Porter Town Board hears of Cain Road sinkhole problem

by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, June 13, 2009

Porter Town Board members accepted a $5,000 grant Monday from Keep America Beautiful, submitted on Porter's behalf by Waste Management, parent company of Porter's CWM Chemical Services. The monies will go to benefit Porter-on-the-Lake, a park opened by the town last year on Lake Ontario. Shown at the check presentation were (left to right) board members Tom Baia, Larry White and Jeff Baker; Jim Pavel of Keep America Beautiful; board member Nancy Orsi; Mike Mahar of CWM; and Town Supervisor Mert Wiepert.

The Porter Town Board held a rather routine meeting Monday, where among other items, financials were discussed -- some good, and one troubling.

Town Engineer Dave Brittain of CRA consultants informed the board of a new problem discovered at the Cain Road crossing over 4-Mile Creek. "I met with the Highway Department on the Cain Road problem," said Brittain, appraising members of sinkholes developing in the road embankment, and of land that's beginning to slide and pull towards the creek. "There's a need to address the sinkholes," he said of the new problem found on the south side of the roadway.

Brittain said among the short-term solutions are culvert work to stabilize the land. "A permanent solution needs to be addressed," he said, telling the board the guardrail is starting to slide in.

Town Highway Department spokesman Dave Gombert, filling in for Highway Superintendent Scott Hillman, who is recovering from heart bypass surgery, said that barrels are currently in place in the problem area, but the road remains open to traffic - albeit in a one-lane setup in the sinkhole area. He said signage should be installed, informing motorists of the safety problem. "There's school buses that travel that route also," Gombert said.

Town Attorney Mike Dowd termed the problem "an emergency situation" and called on the board to take action.

Brittain advised the board of options to address the problem, on a short-term as well as a long-term basis. Of the short term, it would involve stabilizing the sloped areas and culverts, work termed a temporary fix, and designed to last about 20 years, whose cost would be approximately $100,000. Brittain said the town could consider pursuing federal stimulus funding via Niagara County to pay for it.

Of the long term, the work would involve a complete overhaul of the roadway in the creek area to stabilize and correct all problems, and be designed to last 50 years at a cost that would be anywhere from $450,000 to $500,000. Neither option was acted on Monday night.

Instead, the Town Board, on a motion from Council members Nancy Orsi and Tom Baia, approved $8,500 in funding by unanimous vote to further evaluate the problem and come up with solutions. In the meantime, one lane will be closed, prominent barriers put in, and signage installed informing motorists.

In other news:

•Responding to news of the recent motor vehicle fatality at Ransomville and Youngstown roads, the board approved a measure to formally request the Niagara County Department of Transportation to conduct a traffic study at five problematic intersections in the town: Porter-Center and Youngstown-Wilson roads; Ransomville and Youngstown-Wilson roads; Route 93 and Dickersonville Road; Brailey and Ransomville roads; and Route 93 and Porter-Center Road. Baia suggested warning signs should be repositioned to advise motorists of the approaching stop signs, an issue Gombert said was in the process of being addressed.

•In other financials, the board approved renewal of a bond anticipation note of $350,000 - a procedural move to fund ongoing waterline upgrades. It approved the hiring of Robert Reese as a seasonal laborer at Porter-on-the-Lake at a rate of $8 per hour, and it approved the hiring of Scott Cudney at a rate of $13.91 per hour as a maintenance person in the town's Water/Sewer Department.

•The town approved purchase of two Cub Cadet lawn mowers from the county at a cost of $2,100 apiece - one for Town Hall areas, the other for Porter-on-the-Lake. "They'll do the job better," said Supervisor Mert Wiepert, who announced the purchase.

•And the town accepted a $5,000 grant from CWM Chemical Services LLC, whose parent company, Waste Management, was a recipient of a grant by the Keep America Beautiful Inc. campaign. The grant was written by WM staff to benefit the town's Porter-on-the-Lake park.

"We had the opportunity to submit a grant application for a local beautification project and chose Porter-on-the-Lake," said CWM District Manager Mike Mahar. "The park is a wonderful asset in our community and we were happy that our grant application was selected."

"Only two grants were awarded in New York state, one here in Porter and one in New York City," remarked rep Jim Pavel of Keep America Beautiful.

Wiepert thanked the two on behalf of the town and promised the money "will be put to good use."