Archive: Opinions

I agree with some of the people who spoke out at Wednesday's Town Board working session who advocated detailed planning for the town center.    I think the Town should hire an architect to lay out some drawings defining the style of the center, and the planning board or some other committee should lay out fairly specific design rules for new buildings, where parking lots for retail areas should be, lighting plans, and so on.  What I do not agree with is the notion that the Town is rushing the town center project and that it should be put on hold.

Lansing has been talking about sewer and struggling to accomplish it for more than 20 years.  A few years ago a committee did a great job of polling the public and coming up with a list of things current residents want, as well as some attractive conceptual drawings.  That raises the question:  when is it time to stop talking about it and do something about it?

I saw the presentation in which a comprehensive town center plan was proposed to the Town Board (at a public meeting), and I thought the developers did a very good job of respecting the things the Town Center Committee had come up with, along with some items including a dog park that have been proposed since then.  I have seen pictures of developments they have built in other towns, and have been following the news of their negotiations with the Town.  They seem very anxious to honor the Town's wishes to the point of adjusting their designs to fit requests by the town, taking on the burden of building public roads, and even moving one project from a prime location townspeople want to reserve for other projects.

Not to belabor sewer parlance: it's time to s*** or get off the pot.  Now has been in the future for the sewer for so long Lansing has grown used to now being later.  Over the years two sewer projects have come and gone for whatever reasons.  The new one the Sewer Committee has come up looks affordable, and is supported by many residents who actually live within the district (and therefore will have an opportunity to vote on it, and will fund it if it passes).  It's time for now to be now.

Supervisor Kathy Miller's argument that the developers are proposing projects that fit the Town's wants and needs, and that if they change the Town can still say no holds water for me.  The sewer can't happen without these projects.  That is a simple financial fact.  I don't entirely agreee with her notion that developers should drive the design process.  But I don't agree with the people who want to clog the sewer.  They should join whatever committee is formed to come up with a solid town center plan and help make it happen as quickly as reasonably possible.

Here we have two developers who are ready to start building as soon as they can get approvals if the sewer district is formed.  They are the birds in the hand that are worth two in the bush.  The theoretical birds in the bush aren't worth a fig if Lansing really wants a town center.

The two projects amount to 20% of the available town center land.  If these projects meet even 75% of whatever the final specific plan ends up being, it will be worth it.  Lansing will not get the other 80% of its town center (or any of it, for that matter) without the sewer.  The reality is you need the developments to get the sewer and you need the sewer to get the town center.

I think that some serious planning and guidelines need to be developed as quickly as possible so all future projects fit the bill.  I do not agree that it is worth holding off for another year to have a solid plan for the two proposed projects to conform to.  I think based on past work including townspeople's input that future plan is largely predictable.  The Town Board and Planning Board knows what Lansing has already said it wants in a town center.  The developers we have are amenable to conforming with what the Town wants.  There has certainly been enough deliberation over the years to be able to come up with guidelines and drawings at this point.

It's time for now to be now.

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