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Congressman Michael Arcuri's Field Representative Robert Messenger sat in on the Lansing Sewer Committee meeting Wednesday as they considered the future of both the sewer and the Town.  Noel Desch filled Messenger in with a brief history of the project, with the hope that Arcuri will be able to find Federal aid to help bring sewer to Lansing.  "The Ithaca area was successful in getting a large part of the Environmental Bond Act of the Central New York Finger Lake Region grant," Desch explained.  One of the unique parts of the grant is $4.8 million set aside for the collection and trunk sewers that are part of this district.  The money is laying there.  It's fragile.  That's why we need to move along and get the district formed and underway, so that money is not lost."

But that's nowhere near enough to pay for this," added Andy Sciarabba.  "That's the problem.  That's why you're here, because I'm hoping the Federal government can step in in some way."


Messenger noted that money for local municipal projects was been cut at the Federal level years ago.  "Obviously we're hoping to change that a little bit.  I noticed in one of Congressman Arcuri's committee that they increased funding for infrastructure, specifically for State SRF monies.  I don't know how that will fly in the Senate."

But he warned that there is no funding currently that the Lansing project would qualify.  "We heard through the grapevine that only 20% of the projects in Albany are fundable right now with the budgets they have there now.  (Arcuri) is attempting to get some more Federal money back into the States so they can start working on some of these projects.  But that could be a long way off."

The discussion covered land use and zoning, with Committee Chairman Bud Shattuck reporting that the Zoning Board hasn't made much progress in its consideration of zoning changes.  The changes are in response to the Tompkins County Legislature's desire to promote affordable housing, as well as the Watchtower organization's wish to adjust zoning for the southern part of Kingdom Farm, which they intend to develop.  Shattuck said that joint meetings with Town Board members may accelerate the process.  "The problem goes back to the County," he explained.  "We approached them last summer and offered to bring someone in from the County to expedite the process.  Somehow the process has broken down."

Watchtower has owned Kingdom Farm since the early 1930s, and some years ago planned to build a community of 700 people there that would produce the Jehovah's Witness's Watchtower magazine.  They pledged $1.5 million toward the sewer project with the only condition being that the property would be included in the sewer district.  But eventually they decided to build elsewhere and divest themselves of the Lansing property.


It's great farm land.  It's in the Ag district, but it's also in the water and sewer district," Shattuck said.  "It's a lot more valuable that way.  They understand that the best way to sell it is to rezone it.  The sale of that property, if done right, is probably the spot that will bring the million and a half dollars that they would funnel back to us."

That led to a general discussion about the future of Lansing.  Given that development is inevitable, most committee members agreed that cluster development in the Town center, which is the area around the Town Hall going as far as Peruville Road to the east, Drake Road in the west, and north to Buck Road would be better for the town than simply adding homes to the south part of the town, making it an extension of the village.  Denser development in the Town center would bring businesses that would add to the tax roles without over-populating the schools.

Town Engineer David Herrick suggested a new approach that he called a possible 'road map' to selling the public on the idea of the sewer.  "We had a call from the Supervisor of the Town of Half Moon," he said.  "They're experiencing significant growth.  About a third of their town is slated for possible development, and they were concerned about how growth might overtake the rural nature of their town.  They went through an exercise where they planned for the development.  But they planned for it on their terms.  Instead of letting it happen in a piecemeal way they developed an environmental impact statement and went through a planning process that supports everything that the town thought was valuable."  

But Herrick noted that kind of planning involves a lengthy process that may not be feasible with a drop-dead date of June or July for a Lansing sewer vote.  "I say all that because one of the criticisms we've had as a group is that we're not looking forward to what the Town may be as a result of providing infrastructure," Herrick said.  "Maybe we need to come up with a plan that suggests where development may be, and put it together in a form that the community can react to, and then understand that the only way this can happen if you like it is to get the infrastructure."  

Shattuck said he would be willing to put off a vote if officials want to take this approach.  "If we go ahead and do this and the process takes longer, that may still lead us to where we want to go," he said.  "Sewer needs to happen.  We all know it needs to happen.  My fear is that if we have a vote and it fails that we may lose the bond money."

The Committee also considered putting the vote off until the general election in November, and discussed progress of the financial/funding subcommittee in getting private grants and loans to reduce the cost of the sewer to district residents.  Engineer Jim Blum presented a time line breaking down remaining tasks into categories, and presented the beginning of a comparison between sewer and septic replacement costs that he said would be completed next month.

When it finally comes to a vote it will likely be about money.  As it stands the project will cost about $18 million, with residents paying about $11 million of that.  Before last November's election town officials scrambled to get Congressman Sherwood Boehlert to funnel some Federal money to the project, fearing that with a Freshman congressman filling that seat this year that available money could be scarcer.  They were unable to get that money last year, but have some hope that the new Congressman will be able to help.

"I don't have all the answers, but we're more than willing to look as hard as we can," Messenger said.  "We try to get an answer for everybody.  It may not be the one they want, but we'll get you an answer."

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