By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

The Cicero Town Board received its first peek at what the town’s new highway garage could look like at its Aug. 24 town board meeting. Scott Bova, director of architecture for the MRB Group, presented initial plans for the facility, which will be located on Route 31 near Northern Pines Golf Club.

Bova said the design of the Cicero barn is based on MRB’s design for the town of Farmington’s highway garage.

While the initial cost of the building was estimated at $10 million, Supervisor Mark Venesky said MRB has reduced the project to about $8.8 million and Cicero could stand to save more. Venesky told the Star-Review that since Cicero is basically replicating the Farmington design, this will save on engineering costs.

“I’m very happy with the way the building’s turning out,” Highway Superintendent Chris Woznica said.

Among the proposed facility’s features are:

• Drive-thru building to minimize heat loss from the use of overhead doors

• Separate bays for maintenance and repair of highway vehicles

• Lean-to for cold storage

• Fuel station

• Salt barn and salt spread area

• Sign shop

• Indoor mezzanine for parking smaller vehicles

• Interior wash bay

• Use of natural light to cut down on lighting costs

• Office space to receive the public

• Continuous “cold roof” system to minimize ice buildup

“The idea is to provide a roof system that is continuous with the wall to prevent ice formation,” Bova explained. The current highway garage has an ongoing problem with massive ice formations in the winter.

The building is also easily expandable, allowing the town’s fleet to grow as the town does.

Town board approves re-zoning

Before they took a look at the highway garage project, the town board voted 4-1 to approve re-classification of more than 100 properties to general commercial zoning districts: in the following areas:

• Route 11/Brewerton Road from the town line (Bear Road) northerly to the hamlet of Brewerton (Bartel Road)

• Route 31 from the Clay-Cicero town line easterly to South Bay Road

• East Taft Road from Route 481 easterly to Taft Park Drive, just past Northern Boulevard

“The citizens that came up here … were very negative toward this proposal,” said Councilor Mike Becallo, who cast the sole dissenting vote. “I have to go with what the community says.”

Venesky said he personally addressed citizens who had objections about
re-zoning.

“Five people wanted … their properties carved out of this project, and they have been,” Venesky said. “If there were any other objections, they did not bring them before this board.”