Seneca Falls moves toward being Climate Smart Community - Finger Lakes Times
Seneca Falls moves toward being Climate Smart Community | News | fltimes.com
SENECA FALLS — In 2016, the Town Board passed a resolution to take steps toward becoming a Climate Smart Community, a state program that awards grants to municipalities for taking steps to lessen their environment impact.
The board was going to form a task force to guide those efforts but never did.
Until now.
At its July meeting, the board voted to form that task force, and an advisory board. It also appointed a coordinator to get the ball rolling after a lapse of eight years.
Board member Frank Sinicropi said there is a long list of recommended steps and questioned whether the town has the money to do them all. However, Town Manager Peter Soscia and others said the town doesn’t have to do them all; rather, it can “pick and choose” the ones it feels can be accomplished, accumulating points for each one that can lead to grant money.
In other matters:
• SEWER LINE — The board voted to authorize a study of a Kingdom Road sewer line upgrade if leachate flow from Seneca Meadows Landfill was eliminated.
Board member Kaitlyn Laskoski said the sewer line should accommodate future growth and take into account the age of the sewer line on Fall Street. She mentioned possible growth on California Avenue and the Sauder commercial development on River Road.
The motion passed by a 3-2 vote, with Laskoski and Dawn Dyson voting against it.
• POSITIONS — Supervisor Frank Schmitter announced that he was naming Sinicropi as deputy supervisor, replacing Soscia.
Laskoski then questioned Schmitter on her removal from the Public Safety and Contact Review committees without being given a reason why. She said she has experience in law enforcement that would serve the Public Safety panel.
• FALL STREET — The sale of 2 and 10 Fall St., the former town-owned Seneca Falls Hospital and the Medical Arts Building, is off, Schmitter said, and the town will continue to own 10 Fall St. He said the town will have to start the process of finding a new developer all over again.
The town announced in January that it had reached agreement to sell 2 Fall St. to Revitacor LLC, a development company headed by Bruce Bonafiglia of Seneca Falls, for $50,000. Revitacor also was said to be close to purchasing 2 Fall St. from Nichols Management of Syracuse. Plans were to acquire the properties, demolish both buildings, relocate Bove Drive, and build a new facility for upscale apartments and some retail, working with the town’s Historic Preservation Commission on design. It would have been called Bedford Heights, a nod to the Bedford Falls setting in the “It’s A Wonderful Life” movie many say was based on Seneca Falls.
The 26 people living at 2 Fall St. would have been relocated.
• BAKER AWARDS — Recreation and Parks Director Missy Jones presented the annual David Baker Awards for services to the town recreation programs to Keegan Baker and Danielle Bonafiglia Wirth.
• RECREATION — Trustees voted to support efforts to begin a flag football program in the recreation department and to support he return of the car show to the downtown area on July 28.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”