Island Dispatch, 1997-05-02

              Island  Dispatch years twAs the voice of Grand Island" ~__ ■— : JEBfIIJ 1C282-2381 ) FREE Pick-up & Delivery $20 OFF CLEANING With Customer Sign-Up j WEEKLY OR 81-WEEKLY ROUTE SERVICE [ Official Newspaper for the Town of Grand Island & the Grand Island School District May 2,1997 28 Pages 650 Vo/. 54 • /Vo. 04 (716) 773-7676 TRYING TO GET WATER READY FOR NEW FIELD- Ray Billica Parks Crew Chief works with Kenny Morgan of the Water Department and another worker along side of the new soccer field at Veterans Park that had the last one half sodded Friday and Saturday. They were attempting to get water flowing for future watering, (by Christopher Caile) New Town Center plans to be unveiled by Christopher Caile Six final concepts for Grand Island's town center developed by U.B. student planners will be unveiled on May 15, at 6 pjn. at Kaegebein School. The students have participated in a semester long special planning workshop in U.B.s School of Architecture and Urban Planning. It has focused on developing various concepts for the town center under the direction of Dr. Hiro I lata and concludes with the six presentations. During the unveiling "there will be a visual presentation and reports by the various design teams," said Tom Nowak, Chairman of the Planning Board and Project Coordinator. Public input will be invited at this time and in the weeks that follow. Nowak said each project will also have a comprehensive report discussing the vision presented, what it represents, and why. "I'm sure at some time we will have public hearings on the proposals. The intent is also to have the presentations on display all summer long," said Nowak. It is expected that as is set out in the Town's 1994 Comprehensive Plan that the Long Range Planning Committee, which has just been reconstituted, will coordinate choosing or combining plans along with public input toward developing a final town center plan. The plans incorporate a central high density commercial and urban housing center ringing Town Hall, with a second larger area outside that is less dense, both areas comprising approximately a one mile circle. This center lies within a larger area originally designated for town center planning purposes within the Comprehensive Plan. Recently the Chamber of Commerce sent the town a letter saying they were unhappy with the town planning process and lack of input from the business community. Members of the newly formed Grand Island Plaza Merchants Association have also voiced concerns about lack of information and input. Town may abandon lease By Christopher Caile In the town meeting on Monday April 21 Supervisor James Pax said the town had received "new information" about the Buckhorn Marsh Park that would affect the continued lease of a 40 acre parcel within the park from the State. Pax then read a letter from the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation dated April 11. The letter said that Buckhorn had long ago been designated as a Park Preserve that is passive in nature and that any proposal for development would have to be approved by the State Parks and undergo the SEQR process. "Suburban park type development including paving, grills, lawns, picnic tables, etc. would not be consistent with the park preserve classification." The letter also warned of possible "liability, maintenance and policing responsibilities," if the lease were maintained. The Planning Board, Parks and Recreation Board and First soccer field almost finished by Christopher Caile Last Friday and Saturday Recreation Department employees finished laying sod on the first of two new specially built soccer fields at Veterans Park. But finishing work remains to be completed. There are cracks between strips of sod, in the sod laid last year as well as in the new sod just installed last weekend. Also in at least one area the soil had settled so rain water will not run off as planned. Parks Crew Chief Ray Billica said they will fill in the larger cracks with sod. In other areas the Blue grass will just naturally grow together. But a knowledgeable representative from an area nursery said that when laying the sod the seams should have been carefully pulled together to avoid this problem. But if there are seams they would normally fill them in with a mix of top soil and sod. "Some sod strips will eventually grow together but if you aren't careful you can have thin, inch deep grooves small feet can get caught in. It can be dangerous." But Billica said he didn't think there would be a problem. "It won't be perfect at fust, but the grass will grow to start filling the strips over the next few weeks. Also the field is not for kids but for those 12 years old and up." As to the depression on the field Billica said the area will have a "top dress." "We will aerate it and then put a sandy soil mix on top that grass will grow up through. It will be about three weeks until it is playable," said Billica. Construction and partial sodding of this field had been completed last fall but bad weather had interrupted the final sodding process. There is also a second field which is less completed. It requires the addition of soil currently piled behind Sidway School before the lop sod layer can be added. In a letter dated April 21, 1997 Supervisor James Pax said that originally the fill was expected to be available from the Veterans park project construction but, "During the construction process it was necessary to revise a portion of the roadway and parking lot elevation. This change utilized a significant amount of the anticipated fill and resulted in only enough remaining to construct one soccer field." But in September of 1995 Pax had said the materials had been donated, along with machinery and manpower. This was from Great Lakes Contracting, a subcontractor on the Veterans Park const-action project. However, the company ceased operations before the fields could be completed. To speed the two fields construction the town had decided to purchase sod to lay on the fields instead of seeding. They allocated $11,000 while Lakeside Sod Supply also donated $13,500 of sod. Volunteer Ken Carter is attempting to coordinate volunteered equipment and manpower to finish the second field. But he was not involved in the final sodding of the first field. Do what it takes On Saturday, April 12 at Veterans Park Supervisor James Pax looking over the construction of two new soccer fields agreed that they were not finished, although he had previously stated they were. Pax had announced their construction in Sept. 1995 made possible largely through donations of materials, equipment and labor by Great Lakes Contracting. However, on Jan. 6, 1997, Island Businessman John Lexo speaking in a town board meeting said he had heard of the donations yet funds had also been authorized for construction of soccer fields. "We have many soccer fields and some had to paid for, but there was also a field donated," replied Pax. Lexo was back again at a town meeting on Feb. 3 claiming the fields were never built "Months ago I asked about them and you said some were paid by conn-act and some were donated. continued on page 18 continued on page 4