Mike LaFlair – 2nd Ward Councilor

The ZBA  meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 19th has been cancelled as there are no new applicants.

There are no Public Hearings scheduled but there are 4 items under New Business:

1.  Approve the Buildings Maintenance 2012 budget transfers.  (Per Finance Committee)

FY 2012 BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS – BUILDINGS MAINTENANCE

Amount             Transfer From:                 Transfer To:

$698.01           A.1620.0420 Buildings Municipal           A.1620.0110 Buildings 1^st   Custodian

$1245.57         A.1620.0415 Buildings Dog Pound          A.1620.0120 Buildings 2^nd  Custodian

$1259.99         A.1620.0415 Buildings Dog Pound          A.1620.0130 Buildings F/T Custodian

$641.89           A.1620.0415 Buildings Dog Pound         A.1620.014 Buildings3^rd Custodian             

$110.69           A.1620.0170 Buildings Overtime                A.1620.0160 Buildings P/T Custodian

$223.50           A.1629.0429 Buildings Municipal           A.1620.0413 Buildings Water

$49.40             A.1620.0420 Buildings Municipal               A.1620.0418 Buildings Parks

$2276.65         A.1620.0417 Buildings Sims Store             A.1620.0424 Buildings Computer

$1238.00         A.1620.0417 Buildings Sims Store             A.1620.0210 Buildings Equipment

2.  Approve final payment number 9 in the amount of $17,586.62 to F. Rizzo Construction, Inc., for the West Genesee Street Corridor Improvement Project.  (Per Barton & Loguidice, PC)

3.  Authorize Testone, Marshall & Discenza LLP to audit the financial statements for the Town of Camillus for the year ended December 31, 2012 in the amounts not to exceed the standard hourly rates as of January 1, 2013 and authorize Supervisor to sign.

4.  Set the date, time, and place at February 26, 2013 at 7:00 PM  to hold a public hearing at the Camillus Municipal Building to consider the formation of a water district for Little Farm Lane.  (Per Councilor, Eric Hammerle)

Please be advised that the ZBA meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 5, 2013 has been cancelled as there are no new applicants.

The Town of Camillus Police Department recently completed it’s 5 year New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation compliance audit and agency reassessment. They previously achieved accreditation status in 1998 and completed agency reassessment in 2003, 2008 and now in 2013.  They are in compliance with all of the 133 standards and their compliance was 100% for each standard.  This is a great accomplishment for Chief Winn and his entire department.

Latest information from the development team states that the plans currently call for Phase I construction to begin in the early part of this year with a goal of having some retail aspects opened by the fall of 2013.  In addition, a connector road is in the plans and will run parallel with Milton Avenue.  This should significantly decrease traffic concerns utilizing Hinsdale and Bennett Roads for access.

A new subdivision is being proposed for the second ward.  It is known as the Waterbridge extension.  It will be located off of Devoe Road, across from the Viewpoint Estates area.  The plans submitted call for 26 residential lots.

The NYS DEC recently approved OCCRA to operate a Solid Wast Management Facility at its Amboy Compost site on Airport Road.  You can access more information about the plan by clicking here:  Amboy_Compost_Site[1]

Below is the agenda for the Planning Board meeting on Monday, January 28th, 7:00.  Please note that item number 2 (under New Business) & items number 3 & 4 (under Old Business) are located within the 2nd Ward:

New Business

1. 3747 Milton Ave/Aldi Inc. TM # 038.-02-33.2 (Amended Site Plan)
2. Tim Donut U.S. Limited, Inc./TDK Engineering     TM # 017.-04-48.2  Home Depot Plaza  (Site Plan)

Old Business

1. Waterbridge Extension/John Szczech   TM # 006.1-01-01.1  (Preliminary Plan)
2. Affordable Senior Housing    TM # 037.-01-02.1 (etc)  South Side of Milton Ave West   (Site Plan)
3. Widewaters Milton Ave II Company, LLC   TM # 017.-04-48.3    Hinsdale Road & Milton Ave    (Amended Site Plan)
4. Township 5 / Bennett Road & Hinsdale Road   TM# 017.-05-65.1(etc)  (Amended Site Plan)

Friends of Camillus Park guest speaker at the Thursday, January 24 meeting will be Jessi Lyons, Coordinator of Natural Resources Programs at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County.  She is a graduate of SUNY-ESF and the facilitator of the County-wide Emerald Ash Borer Task force.  Her duties are to provide programs focusing on urban and community forestry, water quality, horticulture and gardening.

At our meeting she will give a basic introduction to the emerald ash borer and discuss the program and opportunities related to the EAB including Wasp Watchers, Municipal preparedness, ash seed collection and upcoming workshops.  In addition she will discuss management options and wood utilization.  The information she will share will be valuable not only to Friends of Camillus Park but also to home owners to learn options for planning their strategies to address the invading Borer and their Ash Trees.

As we know, winter’s are long and can be tough in Central New York.  This is also true for the  “deer” that roam among us.   With their usual food sources under snow, they forage for sustenance wherever they can find it.   Many good-hearted residents leave food outside — table scraps, potato peelings and the like — with the intent of providing a little help to the deer who inhabit their areas. According to  NYS DEC, that’s a bad idea.  Many people think of feeding deer is like feeding birds, but there are some critical differences that make feeding deer unhealthy for the deer population, for plants near the feed site and for passing motorists.

According to “Fish and Game” the bottom line, “Please don’t feed the deer, and please discourage your neighbors, friends and relatives from engaging in this harmful activity.” Here are the top reasons to resist feeding wild deer:

• Feed sites congregate deer into unnaturally high densities. These high deer densities can:
  • attract predators and increase risk of death by coyotes or domestic dogs;
  • spread diseases among deer;
  • cause aggression, wasting vital energy reserves and leading to injury or death;
  • reduce fat reserves as deer use energy traveling to and from the feed site;
  • result in over-browsing of local vegetation and ornamental plants;
  • deny access to food, because subordinate deer are kept away from feeding stations, and over-browsing by larger deer removes food available to fawns; and
  • increase deer-vehicle collisions.
• Feed sites lure deer away from natural wintering areas. This attraction can trap deer in inferior winter habitat and increase the chance of malnutrition and predation. If deer continually go to feed sites instead of deer wintering areas, then young deer may never learn to find their natural winter habitat. Also, landowners may lose their incentive to manage for dense softwood cover, typical natural winter habitat for deer.