team,” Reger said. “It was just a pleasure to work with you. It was an honor for me, [and] it taught me so much getting to work with each of you — really some incredible resources. . . . You all did a tremendous job.”
Reger will hold his next monthly office hours on Sunday, Feb. 23, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Gothic Cottage. Community members are invited to sit down with him and discuss any town issue.
The town board typically meets on the second Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Gothic Cottage at 7 Albany St.
For more information on the Town of Cazenovia, visit towncazenovia.digitaltowpath.org or call the town offices at 315-655-9213.
