Archive: Around Town

"Water on the entire Drake Road is a non-issue at this point.  It's a dead issue."  That's what Lansing Town Supervisor Steve Farkas told residents of the road after a petition showed that most people eligible to vote on a water district don't want it.  But by the end of Wednesday's meeting it was apparent that the project isn't entirely dead.  What was evident was that there is a lot of confusion among residents about what the process is, who initiated the project, and what it would cost.


Much of the Town Lansing has municipal water, all contained within one water district, but there are large areas that do not.  When a neighborhood wants to join the existing district the residents petition the Town Board to find out what it would cost.  The Town Engineer researches the question, coming up with the boundaries of a proposed water district extension.  

He estimates the cost of bringing water within those boundaries, then divides by the number of properties to come up with what each property owner would have to pay to get the project built.  If the project goes forward those property owners split the cost of a loan to pay for the project, and the engineer calculates an annual cost to pay back that money.  Everyone in the district must pay, and hookup and usage charges are not included in the project pay-back.  If new homes are built they also share the burden, lowering the annual cost to existing homeowners.  Once the costs are known, the residents vote on whether to go forward, and if a majority wants to do so, the Town gets the final engineering completed, secures the loan, and builds the project.


Last Spring Noni Krom approached the Town Board to find out what it would take to get water on Drake Road.  The previous summer had seen a drought that dried up the wells of many residents there, and some of these neighbors had asked her to take a petition to the neighbors to start the process of finding out what it would cost to get water.

The project had gotten to the point of determining what the costs would be.  By the formula that is traditionally applied to water district extensions the annual cost to the average homeowner would be $1,125, which the residents said was too much money.  As a result the Town came up with an alternate way of charging, which would put a larger burden on owners of vacant lots.  That brought the cost down to $667 for the average homeowner, but meant enormous costs to the vacant land owners.

In a meeting last month a third formula was suggested in which all of the vacant properties could be charged one unit regardless of their size.  "Essentially everybody would be charged one unit unless you have an apartment, in which case you would be charged an additional unit," explained Town Engineer David Herrick.  "On top of that there's a subdivision on Drake Road that recently obtained preliminary approval.  It is very likely that project will generate about 19 single family home sites.  Those were factored in to this third alternative.  When you put all that in you get a price for a single family home of about $720 per year." 

Town Board (left to right) Supervisor Steve Farkas, Deputy Supervisor Bud Shattuck, Connie Wilcox, Marty Christopher, Matt Besemer

Town officials promised to send a letter to residents outlining the three alternatives before last Wednesday's meeting.  The letter was drafted on October 2, and most residents received it a few days later.  Meanwhile Doug McEver, a former Town Board member who lives on Drake Road, circulated three petitions to residents who would be eligible to vote to try to bring closure to the issue.  53 people signed a petition to drop it because the cost was too high.  Three signed one that said they would agree to the $799 formula, and three others signed one that said they would agree to the traditional formula at the highest cost.

But at Wednesday's meeting Frank White noted that the petitions were signed before most people got the letter from the Town that explained the third option.  ""I'm just wondering if people had all the information before they signed this petition,"  he said.  A dozen people said they would have voted for the third option if they had known about it before the petition was circulated.

The Besemer subdivision and a few neighboring homes have already had a much smaller water district extension approved.  Work on this smaller area has been stalled, because once approached by other residents, the Town Board thought it would be worth trying to get water to everyone on the .8 mile road.  But confusion about the process and the cost calculations have paralyzed the potential project as well as holding up progress on the smaller district proposal.  "We wouldn't petition ourselves to have water on Drake Road," said Councilman Marty Christopher.  "We're just here listening to you."  Councilwoman Connie Wilcox added, "We're certainly willing to entertain another petition at any time, but we're going to move forward with the other district."

The rest of the board agreed.  "My suggestion would be this," said Deputy Supervisor Bud Shattuck.  "We said at the last meeting that we were going to go forward with the Besemer water subdivision.  I think we should do that at our next board meeting, which is next week."  He commended McEver for circulating the petition, and asked if he or another resident would be willing to do it again, now that everyone has all the facts.  "If there's enough of a change in that then we'll reconsider," he said.

The morning after the meeting Krom noted that the cost numbers on the petition weren't accurate, and said that she would have agreed to the third, compromise cost if it had been a choice.  "If the residents on this road could all get together and talk about this quietly, and have a total explanation of the facts, they they would probably reconsider their vote," she said.  "I for one am willing to reconsider my vote."  But she noted that getting a new petition signed by all the neighbors before next week's Town Board meeting would be virtually impossible.

The upshot is that the project isn't quite dead.  Farkas noted that a new petition could come after Wednesday's meeting, but officials said that adding the rest of Drake Road to the smaller water district extension at a later time would cost more.

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