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Town of Lewiston Board addresses River Walk drainage

Sat, Mar 19th 2016 07:00 am

Town Highway Department to install piping

By Terry Duffy

Editor-in-Chief

The Lewiston Town Board heard a plan and gave its approval Monday to address drainage concerns in the northwestern part of the town near the wastewater treatment plant and the River Walk subdivision.

Town Engineer Bob Lannon of Conestoga-Rovers & Associates discussed the latest plan - one which will involve Lewiston Highway Department crews installing 850 feet of piping and manhole assemblies - already purchased - in an attempt to alleviate drainage concerns in an area south of River Walk Drive and on the neighboring Lewiston Water Pollution Control Plant property.

"That piece of the puzzle (the pipes) the town is all ready to install," it is already purchased, Lannon said.

He and Town Supervisor Steve Broderick said the piping and manhole covers were purchased earlier and are currently in storage at the Highway Department garage. Lannon said the town gained recent approvals of easements from State Parks and the new Talarico ownership group at River Walk and is now ready to pursue the work. The drainage repair project is already on the work schedules at the Highway Department.

Lannon said the work would involve a series of drainage and piping intended to move stormwater from the WWTP-south River Walk neighborhood up and into an east-west drainage arrangement followed by an extended pipe north into a storm sewer that has an easement from State Parks. It would then drain west into the Niagara River.

Town Attorney Brian Seaman pointed out the town "will benefit from the town Highway Department doing the labor," noting the positive impact on the WWTP drainage problems.

"The construction of that section will allow us to lower the water surface elevation in those ponds (in River Walk). ... This is an attempt to improve the rear lot drainage," Lannon said. "The flow will generally go from east to west, collect and then go north. This will allow (it) to drain from south River Walk Drive to the (State Parks easements)."

"The pond elevation will be lower, which (will) allow it to drain South River Walk Drive, collect and then go north into the ponds," Lannon continued. "Once there, it will travel west into the pipe, north into the pipe and then the storm sewer that the town now has an easement on from New York state, from that point it will be west to the river."

"This is the concept of how the drains will be improved in River Walk," he said.

Lannon said certain easements and work will also be done by the developer of River Walk under a phase 4A plan for new housing.

Broderick gave his blessing to the plan, calling it a positive for the town.

No cost figures for Highway Department personnel to complete the work were discussed.

Lannnon emphasized the long-discussed drainage project in the town has no connection whatsoever to the new French Landing housing subdivision now under construction by Jerry Wolfgang interests just south of River Walk. He said state environmental quality review specs had already been addressed in earlier River Walk construction, and that he was only seeking an updated SEQR negative declaration.

Soon after, the board gave its approval on the SEQR negative declaration and for highway crews to begin the work.

In other news:

•Donna R. Garfinkel, RMC, Lewiston town clerk/tax collector, approached the Town Board with a request to reinstate a $10,000 salary increase for her new title of tax collector. The salary increase was approved in Town Board budget discussions last fall and removed in December by interim Supervisor Ron Winkley.

Garfinkel's current salary is $50,000. She explained the salary increase was requested to better reflect her new combined position and the expanded duties that resulted from the consolidation of two departments. Garfinkel noted one clerk's office staffer had already been compensated for the additional work performed in 2015.

The Town Board elected to defer the matter for more discussion to a March 28 executive session.

•Broderick requested Lannon pursue three additional bids for repair work on the town's aged muckland pump units above the hill. Broderick revealed a $19,000 estimate received from Moley Magnetics of Lockport to repair one pump, a figure far lower than costs discussed earlier for a full replacement with new units.

Lannon was expected to have numbers for the board to review by next month.

•Town Parks/Recreation Superintendent Mike Dashineau informed the board he was looking at new locations in the town for a rec department storage shed to house various equipment, including pieces from the Lewiston Family Ice Rink. He said, currently, the rec department equipment is being stored near Pletcher Road Park and at other locations and left unattended.

Dashineau said he would also be talking with Lewiston Police Chief Frank Previte as LPD is considering alternative sites for its patrol cars, now parked on the Lew-Port campus. The Highway Department property and looking into private properties were mentioned as options.

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