Island Dispatch, 2007-08-24

              Island Dispatch For Home Delivery of the island Dispatch Call 773-7676 Niagara Cn DB Fror,*«er Vj} Publications proud publishers of Island Dispatch Lewiston-Porter Sentinel Grand Island Penny Saver Niagara-Wheatfield Tribune www.wnypapers.com Vol. 63 No. 23 August 24,2007 20 Pages 773-7676 $1.00 Ransom Road Work Ahead •page 3 NU Previews School Year page 9 Strong Summer for GI 10U page 13 School Board updated on capital improvement projects by Donna M. Webb The Grand Island School Board heard Monday that its roofing repair work came in under budget. The board met at the high school on Aug. 20 and received a presentation concerning the district's capital improvement projects, given by Richard Gehring of the architectural firm Trautman Associates. Gehring explained that the largest portion of the $3.9 million budget approved for the projects by spiers is the roofing work for the middle school and the bus garage. Although $1.65 million was budgeted for these two roofs, this project came in at about $509,000 under budget, Gehring said. The dollars saved can be applied to other needed work or to expand the scope of jobs. The middle school roofing project is about 80 percent complete, according to Gehring. Detailing and metal work should be finished about a week or so into the school year. Two to three more weeks will be needed to complete the work on the bus garage roof. Four emergency generators will be put on the exterior of the school district buildings. The budget for this part of the capital improvement project has increased about $100,000, to a total of $317,000. This was done in order to add electrical capability; the prior budget only included minimal lighting in the event of a power failure. "We have a chance to upgrade because of how the roofing project came out," Superintendent Robert Christmann said, referring to the $509,000 savings. The generator project will go out for bidding in the next week or two. "Hopefully, we'll get the foundations in before the snow flies," Gehring added. The district-wide phone system will be upgraded. A conceptual plan has been submitted and approved. The hope is to "get a contractor on board for the spring and have the messy part of the work done by next summer," Gehring noted. The district will borrow $100,000 to $150,000 for this project, but that is already part of the $3.9 million overall budget. Gehring also reported on the building condition survey, which the State Education Department requires a school district to complete every five years. It indicates what the needs are in the various school buildings. The district completed a building condition survey at the end of 2005. Gehring explained that if even one item is marked "unsatisfactory" in a building, the SED will label that entire facility "unsatisfactory." Each of the schools has a list of such items, which are considered as "A" items in priority and are currently part of Road construction ahead Repaving begins on West River Service Road by Donna M. Webb Approximately 7.5 miles of the West River Service Road will be paved in a $1.6 million project begun this month. A press conference was held on Aug. 16 at the construction site of the new West River Service Road project Alan Taylor, regional director of the New York State Department of Transportation, spoke on behalf of Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, Grand Island, who could not attend due to lastminute car trouble. Taylor added that this construction project will include some drainage work. "Under the leadership of Gov. Spiteer, (the) NYS DOT is committed to improving the roadways throughout New York state," Taylor said. "This project will increase safety and mobility for motorists who travel the West River Service Road." Also included in the project is cleaning of the closed drainage system, as well as the drainage ditches. The ditches will be reshaped, and trees will be trimmed. "I would like to specifically thank Assemblyman Hoyt for his efforts in securing funding," Taylor said. The job contract was awarded to American Paving and Excavating Inc., located in Clarence Center and owned by Guy Berberich. The repaying will begin at Bush Road and extend all the way up to Long Road. The service road will be resurfaced using a process called cold in-place recycling, according to Greg Mancini, the engineer in charge. First, a machine called a .drag box puts down two inches of new stone. A miffing machine pulls up about four inches of the existing asphalt road surface and breaks it apart. That is mixed with the stone and then combined with liquified asphalt and laid back down on the road. "We're taking up the existing material and putting it right back down," Mancini summarized, after taking the intermediate steps. The final part of the process involves applying a one-and-a-half inch asphaltasphalt topping. Mancini was asked when the road resurfacing will be done. "Probably in about two more weeks," he replied. Cold in-place recycling is not a new process; it began in the late 1980s. However, the Niagara Frontier has seen very little of this type of road reconstruction, "We haven't done much in this region. ... actually (this is) the second project it's been used on," Mancini explained. The first one was on Clinton Street in West Seneca. Town officials in attendance at the press conference included Supervisor Peter McMahon and These are just some of the construction vehicles that are working on the repaying project currently in progress on the West River Service Road, (photo by Donna Webb) Public split on campground clay mining by Larry Austin Ponds, like beauty, are in the eye of the beholder, as Grand Island Town Supervisor Peter McMahon explained. Is a pond intended for aesthetic reasons or is it mining for clay? "Nobody comes in and says they're niining clay," McMahon said recently. "They all come in and say they're building a pond." Monday at Town Hall, the Grand Island Town Board held a public hearing regarding the Niagara Falls Campground pond proposed for Whitehaven Road. Developers need a mining overlay district granted by the town in order to dig the Clay for a pond. Comments at the meeting were divided pro and con. The state has a law that preempts local authority in mining matters, McMahon explained. Consequently, Grand Island has required a mining overlay district to "be able to have some say" in excavations. Before the mining overlay district concept was established, "the town had no say because if the state granted a mining permit, it was over," McMahon said. "If the state gave them a permit to mine 24/7/365, they could do it." Christine Price, architect for the campground developers, said the pond itself would cover 7.5 acres with a small island and would go to a depth of 18-20 feet The pond is "an integral part of the campground," she said, and would provide wildlife education, fishing, habitat and nature trails for patrons of the campground business. Don Benoit said the rumor that his proposal for the pond was " camouflage" for selling Christine Price explains a schematic drawing for a proposed pond off Whitehaven Road at Monday's Grand Island Town Board meeting, (photo by Larry Austin) SEE CHRISTMANN on page 3 SEE DEVELOPERS on page 2 SEE TOWN, continued on page S Mondayj Madnessl { LARGE CHEESE PIZZA j "*=*-- I_ud__lr<& *& ,*^ $ O __ ft ; nlm__w__m!immJ*" ■ ''>>^2li_w_Eß_H_ <___S___) I 2131 Grand Island Blvd. j I Linda  j Kutzbach pPi^H \ Associate Broker __B%rw_r- WW ] 628-1719 9LjC--1M i 773-2573.. If J||P| ' JlQThlnn.A l^^neother Q f 4„ North owssed & operated