Town leader kept out turbines, added large park by Lake Ontario

Photos by Tom Rivers: Yates Town Supervisor Jim Simon is shown near his office after Thursday’s Town Board meeting. Simon has been the town supervisor for nearly 11 years.

YATES – Jim Simon pulled off a shocking upset 11 years again when he was elected Yates town supervisor through a write-in campaign.

He had the backing of voters in an effort to fight wind turbines proposed for Yates and Somerset. Simon and two towns ultimately were successful in keeping out that project.

He would continue as town supervisor, and led the town’s effort to create a new $2.5 million park by the lakeshore. That project was 95 percent funded by the state.

Simon, 66, will be retiring as town supervisor after Dec. 31. He isn’t seeking re-election. Current councilwoman Sue Hrovat has the Republican endorsement as town supervisor and won’t see any opposition on the ballot.

“I’m thinking 11 years is enough,” Simon said after Thursday’s Town Board meeting. “The board and the town are in a really good position.”

Simon, his wife Paula and their family moved to the Yates community when he was hired as associate dean of the GCC campus centers in Albion and Medina. When he retired from that job, he worked as a headmaster of a Catholic high school in Buffalo.

Simon also retired from that full-time job. He is looking forward to be fully retired to have more time for his family and other community service.

He has seven grandchildren with two more on the way. He and his wife also lead the food pantry based at the Presbyterian Church in Lyndonville. He is an active member at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Medina (the Holy Trinity Parish).

Before his term ends, Simon said he wants to approve a local law for short-term rentals (Airbnbs and Vrbos) in the town.

He also wants to reach an agreement with the county that gives the town a significant boost for plowing and mowing county roads.

Yates, Ridgeway and Shelby also are negotiating with the Village of Medina about a new ambulance contract. Each town has contributed $35,000 towards the ambulance service, but the village wants more. Medina officials are asking for $135,000 each from the three towns in a new contract that starts 2027.

Simon said he wants to reach an agreement before his term ends, but not with Yates paying $135,000 a year. He also has talked with Mercy Flight EMS about providing ambulance services in Yates.

Yates Town Supervisor Jim Simon speaks during a Sept. 24, 2022 ribbon cutting for upgrades at the Yates Town Park. Simon announced that day the new pavilion at the park would be dedicated in honor of Russ Martino, the retired town supervisor and elementary school principal.

The $2.5 million park upgrades include a 75-foot-long pier, a pavilion with bathrooms, new playground equipment, a kayak launch, a crusher-run walking trail, and new parking lot with sidewalks.

The project was 95 percent funded by the state, which made $300 million available to southshore communities  through the state’s Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative or REDI. That was in response to historic flooding along the shore in 2017 and 2019. That flooding destroyed part of the shoreline at the Yates park and the town used a separate $400,000 grant from the state to put in a massive breakwall.

The park upgrades included a new elevated platform or pier that extends out into Lake Ontario.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Employees from Easton Specialties Inc. in Honeoye Falls put new slate on the roof of Mount Albion Chapel on Thursday afternoon.

The chapel from 1875 is getting a new roof as part of a $225,000 overall restoration of the building.

Local mason Neal Muscarella last year repaired and repointed the chapel’s entire exterior.  The most extensive damage was in the northwest section.  Muscarella has worked on several projects at Mount Albion over the years, including the Civil War memorial tower, the front sign, and the pond at the western side that is memorial to firefighters.

Before Easton Specialties started putting on the new slat, The Environmental Construction Group in Albion abated asbestos from the tar along the edges of the roof.

Easton also has rebuilt the northwest corner’s rafters and repaired the roof deck in spots where it has failed over the years. The company installed an ice and water shield, a copper drip edge and flashings, and now are nearly  done with the new Vermont slate with colors and in a pattern that are a perfect match to the original 1875 slate.

 There is still a lot to do inside the chapel. The overall $225,000 project includes interior replaster of the north wall; electrical upgrades (wiring, outlets, internal and external lighting); heating unit for seasonal use; repair of plaster and vaulted ceiling; removal of old floor, repair subfloor and put in a new floor; and refurbish exterior doors and window trim.

Photo of Deirdre O’Mahony by Margaret O’Brien Moran

MEDINA – The feature event of the Medina Triennial this Saturday will be a talk and screening with renowned Irish artist Deirdre O’Mahony.

At 4 p.m. Saturday at the Medina Hub headquarters on North Main Street, a special screening of “The Quickening” will be followed by a conversation with O’Mahoney, who is not only an Irish artist, but a farmer.

This event will offer residents, particularly farmers, and others involved in agriculture and food production, an opportunity to discuss the pressures facing farming communities.

