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Grand Island Town Board: Welcome center plans on agenda for Monday's meeting

Sat, Mar 17th 2018 07:00 am
By Larry Austin
Island Dispatch Editor
The Grand Island Town Board is slated to discuss the waste treatment plans for the Western New York Welcome Center when it meets Monday at Town Hall.
Grand Island Councilman Mike Madigan placed the matter on the agenda saying that plans for the state's welcome center under construction are outdated.
Madigan sent an email message to State Sen. Chris Jacobs on March 14 regarding the Western New York Welcome Center, which is under construction off the I-190 near Alvin Road and south of the Whitehaven Road exit. Madigan labeled his email with the subject line "NYS Allegedly Misleading Public Again Regarding Welcome Center."
Madigan told Jacobs he was informed Monday at a meeting with StanTec, the environmental services company contracted by the state for the welcome center, "that the engineering drawings provided to the Town of Grand Island are outdated and were outdated prior to Grand Island receiving them in January, outdated by approximately 3 months. I was informed that the plan that has been in place since well before 2018 is to hook into the Town of Grand Island sewer system.
"We were informed that the drawings provided to the town, which shows three sanitary holding tanks, is not what was sent out to bid and that in fact what was sent out showed no holding tanks and the plan at that time was to connect into the Grand Island sewer system," Madigan wrote.
Madigan said such a plan would expand the town's sewer west of the I-190 in a non-sewer district "in an area where many/most do not want sewer expansion."
He requested "a full and complete investigation on who and why drawings that have been reported to be as much as three months outdated were provided to the town instead of the drawings sent out for bid."
Madigan also requested "immediate receipt of the correct drawings so the misinformation that has occurred can be corrected and the public be notified regarding this incident and accurately informed of the actual state plan."
 In announcing that construction has begun on a similar center in the North Country, the Adirondack Welcome Center, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office said Wednesday that the center will support the governor's commitment to "growing regional economies through the state's booming tourism industry, while supporting local businesses and enhancing the state's agricultural sector."
The board will also hold a public hearing at Monday's meeting to receive citizen input on proposed local law intro No. 1 of 2018 that would amend the zoning code of Grand Island to regulate "truck stops/travel plazas." Though the law would cover the entire Island, it is in direct response to proposal by Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores to build a truck stop on Whitehaven Road a stone's throw from the welcome center. The proposed law passed the Grand Island Planning Board at its meeting March 12.
The next regular meeting of the Grand Island Town Board will be at 8 p.m. Monday, March 19, in Grand Island Town Hall, 2255 Baseline Road.
Grand Island Town Board
  • Supervisor: Nathan McMurray
  • Council members: Jennifer Baney, Pete Marston, Bev Kinney, Mike Madigan
  • Send comments to the board at [email protected].

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