Published: April 29, 2008 08:32 pm            

LEWISTON: Sattleberg lots ready for shovel

The Sattleberg Farms subdivision in the Town of Lewiston is set to multiply, as the Town Board approved an 83-lot proposal Monday by a 4-1 vote.

There are about 15 homes currently at the subdivision, which sits between Pletcher and Calkins roads, Town Building Inspector Timothy Masters said.

The proposal was actually approved by the Town Board in the 1990s and came after the current board received assurances that the developer would take care of a pond and lighting for the homes. Councilman Ernest Palmer said the board’s action in making sure the pond and lighting were taken care of were an effort to prevent problems that have come up with recent subdivisions.

“Every development that comes forth is going to contain a provision for lighting so the developer has to bare responsibility,” Palmer said. “The town can’t continually afford to address that issue.”

Supervisor Fred Newlin was the one “nay” vote on the proposal, saying new houses will further complicate the recent problems of residents trying to sell their houses in an already saturated market. He said the new homes are an addition to more than 300 lots already approved for the town.

He also said the town would be responsible for police and public works services that come with developments.

In other news Monday:

• The Town Board also approved the most recent Riverwalk Subdivision phase, which will include 15 homes, Masters said. The subdivision includes more than 100 houses that have yet to be built.

The town must still address some drainage issues at the site.

• The board approved two street lights on Chicora Drive — one at 5th St. and one at 8th St. — after Irene Elia, who lives on Chicora, spoke about the need for more lighting on the street.

“It’s pitch black there at night,” the former Niagara Falls mayor said. “We’re mostly retired on that street and it invites vandalism.”

Councilman Sean Edwards agreed: “I have driven there at night and it is very dark.”

Board members now plan to explore the option of more street lights on Chicora, possibly seeing if the developer is willing to put them in.

n Edwards unveiled his plan to license all contractors in the town, which he has said will probably be approved in the fall. The proposal was developed after a number of contractors and builders protested an earlier proposal, specifically a test they said would unnecessarily limit the pool of plumbers in the town.

The town eventually formed an ad hoc committee to come up with the proposal.

• The board tentatively supported the Freedom Crossing Monument, proposed by the Historical Association of Lewiston for the Village of Lewiston waterfront to commemorate local ties to the Underground Railroad, as the first project for the town’s Niagara River Greenway funds.

The proposal was presented by Lee Simonson, a member of the association’s board.

Town Board members voted to support the proposal, but later the conversation led to the frustration that greenway money has not yet been made available because of negotiations between the New York Power Authority and other members of the Host Communities Standing Committee over the committee’s structure and how it approves projects.

Palmer expressed frustration with the power authority for insisting on a consensus-based approach to approving projects rather than a majority-based approach. Negotiations have focused on whether the power authority has what amounts to a veto vote in the project approval process.

“NYPA is withholding money that is not their money anymore,” he said.

Newlin agreed: “I don’t think the power authority can deal with the fact it’s not their money anymore.”

        

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