O’Mahoney’s visit to the United States is supported by Culture Ireland (the Irish government). This is significant, according to Medina Triennial co-curator Kari Conte, because she is one of Ireland’s leading artists and this is her first public lecture and screening ever in the United States.

Although “The Quickening” is rooted in rural Ireland, the issues it raises are immediately relevant to Medina and Orleans County, Conte said.

Medina is surrounded by some of New York state’s most productive farmland. Local farmers face many of the same pressures explored in the film – volatile markers, rising production costs, changing regulations, extreme weather, soil health, food security and expectations that farmers alone should address broader environmental problems.

As both an artist and a farmer, O’Mahoney’s perspective is grounded in direct experience of rural life, and in more than three decades of working with farmers, food producers, scientists, policymakers and rural communities.

A central question of the program is “What are farmers being asked to sustain, and how can responsibility for the future of food and land be shared across society?”

The discussion may be especially meaningful for local farmers because it acknowledges that agricultural knowledge is not only scientific or institutional. It is also built through generations of observation, labor, adaption and lived experience.

“The Quickening” is a 35-minute film completed in 2024. It is currently on view at Mustang City (the former Medina High School).

This project grew from two communal meals, called “Sustainment Experiments,” which O’Mahoney organized in Ireland in 2022 and 2023, in which farmers, food producers, scientists, food-business owners, politicians and policymakers gathered around the table to speak openly about farming and food production.

Their conversations became the basis for the film’s libretto, developed by O’Mahoney with writer Joanna Walsh.  The resulting work brings together documentary imagery, spoken and sung language, original music, animal sounds and the movements of insects and organisms within the soil.  The work also emphasizes the often-invisible organisms that make agriculture possible, including bacteria, fungi, earthworms, insets and dung beetles.

Rather than treating farmers as either the cause of environmental problems or the sole agents responsible for solving them, O’Mahoney’s “The Quickening” asks how the responsibility for sustaining soil, food systems and rural life can be shared by everyone who depends upon them.

Blakeman gaining on Hochul in latest poll

Bruce Blakeman

Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor, will be making several stops in Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming counties on Sunday.

The Nassau County executive has narrowed the gap with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who still holds a 10 percentage point lead, according to a Siena Poll released Wednesday. Hochul has the edge, 49 to 39 percent, among likely gubernatorial voters. But Blakeman is cutting into Hochul’s lead. In a June poll, he trailed 52 to 32 percent among registered voters.

Blakeman will join Assemblyman Steve Hawley in four stops on Sunday. They will first be at a “Ride for the Blue” event in Murray. Blakeman will be among the speakers beginning at 1 p.m. at an event that starts at David Paul’s property in Murray at 3823 County Line Rd.

Other speakers include Hawley, State Sen. Rob Ortt, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney and Sheriff Chris Bourke.

The Ride for the Blue starts at 2:15 p.m. goes from Countyline Road south to Route 31 and then heads west to Medina, then goes north on Route 63 to Ridgeway, then east on Route 104 back to Murray, and then south sown County Line Road.

The ride order include a Orleans County Sheriff’s patrol car, the Murray Joint Fire District, all motorcycles, remaining fire trucks, vintage cars and trucks, everybody else, and then all big trucks and dump trucks.

After the speeches at the Ride for the Blue, Blakeman will be at the Orleans County Republican Party picnic at 2 p.m. at the Clarendon Historical Society, 16426 Route 31A in Clarendon.

After that he is headed with Hawley to Batavia for an event from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at the AG Education Center & Museum, 5030 East Main Street Rd.

Blakeman then goes to Pike at 5:30 p.m. for the Wyoming County Fair.

Mayor says selling the park to a business could be better use for site

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Albion Village Board discussed the Santa statue and other Santa-themed items at Waterman Park during the board meeting on Wednesday. The board wonders if it makes more sense to move the statue and other elements about a block south to village-owned green space by the Presbyterian Church.

Perhaps the statue could be part of a space with a Santa House or gazebo, Village Board members said.

Mayor Tim McMurray and Deputy Mayor Greg Bennett said it may be a better asset for the village to sell the pocket park at Waterman, where it could be used for pop-up businesses or other purposes by a business.

The subject was brought up as part of a discussion about different parks in the village. Bennett acknowledged that many community members have worked hard at the site over the past decade or so.

The Albion Rotary Club spearheaded the 24-foot-long mural in 2018 that was painted by artist Stacey Kirby Steward. That mural shows a Santa in a sleigh over the Courthouse Square and downtown Albion. The mural is mounted on a steel frame at the park that is a half block south of the Erie Canal.

