Lansing officials reported on slow progress getting easements for the $2,006,500 Bone Plain Road water tank and pump station project.  After seven months of attempting to get landowners to sign easements, Deputy Supervisor Sharon Bowman, Town Attorney Guy Krogh and Town Engineer David Herrick have made a concerted effort to get them signed so construction may begin this summer.  The two-phased project includes a new water tank to be constructed in Dryden, just over the town line on Bone Plain Road, plus a pump station near the existing tank on Village Circle.

"Sharon, Guy and Dave have put in so much time," said Lansing Supervisor Kathy Miller Wednesday.  "We could not have done it without the three of them.  This turned out to be a lot bigger project than I had anticipated.  It's a big deal when we say easement.  It sounds like it should be easy, but it hasn't been.  It's been quite an arduous thing."

The water tank and pump station project is intended to improve iffy water pressure in the central part of the Town including the Whispering Pines and Warren Road neighborhoods.

"About half the easements are signed," Krogh reported.  "There is another third that are promised to be delivered in the mail.  So we've got three or four that are up in the air.  There is one that is a duplicate and one that's been changed because of an error in assessment."

One that is not signed is an easement from NYSEG because a small piece of the infrastructure will pass below power lines.  NYSEG responded with a letter saying they are willing to grant an easement for $2,000, and requested seven pages of changes to the easement.

Miller and (Dryden Supervisor) Mary Ann Sumner have been working with NYSEG to help them reword easements for a gas pipeline that would bring natural gas to customers from Freeville, along West Dryden and Farrell Roads to the Warren Road area of Lansing.  The pipe will span seven miles, mostly in Dryden, to enhance the gas delivery system that is near capacity for the Ithaca area.  Miller said property owners were not happy with the language of the original easement.

In light of the relationship the Towns have forged with NYSEG, Miller said she hopes NYSEG will reconsider their stance on the water tank easement.  She passed the issue to her NYSEG contact and asked him to intervene.

"It seems to me that NYSEG should be a good neighbor, and not ask for $2,000," Miller said.  "He said he would see what he can do about this, so less hope he is successful.  It's the real estate division of NYSEG and it sounds like the right hand doesn't talk to the left.  Maybe now if they get together they won't require us to pay the $2,000 for the easement."

Miller says she hopes all the easements for the water tank project will be in hand by the end of the month.  If any of the remaining landowners balk, the Town will almost certainly invoke eminent domain.

"Everyone has to sign (an easement), and whoever doesn't we will have to proceed by eminent domain," Krogh explained.  "We had the public interest hearing.  For purposes of eminent domain for a special district you would have to have a formal notice and a vesting procedure.  It's a pain.  It's probably unnecessary.  Nobody benefits by it, but you can't redesign the whole project for 200 feet that says no unless there is some ridiculously good reason.  The Town Board decides whether it is a good enough reason."

Miller says that even with the anticipated changes to the gas line easement wording there is a good chance that eminent domain will be invoked to get that project built.

"The feeling still is, that no matter what happens there are a number of people who will not sign the easement because they don't want a gas line to pass in front of their houses at all," she said.  "(NYSEG is) trying.  They did listen and they've made some adjustments to the easement."

The most problematic water tank easement has been for one piece of property the owner of which Town officials have been unable to find.

"That person owns a piece of property and we believe she is in a nursing home," Miller explained.  "We may have to deal with someone who has power of attorney, so there is a bit of tracking that is associated with this."

Miller says some people received the second letter, but simply forgot to return the easement.  She said one called to ask if it was too late to sign.  Krogh says that a third letter is set to be sent to stragglers 30 days after the second letter was sent.  Miller added that she hopes to have all the easements in hand by the end of the month.

Town officials say they anticipate the project will be completed and on line by next fall.

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