Town pursuing eminent domain for access to SF sculpture trail
“The Town Board has decided to use eminent domain to gain access to the Ludovico Sculpture Trail along the south side of the Cayuga-Seneca Canal.
The town has been trying to negotiate an easement with the owners of the trail so it can use a directional drill boring process to install a new, larger sewer line 5 to 7 feet below the ground surface. However, Town Attorney David Foster said terms of an easement could not be worked out, prompting the town to use a legal process by which a public body can acquire or have access to private property if it can be proven to a judge that it would be in the public interest.
Foster said a public hearing on the request for eminent domain had been set for the Feb. 6 Town Board meeting. However, he said Monday that hearing has been delayed to the March 6 meeting.
“The town doesn’t want to acquire or take over the sculpture trail. It only wants to be able to have access to the ground beneath the trail so directional boring can be done to install a new sewer line to accommodate wastewater from the del Lago Resort & Casino and other developments on Route 414 that now flow to the Kingdom Road pump station,” Foster stated. “The trail can actually be upgraded and improved when the underground drilling and sewer installation is done.””
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Shaw, David. Community News Weekly 30 January 2018.