The mural honors Albion’s history as home to the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School from 1937 to 1966. Howard also ran Christmas Park in Albion. Mr. Howard passed away in 1966. The Santa School continues in his name in Midland, Michigan.

The bronze statue of Santa was dedicated on June 10, 2023. It followed an $80,000-fundraising effort by the Albion Betterment Committee that took nearly a decade.

The spot by the Presbyterian Church was considered for the bronze statue, but bronze statue artists thought the statue would be dwarfed being next to the church, which is 175 feet tall. The artists thought the statue would look very small to passersby if it was placed next to the church.

They liked the spot at Waterman where people can walk by close to the statue, which is closer to the street so it doesn’t seem so small to people passing by.

During the statue dedication, many of Howard’s grandchildren and other family descendants attended the event which was held on a Saturday during the Strawberry Festival.

Charles Bergeman, Howard’s grandson, attended the event in 2023. He passed away later than year in October due to cancer. A sleigh was dedicated in Bergeman’s honor this past May. The sleigh was refurbished by Jim Babcock, a local contractor who is on the Betterment Committee’s board of directors.

The Betterment Committee is now working to develop a Santa School museum and visitor center almost across the street from Waterman Park.

MEDINA – New York Lottery is reporting that a winning $50,000 Powerball ticket was sold at the Crosby’s in Medina for Wednesday night’s drawing.

It was one of five third-prize-winning tickets were sold for the Aug. 12 Powerball drawing. Besides the Medina ticket, there were three purchased at 1619 SRS in Brooklyn and one at Millenium Smoke and News in Manhattan.

All five winners were worth $50,000.

The winning numbers for the Powerball game are drawn from a field of one to 69. The red Power Ball is drawn from a separate field of one to 26. The Powerball drawing is televised every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Beaver Alley in downtown Albion is a one-lane street of Medina Sandstone pavers.

The Village Board is considering closing vehicular traffic to the street and allowing the site to be used for pedestrians and events, including concerts, a farm market and other community activities.

The sandstone pavers are pictured with a dusting of snow. The street is hard on the village’s plowing equipment.

The board wants to hear from the public about the idea during the Aug. 26 board meeting that begins at 7 p.m. at the Village Hall.

Mayor Tim McMurray said bollards could be put at each end of the alley to keep out cars and trucks. He said the alley, if made more inviting with lights and signage, could be a popular spot for events, providing a boost to the downtown business district.

McMurray said the pavers may need to be reset to be a smoother surface for pedestrians. Weeds also sprout up between the blocks. Herbicides are typically sprayed to battle the weeds.

The street was paved until 2003. When the Pike Company in Rochester, a contractor for the state Department of Transportation, tore up routes 31 and 98 in Albion about two decades ago, there were sandstone pavers under the roads.

Ed Salvatore was the Albion mayor at the time and he negotiated having the Pike Company put 5,500 of the pavers in Beaver Alley. Salvatore said the Medina sandstone blocks provided a sharp contrast between the new style of road construction on Main Street with the style from a century earlier. He also wanted to preserve some local sandstone history and add another element to historic downtown.

Before asphalt and concrete, many of the streets were made of cut Medina sandstone blocks. Salvatore wanted Beaver Alley, a short one-lane street, to resemble a street from the late 1800s.

There have been complaints the street is bumpy and hard to drive on. The DPW says the pavers also damage snow plows.

Village officials envision the site as a possible entertainment area like Jackson Square in the City of Batavia, which hosts a popular concert series.

Project eyed for former fairgrounds site at west end of Washington Street and West State Street

The village zoning map shows the area in green between Washington and West State streets that is currently zoned for Mobile Home Park. It would need to be changed to R-C (Residential/Offices/Limited Business) to allow for a housing project.

ALBION – Land formerly used a horse racing track and the fairgrounds in Albion is being eyed for a 70-unit housing project in Albion.

The zoning for the land in the late 1990s was changed to a “Mobile Home Park” classification to allow for manufactured homes, but that project didn’t happen. The site at the west end of West State Street and Washington streets has remained vacant since.

CDS Monarch sees demand for housing in Albion and Orleans County. The company wants to develop 13.5 acres into a 70-unit housing project with 30 units for seniors and veterans, and the other 40 units for working families.

CDS is based in Webster. It has developed projects in Buffalo, Rochester, Elmira, Endicott and Cicero.

Michael Lill, project associate for CDS, said the company wants to build 8-unit flat level buildings. The company would like to have businesses on site as well, including a pharmacy.

The housing would not be Section 8 or for people in drug rehab, he said.

