Paul Szmal: Joined in studio for a monthly visit with the Geneva Town Supervisor Mark Venuti, good morning and welcome back.
Mark Venuti: Good morning Ted.
Paul Szmal: So we have a budget, you had the public hearing and I assume it was the usual few to no comments and went ahead with the passage of the budget, so anything in particular that stands out or that's notable about this year's budget?
Mark Venuti: Not really, we had no, no one spoke at the public hearing, there's no surprises and that's probably why no one spoke, but nothing will really change as far as the tax situation, we're going to do our roads, we're going to do our normal business and on we go.
Paul Szmal: There were two other public hearings last night, one was to dissolve a plan unit development, was that the former country club development?
Mark Venuti: Yes, so that was a PUD that we approved in 2019 and that was this ambitious project by the Misics which was winery, hotel, condos, event center, townhouses and it basically never really got anywhere and so earlier this year we rezoned, a farmer bought the south side of Turk, so we took the PUD away from that and returned it to Ag which is really what it was zoned, even when it was a country club and then now on the north side that's been purchased and that's the end of the PUD, that'll be rezoned for, of course the old clubhouse is going to be a party house that the Legats are running which is the same use that it's been, so that area will be business and then they've divided a lot of the rest of it into lots for homes, so there'll be some single family homes built up there, so it's a nice change, so the PUD is gone and we've rezoned for the uses that are going to be there.
Paul Szmal: And then the other hearing was on a new plan unit development for Carter Road Properties, that's the affordable housing that we've talked about.
Mark Venuti: Yeah, so that's a big project, 65 acres, 135 units, smaller lots, but ranch homes about 1800 square feet and the whole idea was to keep these under 200,000, so the target's like 175. I must say we had quite a few people there from Carter Road not very happy with it, they just feel like there's too much development on Carter Road, too much traffic, that kind of thing, so we're looking at ways that we can modify it, maybe we're looking at doing some work on the road to either put in a sidewalk or expand the shoulders, those folks aren't going to be happy if it goes in, but at this point we're going to move forward and see what we can do to tweak it and try to address some of the concerns that they raised.
Paul Szmal: Do you think if you build enough houses there the state will let you drop the speed limit?
Mark Venuti: Well that's a thought, because we've failed, we've tried three or four times and we'll have to go back again, but we're talking about doing all kinds of things to Carter Road. We've even thought about speed bumps, which will slow people down, because there's a concern about kids walking to school and all that stuff, and it's a legitimate concern, and we're aware of it. We've gone out twice for grants for sidewalk on Carter Road and both times failed, not awarded, so we're trying to think of some other way to deal with this, and we might talk to that developer about doing a sidewalk. It's tough because you're in that transition area basically between, for all intents and purposes, the city and then a rural area.
Paul Szmal: Right, and that's it, and then as it goes out north, you know, the speed keeps going up because you're right out in the country after you get by Gamby. So we had some gratitudes during the meeting, a safety officer, Eric Roisher, so he did some work, there were some issues in a safety audit that he worked on correcting. What were those?
Mark Venuti: Well they came in, all kinds of things, because we use really just cleaning products and stuff. We're supposed to have a wash station where you can go in there and throw water on your face, and so we had to put that in our bathroom. We had to label things, we had to show where there's these safety sheets that come with different products that says how they're to be used and what happens if you get them in your eyes, and kind of basic stuff. We also had to get our folks trained on workplace violence, you know, things like that, which we did. He took control of that, did a lot of good work, and they've signed off and said, okay, you guys are fine.
Paul Szmal: We've been talking about all the flood mitigation projects the town's been doing, and you had some help from Ontario County Soil and Water.
Mark Venuti: Yeah, so we finished two big projects this year with their help. So there's one west of Carter Road, a really large retention pond that's on property that's part owned by Wallace, and part by the farmer to the west. And there's a big pond up there now, actually a big one and a small one that work off of each other. It's going to hold a lot of water, like a million gallons of water, and then slow release that are coming off those fields. It's really going to help people on Carter Road to the east. And then we did one that is off of 14 and Armstrong, between Armstrong and 14, a couple of different ponds up there. It's a steep area. There was development that really didn't handle it, and now there's some stormwater control there. We've been trying to get that done for about two years. It's finally done. They're going to see good effect there too.
Paul Szmal: There was a tribute paid at the board meeting last night, or this week, to the former town historian Barbara Lamb, who just passed away.
Mark Venuti: Yeah, Barbara was our historian for many years, and she was active in the community and with the Historical Society. And she passed away, and we wanted to give our condolences and also our appreciation for her years of service.
