Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories

Town of Lewiston acts on River Walk fire access

Sat, Jan 16th 2016 07:00 am

By Terry Duffy

Editor-In-Chief

The Town of Lewiston held a relatively light session Monday. Newsmakers included long-awaited improvement work for the River Walk subdivision; revisions on a few reorganization items; a Lewiston Police Department award; and the announcement of a new citizens group organizing in the town.

Supervisor Steve Broderick reported progress is now being made on a long-standing issue: the lack of qualified fire access at River Walk.

Discussing the matter, Town Attorney Brian Seaman relayed that new owners are coming to River Walk with intentions for improving the subdivision. Part of that is a much-discussed fire access issue that was finalized that night with the new River Walk interests and the town.

"This is an agreement that is being proposed for the board's consideration. ... It's the result of a lot of work done by a number of people," Seaman said.

"In essence, there are two individuals who currently have a contract to purchase some part of the Riverwalk subdivision," he continued. "They approached the town. ... The long and short of the agreement is that they will commit to paving portion a of the River Walk Drive (road) that has been an area of consternation for the town for quite some time. They've agreed to also put some $20,000 into an escrow account with the town ... for the paving of that piece of roadway if they do not do it by a certain time.

"It's tied to the timeframe when they file for final plat approval for that subdivision."

Broderick commented, "Councilman (Bill) Geiben and I sat in on a meeting that involved several parties."

At that point, a motion was made for the board to the River Walk Escrow Agreement. It passed unanimously.

"This is 10 years in the making," Broderick said. "It is step one to getting this taken care of. The board members are excited about it. I'm looking forward to getting that completed."

"This is a long time coming," added Councilman Al Bax.

The fire access roadway work was expected to begin in the near future at River Walk. Details on any additional work at the subdivision were unavailable at Monday's session.

In other news:

•The board acted on a few unsettled reorganization items. Included were the naming of the Lewiston-Porter Sentinel as a secondary official newspaper; the naming of Bax as a board liaison to the Lewiston Police Department; the naming of Bax as an alternate member on the CWM Citizens Advisory Committee; and the setting of 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 13, as a rescheduled Town Board work session.

•Lewiston Police Chief Frank Previte presented the board with a plaque announcing recognition of the town as No. 25 among the safest cities in New York state by www.safewise.com.

"This is testimony to the commitment of both the town and village boards to the police department and its mission," said Previte, who praised Lewiston officers for their "diligence and commitment towards making Lewiston a safe and secure community."

•Town Engineer Bob Lannon reported a property improvement permit had been approved for French Landing and that work on that project was expected to resume.

Lannon also requested and was approved for issuance of a property improvement permit for Legacy Drive, a dedicated town road in the Ridgeview housing subdivision, to allow for installation of 240 feet of waterline. The matter was approved subject to Seaman's approval, and work was expected to begin shortly.

•Bax requested board approval for a new committee to be comprised of residents from the escarpment and riverfront areas in the town, for the purpose of addressing relevant issues of concern. The committee would include seven residents from the escarpment area above the hill and seven residents from riverfront areas below the hill.

As approved, the new committee would serve as a subcommittee to the Lewiston Environmental Commission.

Hometown News

View All News