Archive: News

The Lansing sewer route began to take shape as Stearns & Wheler, LLC engineer Jim Blum presented a map and pictures to Sewer Committee members in a Wednesday (05/10) meeting.  Blum and Town Engineer Dave Herrick drove and walked the route along Cayuga Heights Road to Cedar Lane and south to the Cayuga Heights treatment plant, taking pictures and making notes along the way.  Pictures were inset on the map to show how the sewer would traverse culverts and what a pump station located near Cayuga Heights Road and Esty Road would look like.


The Town of Lansing is assuming the sewer trunk line will take the Cayuga Heights Road route, but it ready to switch to Route 34 if the Department of Transportation (DOT) forgives rules that regulate construction on State roads enough to bring the costs in line.  DOT regulations would add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the project in traffic management, clearing the road each day, and reduced work hours that would mean a longer building season.  But the DOT has not yet responded to a traffic study presented to them by Village of Lansing Mayor Don Hartill.  If the DOT doesn't reply by June 1 the Town will be committed to the Cayuga Heights Road route because engineering on the project will have progressed to a "point of no return."

Switching to Route 34 would not only require an answer by June 1, but it would require an answer that adequately reduces costs to match those of the Cayuga Heights route.  The traffic study suggests routing truck traffic along Triphammer Road while automobile traffic would be routed along Cayuga Heights Road.  That would add to the approximately 20,000 vehicles a day that Hartill says already traverse Triphammer Road.  Blum presented the map to Village Trustee Frank Moore to show Village officials.

Moore expressed a concern that the Town guarantee that a sewer will not release odors along the Cayuga Heights Road route.  Herrick assured him that the issue would be addressed, but Moore said that he doesn't want it to be fixed after the fact.  Herrick noted that it could easily be built into the project, saying that while it will have a high impact on the neighborhood, installing a charcoal filter into the system will have a low cost impact.

Blum also told the committee that prices have gone up since the last project cost estimate was made about two years ago.  He said that prices are going up on materials, pavement and rock needed to restore roads and other costs associated with routing through the Village of Lansing.  He said costs have risen between 8% and 9%.

Meanwhile Andy Sciarabba reported that he is pursuing a plan that will make it more attractive for private donors to contribute to the project.  Using the model Tompkins County used to attract Northwest Airlines to the County airport, Sciarabba wants to ask donors to pay up to a capped amount.  This amount will decrease as the sewer attracts new development that will add more Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDUs) to share the cost of the project.  "It will be more palatable to donors to know their commitment is more than they will actually pay," said Sciarabba .The plan will reduce the annual cost to the average homeowner from more than $800 to around $375.

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