CDS said Orleans County faces an out-migration of residents, with a shortage of housing a factor in the exodus.

The Albion Village Board held a public hearing on the zoning change on Wednesday. An attorney for ARG spoke against the change, saying putting more housing in the area by ARG may not be the best fit for that area which also includes the village’s DPW facility and the Albion Correctional Facility. The attorney suggested the zoning be changed to light industrial.

The attorney also said the village had the wrong tax map information about the parcels to be rezoned as part of the public notice.

Village Clerk/Treasurer Tracy Van Skiver acknowledged there had been a typographical error on one of the parcels. It was corrected about a week ago on the village website and Facebook page. The Village Board adjourned the public hearing until 7 p.m. on Aug. 26 to ensure it meets the public notice required for the zoning change.

The village sent the zoning change to the Orleans County Planning Board for its input but the board didn’t meet last month due to insufficient items. That board’s decision won’t be required due to the board not meeting, Mayor Tim McMurray said.

He sees the project as a positive for the village and Orleans County, bringing in new investment and housing opportunities. The community has experienced increased homelessness, McMurray said, and the state is trying to increase housing opportunities for people of all backgrounds.

CDS said it will present a detailed site plan for the project if the zoning change is approved. That site plan would then be subject to review by the Village Planning Board and code enforcement officer.

CDS said it has completed a phase 1 environmental impact study and also a wetlands delineation for the site.

CARLTON – North Shore Networks LLC in Medina is responding to an Orleans Hub article on Wednesday about neighbors asking Carlton town officials to halt the project for further review.

North Shore said many of the claims about the tower from residents are not accurate.

The tower is part of a $11,216,500 contract from North Shore Networks with Orleans County to implement faster internet service. The county in November 2024 was awarded a $11,562,698 state grant to upgrade wireless internet service throughout the county.

North Shore said the tower will be 150 feet high, not 160 feet, because there is no 10-foot-high lightning rod on top. North Shore wants to put the tower on land owned by the Village of Albion by the water treatment plant on Wilson Road. North Shore and the village approved a lease on Aug. 5, 2025.

The tower will be owned by Orleans County. North Shore Networks designs, builds and operates the network under contract with the county.

The tower at the Village of Albion Water Department is one of 21 wireless hub sites in a county-wide network designed for Orleans County’s ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Program Project. “Existing towers and structures were evaluated for co-location where they could meet the network’s requirements, and siting new sites on municipally owned property was a deliberate element of the design,” North Shore said.

A group of residents in Carlton led by Rick Stacey say there are several procedural errors in the Carlton project that warrant holding off construction. Stacey said there are better sites that would be safer for nearby residents and wouldn’t be a visual blight along the Lake Ontario shoreline.

The Carlton Planning Board last week approved a different driveway path to allow access to the site. Crews will use the driveway for the water treatment plant and won’t be on private property.

Residents say the fall zone for the tower cuts across a private access road for Oak Orchard on the Lake. But North Shore says a full-height collapse would not reach Oak Orchard on the Lake.

Construction began in late July 2026. The only interruption has been the change to the driveway path.

The original site design used Oak Orchard on the Lake for access, and construction vehicles used that road during the first days of construction. After neighbors raised concerns, the access route was relocated, North Shore said.

The amended site plan approved August 3 routes access via the water treatment plant driveway off of Wilson Road. Crews have not used Oak Orchard on the Lake in several weeks and will not use it going forward, North Shore officials said.

“North Shore Networks is not aware of any damage to the road from that brief use, and would repair any that is identified,” the company said.

The tower in Carlton is part of an effort to increase wireless internet speeds from the current 25 Mega Bit Per Seconds (Mbps) to 100 (Mbps).

CORE Environmental Consultants is the project’s environmental engineering firm. It managed the State Environmental Quality Review process, and prepared and presented the updated special use permit materials for the driveway revision. CORE is not the structural engineering firm for this tower.

The neighbors, in a letter presented to Carlton officials, said the tower’s 82-inch diameter pole will be anchored in a 20-foot diameter concrete ballasted base sitting entirely above ground. North Shore said the pole has a diameter of 43.4 inches at its base and tapers to 11.8 inches at the top.

The neighbors cite other concerns, including the fall zone over residential lanes and critical utility paths. The tower would be sited 28 feet from the primary high-voltage overhead power lines feeding the water plant.

North Shore Networks consulted National Grid regarding the design of this site, North Shore officials said. “The overhead lines adjacent to the tower are local distribution lines. They do not serve the Village of Albion water treatment plant, which is fed by three-phase service from Wilson Road, outside the fall radius of the monopole,” North Shore said. “National Grid has confirmed that the tower and its compound fall outside the utility’s easement area for those lines.”

