- By Dan Veaner
- News
Print 
The door is not closed on the Village's stated preference that the trunk line be built along East Shore Drive (Route 34), but as time passes it will become more difficult to switch. "At this point we're going down Cayuga Heights Road," said Sewer Committee Chairman Bud Shattuck. "If something dramatic changes to make 34 affordable some of the engineering can be changed to that route."
The prospects for a dramatic change are bleak. As far as the Town is concerned the choice of which route to build on is strictly based on dollars and cents. The cost difference between the two routes was originally estimated to be $900,000, largely due to Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations for construction on State roads. Based on initial talks with the DOT engineer Jim Blum estimated that the difference could be reduced to $400,000. Doubting Blum's numbers, Mayor Don Hartill met with Blum and Village Engineer Dave Putnamlast week to go over the figures with a fine tooth comb. The three found an additional $150,000 of expenses, bringing the difference between the routes up, not down.
If the DOT allows contractors to completely close East Shore Drive for the three months needed to complete the project, the difference could disappear or be close enough that the Town would build there. The Village has commissioned a traffic study to present to the DOT that they hope will convince them that a detour onto Triphammer Road will handle traffic flow sufficiently to make it possible to close 34. The study will not be complete until mid-March, however and with mounting pressure from the State to get to work on the project Town officials decided they could not wait.
After several delays to give the Village input on the route, distrust between the municipalities has risen. For its part Village officials have challenged the Town's engineering and cost estimates, the latter leading to the meeting between Hartill and Blum. They also have concerns about odors emanating from the trunk line even when Town engineers, noting their concern, said they will address it in the engineering.
Town officials have expressed frustration that the Village is dragging its feet intentionally to prevent the Town from building its sewer. The Village is one of the "Group of Six" municipalities (City and Town of Ithaca, the Town of Dryden, Cayuga Heights and the Village and Town of Lansing) that signed an agreement that defined the area that would pool sewer resources, notably the existing treatment plants in Ithaca and Cayuga Heights. They say the Village already has a sewer and doesn't want the Town to have one. "The Village has a subtle, but strong intent to prevent growth in the South part of the Town of Lansing," said Sewer Committee member Noel Desch. Village Trustee Frank Moore disarmingly replied, "I think you're giving the Village too much credit politically." The exchange was one of many in Town and Village meetings that illustrate the conflict.
A large part of the meeting addressed some citizen's contention that the trunk line shouldn't go through the village at all. E-mail from residents like John Dennis and Hugh Bahar have argued for either no sewer or building a new plant in the Town near Milliken Station. Dennis sent a white paper arguing that pumping effluent to the Cayuga Heights and/or Ithaca plant is environmentally damaging to Cayuga Lake.
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has said no to a separate plant several times over the years. The reason the "Group of Six" was formed was that the DEC said no to a new plant, forcing inter-municipal cooperation. While Shattuck said that nothing in Dennis's communication hadn't been considered by the "Group of Six" and presented to the DEC before, he would like to address the persistent contention that the State might change its mind this late in the process.
Shattuck suggested inviting DEC official Steve Eidt to the March 22 (5pm at the Town Hall) meeting, and hoped concerned members of the public as well as Village officials would attend, saying he would put it at the top of the agenda so that visitors wouldn't have to sit through the rest of the meeting if they didn't want to stay. Moore objected to the idea, saying that a meeting like that wouldn't affect the outcome, indicating that he still thinks a Town treatment plant is possible. "If I thought this was a dead issue I wouldn't even bring it up," he said. Town Supervisor Steve Farkas noted that DEC officials have repeatedly said that the decision is final. But Shattuck said that is why people should hear the decision and the reasons for it directly from a DEC official.
Herrick agreed, saying "The community needs to understand what are the regulatory influences on this decision. I am concerned," he added, "that there could be a groundswell of delay coming from second guessing, without any change in the outcome." He said he had contacted Eidt, who told him he would be willing to come. Herrick said he would call back to ask him to come on the 22nd.
Meanwhile the Town is moving forward with the project. The schedule calls for the service area to be finally determined by March 22. The final cost of the project is scheduled to be determined by May 10, and with commitments on private donations the committee should be able to calculate the cost to district residents by mid-May.
----
v2i9