Syracuse Alley Vacation Denied; Council Hears About Dog Park Idea
Syracuse Alley Vacation Denied; Council Hears About Dog Park Idea
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Denise Fedorow-
Syracuse Alley Vacation Denied; Council Hears About Dog Park IdeaSYRACUSE – Several people left the Syracuse Town Council meeting with requests denied or delayed Tuesday evening, including neighbors at 404 and 406 Front St. who were hoping to get the alley between their two homes vacated.
A public hearing on the matter was held but even before the meeting began, Martha Stoelting, 402 N. Harrison St., spoke up against it.
She said, “Unless Mr. (Steve) Snyder gives me a compelling reason, I’m totally opposed to setting a precedent for vacating an alley. The town controls it and can make money off the alley by renting pier space and its public access to the lake.”
Snyder, an attorney, brought the request to the Council from the Ted Christofolis Revocable Trust. Snyder said the alley located between 404 and 406 N. Front St. has never been opened and it is not owned by the town. Snyder said it is owned by the adjacent property owners; the town just has right of way. He said it’s always been a grass alley maintained by the property owners and has never been used to launch a boat.
Snyder said by eliminating the public way it eliminates the public’s right to walk between the two houses. He said the town’s public way goes back 120 years so it’s debatable whether it’s still in effect. He told the Council that if they vacate, they’d add the property to the tax rolls.
“You’re not receiving any revenue for it now,” he said. “If it’s vacated, the neighbors said they’d divide the alley between two properties, adding 6 feet to each with an estimated value of $36,000.”
The neighbors were present and one, Don Emahiser, 406 N. Front St., said the town could raise a lot more money by having the alley on the tax rolls versus the $100 pier fee. He said they’ve been mowing and maintaining it, including repairing the stone wall, etc. Emahiser said no one uses the alley.
Stoelting said she did. “Not everyone lives on the lake,” she said, adding she walks her dog there. Emahiser said she was more than welcome to continue doing that.
Councilman Bill Musser asked why this was coming up now after all these years and Snyder said it was a matter of property values.
Councilman Paul Stoelting, Martha’s husband, made a motion not to vacate the alley and Musser seconded. The ordinance was not approved.
After months of meetings and residents expressing their displeasure about being annexed, the Kern Road annexation ordinance passed without any further comment from the Council or the public. The area to be annexed is approximately 95.3 acres. It includes the new ball park the city is developing.
Also passed without any comment was the 2022 salary ordinance for town officials and employees. The ordinance reflects a 3% across-the-board increase.
Park Superintendent Chad Jonsson presented a conceptual drawing of a potential dog park for the town, something he’s been working on with Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Renea Salyer. He reminded the Council that the park department received a $35,000 donation toward a dog park and he estimated they’d need $100,000 to finish it.
They needed to come up with a plan In order to apply for grants and so they used the donation to get the plans drawn up. Looking at potential properties, the one that they used for the plan was at Main and Dolan, where the old dog-catcher’s building used to be. According to Jonsson, it’s a pretty accessible area and the city already owns it so they were asking if the Council would allow them to develop it into a dog park.
Council President Larry Siegel said, “That’s a critical property for the Riverfront District. How do you see this fitting in?”
Jonsson replied, “Any park would be a benefit to your development. Right now it’s just a green space.”
Siegel said he wanted to see a more comprehensive plan before he could agree. A couple of Council members mentioned that they liked the plan and the location but were concerned about the town being asked to pay for it.
Jonsson said they were not asking for any money and he said Salyer knew there wasn’t any money in the park budget for this either. Rather, it would be funded with donations and grants.
Salyer said the Chamber has plans for fundraisers. She said the dog park plans also includes garden space, walking paths and the potential for arts and cultural space. “It’s not just a dog park,” she said.
Salyer said the surveys they conducted showed 41% of Syracuse residents have two or more dogs and local veterinarians said 80% of their clientele have dogs. She said most of those dog owners were referred to a dog park in Warsaw so they’d be able to come back to Syracuse.
Jonsson said they’d charge a membership fee to help with the upkeep of the dog park, like other dog parks in the area. He said Nappanee shared it costs them about $650 a year to maintain the dog park and most of that is covered by membership fees.
Siegel said he wasn’t saying no, but the Riverfront District had a plan all mapped out so he’d need to see how this would work into that plan. No action was taken.
Later, at the end of the meeting, former councilman Tom Hoover said he didn’t think that having a dog park in the middle of town was a good idea.
Jonsson also reported the park department was partnering with the Chamber and Chautauqua for the Old Fashioned Christmas and tree lighting at Oakwood this Saturday rather than having two separate tree lightings. He said the town’s Christmas tree would be lit without celebration next week.
Tyler Kelsey, architect with Arkos Design, and Kim Blaha, Syracuse Public Library director, came to share with the Council the library’s expansion plans.
The library purchased a parcel southeast of the existing library and wondered how the council would feel about vacating the alley between the library and the parcel they just purchased so they could expand their outdoor and indoor space. Kelsey said they’d like to add 4,500 to 6,000 square feet plus additional parking.
Paul Stoelting asked if they talked to nearby businesses as he believed the alley was used frequently for deliveries. Blaha said there weren’t many deliveries made in that alley.
Musser said they definitely need more space but this plan could prove challenging. “We have a great library in Syracuse,” he said.
Salyer brought another matter from the Chamber, informing the Council she was applying for a Main Street Program for uptown, but in order to do so the Council would have to sign a letter giving her the OK to apply.
Siegel picked up on Salyer saying she wasn’t asking for money “today” and asked her about it. She said that was correct but there might be a time in the future when the Council may want to be a part of something, like a matching façade program, for example.
Siegel said the town had very limited funds.
“I don’t plan to come to the town for money because it’s not easy,” she said. “We just need you to stand behind us and let us do what we want to do in this community to make it better and improved.”
Since town attorney Vern Landis didn’t see the letter in advance, the Council authorized having Siegel sign the letter after Landis reviews it.
Derek Church returned to the council to find out what they decided on him being able to keep chickens on his property. He said he was told by the building inspector that he could have chickens and then was told he had 10 days to get rid of them. The Council gave his chickens a 30-day stay last month.
Musser told Church the Council feels they shouldn’t allow chickens in town so they were lifting the moratorium and will have the code enforcement officer enforce the town code.
In other business:
• There was a public hearing on designating an area an economic development target area – the old Syracuse elementary building, which is being developed into apartments.
• Approved paying the annual terminal connection fee through Kosciusko County at a cost of $5,000.
• Approved the 2022 Water & Wastewater budget. The water budget is $813,150 – a 4.29% increase and the wastewater budget of $1,054,800 – a decrease of 1.43%.
• Approved changing the name of Brooklyn Street to Polywood Way.
• Approved staying with current health insurance – PHP – as there was a 6.6% increase versus the anticipated 23%.
• Approved Jay Rigdon as the town attorney beginning in January.
• Accepted an agreement with the Turkey Creek Dike and Dam Conservancy to mow the area around the dam.
• Heard Fire Chief Mickey Scott planned to hire an administrative assistant and agreed to have that person’s office be in the town hall.
• Breakfast with Santa returns to the Community Center Dec. 4 at 8 a.m.
