Archive: Opinions

Should Lansing build a sewer?  The argument comes down to whose money is spent providing it.  Some think it would be OK if only developers pay for it because they say that is who would benefit financially from it.  Others say that developers will be attracted to a town that has sewer because of the opportunities for denser development, which is beneficial because it is less costly to build more units that way.  They add that this new density will be sufficient to support local businesses, both existing and new, including retail, professional offices, light manufacturing and others.

So it's a question of what comes first, the chicken or the egg?  Will businesses really come because there is sewer, or will sewer come because businesses do?

We may never find out.  As of Wednesday's town board meeting it looks like the onus is on developers to bring sewer to the Town Center if they really want it.  If sewer is too expensive for many landowners it is certainly going to be very expensive for a few developers.  I don't know the economics of it, but I would wager it will come down to the same issue homeowners have: if developers can't make a profit after paying for sewer, no way.

That was the issue for homeowners.  They didn't see any commensurate benefit to paying for sewer.  While school and town officials projected savings, especially in school taxes, townspeople chose to ignore it or flat out didn't believe it.

A few years ago when the Town Center Committee was active there was broad support for a town center.  On the basis of that the Town paid New York State $294,800 to have deed restrictions removed from 156 acres of land on Route 34B across from the Town ballfields.  The Town had purchased the land in 1992 for $109,500, but the deal included restrictions dating back to 1933 that limited it's use to parkland and recreation.

Two developers currently want to build on the land, and have agreed to purchase parcels contingent on sewer.  The money from those two sales would pay back the entire $400,000 and account for only a fraction of the total acreage Lansing could sell.  Without sewer those projects won't likely happen.

So now it's up to developers.  The chicken has been taken off the table, and we are left with the egg.  As the results of a town-wide telephone survey are reported next month and the town comprehensive plan is updated over the coming year it will be interesting to see how this goes.  The debate over a town-financed sewer may be over, but the question of a town center and denser development may be about to heat up.  In that vein, Councilwoman Katrina Binkewicz's recommended Wednesday that the Town Center committee be reactivated now that the Sewer Committee is being disbanded.

Lansing has already invested money into the notion of developing a town center for the land and studies including an architectural firm's vision of what a town center could look like, not to mention the money spent on numerous sewer proposals over the years.  It makes sense to go forward with a town center if only to recoup the town's investment.  Sewer isn't the only way to have a town center, but it is a good way.  And while there are certainly opponents of the town center, it is something that many townspeople rallied around when that committee did its work.  So Binkewicz's recommendation makes sense. 

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