Budget OK’d; grease law enacted
‘Little Blue House’ asbestos hindering move

by Joshua Maloni
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, April 26, 2008

Thanks to the influx of Canadian shoppers into Niagara County, the Village of Lewiston has earned enough additional sales tax money to offer residents a 2008-09 financial plan requiring no additional resident fees. On Monday, the Board of Trustees approved a budget of $2,827,069 with a tax rate of $6.27 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

“We are pleased to say that our tax rate remains the same,” Mayor Richard Soluri said. Despite rising costs in fuel and ever-growing medical expenses and employee wages, Soluri said the village was afforded the opportunity to toe the tax line thanks to increased sales tax revenues and property values. “We’ve done a good job of budgeting tightly,” he said.

At $6.27 per $1,000, Lewiston has the lowest tax rate of any village in Niagara County.

Grease Trap Law Gets Teeth

Food service operations – be it a restaurant, church or hall – have 90 days to install a village-approved grease trap or face a $250-per-day fine. The board adopted a local law that mirrors the Town of Lewiston’s sewer use regulations, as well as a portion of the New York state Plumbers Code. Chapter 20 of the Village Code (Water, Sewers and Sewer Disposal) will be amended to reflect the new law.

Each establishment is now required to have a grease trap, roughly four-by-six foot wide and two-to-three-foot deep, placed adjacent to cleaning stations. In addition, each location will need a village permit, reflecting proper installation. Village Engineer Richard San Giacomo said he would be available to assist in the installation process, should food preparers have need of his advice.

The permit, which is good for one year, is free. Traps, on the other hand, can cost between $200 and $800.

The Department of Public Works has recently pulled gallon-size buckets of grease from the wet wells at a taxpayer cost of $1,800. That process will likely be required again in the near future. In addition, new, $80,000 pumps were recently installed on Water Street.

“They should last 20 to 30 years,” San Giacomo said, if proper grease traps are in place.

Little Blue Mess

The cost to move and restore the Piper Law Office – the “Little Blue House” next to the A-Plus gas station – is growing.

The state Department of Transportation, through its transportation enhancement program, provided the village with a $156,800 grant to move the historic building situated at 870 Center St. So far, money has been spent solely on engineering costs, as Buffalo’s Foit-Albert devises a plan to relocate the building across the street to Academy Park.

Now, a portion of that money will be siphoned off for an archaeological dig, as requested by the State Historic Preservation Office. Village Engineer Mike Marino said SHPO asked for a Phase 1 study of both the building and the proposed site in Academy Park, at the corner of Center and South Eighth streets. He expects between 12 and 20 hand-dug kits to be prepared, reported on and reviewed by the state. Depending on the results, SHPO may require a Phase II study.

Moreover, it was recently discovered that the Piper office has asbestos – not uncommon in a building 173 years old. That problem has to be dealt with before the building is moved. As a result, Foit-Albert has to go back to the drawing board, reconfigure a timeline, and determine the next and most cost-effective step.

The board was hopeful the house would be moved to the corner of Center and South Eighth streets this spring or summer, and reopened as a tourism center. Marino said a summer move might still be possible.

The project cost is $196,000. The $156,800 grant is in-kind, meaning the village will be required to offset the difference with labor, most likely in the form of refurbishing the building’s inside when it’s moved.

Despite the added costs, the board is intent on moving the building instead of tearing it down.