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The (Syracuse, NY) July 15, 2004 TOWN WOULD HAVE TO BUY PRIVATE PROPERTY TO DEVELOP BORODINO LANDING SITE. Sara Errington Staff writer The Spafford Town Board
last week created a committee to look into creating a waterfront park.
Frank Moran, who already has been investigating the possibility of
a park at Borodino Landing, will be chairman. "Future generations will look back on what we've done today
regarding the lake, and if they don't have access to it they're not going
to think too highly of us," Moran said.
Moran said he informally approached the owners of properties on
either side of Borodino Landing.
The Fesko family said they aren't interested in selling their land,
while the Denslows said they'd prefer to sell to their family members,
Moran said.
Moran and Councilor Joyce Barnett said they took encouragement from
the fact that the Denslows were interested enough that they wanted to know
how much the town was willing to pay for the land.
Moran urged the town to send the Denslows a letter asking if they'd
keep the town in mind if they decided to sell outside their family, or
even give the town the right of first refusal.
Without obtaining one of the two properties, developing Borodino
Landing as a park would be difficult, Moran said. The Landing is on an
easement across private property. It is not on town-owned property.
Barnett asked the board to pass a resolution authorizing Moran to
draft a letter that would be sent to the Denslows in the next week or so,
after review by individual board members.
She failed to obtain a second after Supervisor Gordon Ireland
opposed the move.
Ireland said he'd rather have Moran bring his drafted letter to the
next board meeting for review.
Later, Ireland said he didn't mind if Moran went ahead and sent the
letter once board members got a chance to read it and sign it if they
chose to do so.
Ireland voted against forming the committee to study a lakefront
park, saying he wanted a public referendum and for Moran to come up with
more of a plan before a committee was created.
Ireland said he thinks any effort to create a park will face
tremendous obstacles, including the cost to taxpayers and the opposition
of people who don't want a park that might attract lots of outsiders.
Councilor Bill Vinzant said the park idea is controversial,
especially among the landlocked farmers who would benefit the most from
lake access.
"I don't know why every farmer in town isn't beating on Frank
Moran's door pushing this idea. The farmers are the people who would win,"
he said.
"I think it's because they don't understand the increase in value
to their properties that would occur if we had a decent park system,"
Vinzant said.
Cable installation The installation of cable lines to serve 302 homes in
Spafford has been delayed.
Ken Lieberman, the town's liaison with Adelphia, gave an update on
the project, which was supposed to be completed this summer.
Since the last town board meeting, the cable company developed a
more efficient design for their system, which will delay the project.
Also contributing to the delay is an audit of Adelphia by the city
of Auburn and a mix-up with some cable that was ordered for the job.
Mike Webster, construction coordinator for the project, said he
thinks it will be complete by the end of this year.
Barnett concerned over legal costs
Barnett said she was concerned that Ireland authorized $1,656 in
legal costs related to the recent state audit of Spafford's code
enforcement program without consulting the town board.
"Before the town board asks the attorney to take on a project of
that magnitude I think it would be good for the town board to have a
discussion and a vote to proceed," she said.
"We were sort of under the gun to get this thing done," Ireland
said, explaining why he took it upon himself to ask town attorney Bernard
Reagan to work on the town's response to the audit.
The town board agreed to meet this week to discuss the report
Reagan prepared.
The public will not be permitted to comment during the first part
of the meeting, but will have a chance to ask questions once board members
are done discussing the report.
"I have five pages of comments and observations on this report,"
Vinzant said. "This is a serious matter and I would certainly like to have
Doug Staley present because many of my concerns relate to what Doug does
and how he does it."
Staley, of Life Safety Consultants, contracts with the town for
code enforcement services.
Board to ask DOT Board members agreed to forward to the Department of Transportation
a request from a Spafford Landing resident that the speed on
Spafford Landing Road be dropped to 20 miles per hour.
Currently the speed limit is 55 miles per hour, which is the
state-set limit for unposted roads in the town. Copyright, 2004, The
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