Paul Szmal: So also more discussion, we've been talking about this for a while now, the Slate Rock Road Bridge. It's kind of, you're getting to the sort of fish-or-cut-bait stage. How much more money do we want to spend on surveys and mitigation efforts, or do we just close it?
Mark Venuti: Yeah, so what we're doing, we've decided, so we looked at, you know, what it would cost to put, you know, to redo the bridge. And it's not, it's like $250,000. And for, really, I know that people use it, and people would like it, but it's not used that much. But before we make the move to either spend that great amount of money or close it, we're gonna spend about $6,000, almost $7,000 to have it examined again, to see if it's moving, and what the soundness of it is. That'll buy us probably a couple of years, unless we see that there's a real problem. So we're, the board approved going ahead with that survey at this point.
Paul Szmal: So we've been talking about the reuse center and the efforts to build one, Finger Lakes Reuse Systems, which is the overall head of that. There was some discussion about how that person will be funded.
Mark Venuti: So we're, yes, we're going out for money, and at this point we really need to get a paid director. There's a, we have a good group that's going, and we have a board and a 501c3 corporation, but we're all, we all have other jobs, and we just can't get traction. And so we want to hire somebody, and I think that person could end up being a town employee, but funded by other money. And so that's the goal right now, is to bring some money in so we get an employee who can actually do more fundraising, because there's a lot of money out there. And what we have to do is get a location, get open, you know, a lot of stuff to do, but we need our first employee.
Paul Szmal: The town's getting two grants to divert stuff out of the waste stream. One is a federal grant, and the other one is a state DEC grant. How will those be used?
Mark Venuti: So the federal grant we've been receiving, and that's been, we've been doing a lot of stuff, food pickup at apartments. Senior citizens in the town can get it done at their house, and we've, you know, told people, you know, let us know, sign up for that. We could use, actually, there's more capacity for that if people want their food waste to be picked up. But the other grant, which we haven't received any money yet, we're going to, it's about $50,000. And the plan is, the city has that Doran Avenue area that has those two trenches in it that hasn't been used. It's kind of, it's kind of open now, but not to the promise that was expected for the area. So the plan is to open a transfer station similar to the town's to take recycling, even trash, a lot of other stuff like we do in the town, and open that up to town and city residents on Doran Avenue. And so this other grant will allow us to do that, to staff that for a couple of, for two days a week like we do in the town, get some containers over there. So the hope is to have that up maybe by, you know, later in January, and use this other grant to get going, and then we'll look for more money to keep that going in the future.
Paul Szmal: On a related note, we've talked in our past few visits about some of the the events that you've held to get input on the county landfill. Various committees of the supervisor have been talking about it. It now appears that at the December 5th meeting, the full board will have something to say. So what is the sense of you and the board right now?
Mark Venuti: Well, it's going to, the next Planning and Environmental Quality Committee meeting will be a resolution, two resolutions that are planned. One is up or down on the landfill. Do we close at the end of 2028? Or are we looking to expand? And the other will be, if we're not going to expand, directing our Department of Sustainability and Solid Waste to really start working on diversion efforts. And I'm, I have a feeling that we're going to vote no, no more landfill. And yes, let's get that other thing going. And if it comes out of committee that way, then it goes to the full board at that December 5th full board meeting, and the board will weigh in. And I'm, I'm guardedly optimistic that we're going to get out of the garbage importing business.
Paul Szmal: What has Casella had to say? Have they indicated one way or the other if they will accept such a decision?
Mark Venuti: No, they haven't said anything, but it's really not up to them. The lease expires at the end of 2028. And if we don't renew, it's over. And there will be a capacity then, that landfill. So the only choice would be a new deal. And it might be Casella, it could be somebody else, but they'd have to figure out either a new landfill somewhere else, or how to expand this one. And there's not a lot of capacity, it would buy a little time, depending on how much you were taking in. But I think we're, we're ready to get out of this business. I mean, we've got four more years of it, money coming in. And that's, I think that time and that money can be used to put in infrastructure, to educate, to get other diversion efforts going, so that when the landfill closes, we aren't in the same position we are today.
Paul Szmal: So is it that lease that makes this case different from Seneca Meadows, where Seneca Meadows needs a DEC permit?
Mark Venuti: Yes. So Ontario County owns this landfill, whereas in Seneca County, and Seneca Meadows owns that property.
Paul Szmal: Right, okay. So we have much more control over it.
All right, Supervisor Mark Venuti, congratulations on a new budget, and we appreciate the update as always.
Mark Venuti: Thanks, Ted, appreciate the time.
Paul Szmal: All right, and we'll see you at the Heron Soccer Games this weekend, 749 FLX Morning.