The tower design, the foundation design, and the structural and mount analyses were prepared by professional engineers licensed in New York State, and the construction drawings bear their seals, North Shore said. Those sealed drawings were submitted to the Town of Carlton as part of the special use permit application, and again with the building permit application. Structural and mount analyses are completed for each site in the county-wide network prior to construction, the company said.

The environmental review was conducted under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, with Orleans County as lead agency, and a negative declaration was issued. The application was referred to the Orleans County Planning Board, which recommended approval. The project’s Full Environmental Assessment Form records that no State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit is required for this project, North Shore said.

The neighbors said they were concerned about “extreme ice-fall and ice-shedding projectile.” The tower is 150 feet in total height. “A full-height collapse in any direction would come to rest within the Village of Albion water treatment plant parcel, and would not reach Oak Orchard on the Lake,” North Shore said.

The neighbors also questioned if a multi-ton steel structure should be sited into the Lake Ontario beachfront water table. North Shore said the tower is supported on a ballasted foundation designed by professional engineers licensed in New York State, and selected for stability given the site’s proximity to the lake.

The neighbors also shared concerns about the tower affecting operations for crop dusters and other airplanes. The tower is 150 feet above ground level, below the 200-foot threshold that requires FAA notification. “The site is not within the vicinity of an airport or protected airspace that would otherwise require notification. No FAA notice or determination is required for this facility,” North Shore said.

The article on Wednesday also noted that the Carlton Town Board voted to hire Bridget O’Toole as special counsel for the town regarding the tower. The article initially stated O’Toole was a law partner with town attorney Doug Heath of Holley. They are no longer partners. O’Toole runs the O’Toole Law Group on Latta Road in Rochester.

Pictured from left include Daemon Shatara, Robert Arnold and Oddysee Bennett.

MEDINA – Three people have been arrested on drug and weapons charges in Medina, the Orleans County Major Felony Task Force reported.

After an investigation into the sale and distribution of crack cocaine, this morning at 307 West Center St., Apartment 4, the Task Force executed a search warrant this morning along with the Orleans County Special Response Team, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office and the Medina Police Department.

Police seized over a half an ounce of crack cocaine, a loaded 38-revolver handgun, cash, scales, packaging and other drug paraphernalia, the Task Force reported.

The following were charged:

• Daemon S. Shatara, age 25, of Sawyer Street in Rochester has been charged with 2 counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (class B felonies), 1 count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (a class C felony), and 2 counts of criminally using drug paraphernalia in the second degree (class A misdemeanors).

• Robert W. Arnold, age 20, of 733 Church Street in Medina has been charged with 1 count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (class C felony), 1 count of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree (class D felony), and 2 counts of criminally using drug paraphernalia in the second degree (class A misdemeanors).

Arnold also has two outstanding warrants, the Task Force said.

• Oddysee M. Bennett, age 28, of 307 West Center St., Medina, is charged with 1 count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (class C felony).

All three individuals are being held in Orleans County Jail awaiting CAP Court.

Further arrests and charges are pending in this investigation, the Task Force said.

Also assisting in the investigation include District Attorney Susan Howard, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Special Response Team, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, the Orleans County Sheriff’s K9 Unit, the Medina Police Department, and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Fireworks will cap event at 8:45 p.m.

File photo by Tom Rivers: The Buffalo-based band, Bleeding Hearts, played many popular classic rock songs during last year’s 4th annual Street Dance organized by the Town of Yates.

Press Release, Town of Yates

The Town of Yates is very excited to welcome our friends and neighbors to the 5th Annual Street Dance on Saturday, August 15th, from 6 to 9 p.m.  The festivities will be held on Main Street in front of the Yates Town Hall in the Village of Lyndonville.

Main Street in the village will be closed to traffic between Maple Avenue and Eagle Street starting at 4 p.m.

“We are very proud to host this increasingly popular street dance on Main Street,” said Susan Hrovat , deputy town supervisor for the Town of Yates.  “It is a lovely party with lots of fun, food and fellowship!”

This year’s festivities include: music by the Vinyl Recovery band featuring Classic Rock from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, kids’ games, a bounce house, Eula’s Baby Ribs, Lyndonville Sports Boosters tacos in a bag, Lyndonville Lions Club hotdogs, and a fireworks display at 8:45 p.m.

The street dance is partially funded by the Town of Yates, and also sponsored by Plummer Orchards, Signature Styles, RLW Cattle Company, and a New York 250 grant.