By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 October 2014 at 12:00 am
SPENCERPORT – The BOCES that serves the Holley and Kendall school districts, as well as seven districts in western Monroe County, is proposing a $29.2 million capitol project.
Residents in the nine-member Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES can vote on the proposal on Dec. 16 at the WEMOCO Educational Services Center. Voting will be from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 3599 Big Ridge Rd.
This would be the first capitol project in 40 years and would include an addition and renovations so the center mirror’s a modern workplace for students in the career and technology program, BOCES leaders said.
The project calls for a 15,200-square-foot addition to the campus. That addition would cost an estimated $9.8 million. The addition will include space for classrooms, a career skills center, and early childhood and preschool programs.
The project also includes $12.3 million in work to the center’s north building, renovating classrooms, replacing rooftop units and exhaust systems, improving plumbing and electrical systems. The south building at the center would also get $6.2 million in upgrades.
There also is $968,500 slated for parking lot reconstruction, with improved bus and traffic flow, upgraded lighting and utilities, drainage and a relocated playground.
The BOCES served an average of 1,067 students each of the past five years with 44 from Kendall and 58 from Holley.
State aid would cover 63.2 percent of the project with member districts covering the remaining 36.8 percent. That share for Holley would be $400,451, while Kendall would pay $320,078.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 October 2014 at 12:00 am
‘This is a lifetime dream for me.’ – Taras Salamaca
Photos by Tom Rivers – Taras Salamaca, left, and his brother Alex today opened Salamaca Estate Winery at the corner of Hindsburg Road and Route 104 in the Town of Murray. The winery and its tasting room are located in a barn from 1898.
MURRAY – When they were kids, Taras Salamaca and his brother Alex remember their father Illa making wine.
Taras, in particular, enjoyed helping his father ferment the home wines. Taras, now 50, has worked with his brothers at the Murray Superette on Ridge Road and a number of other jobs. But winemaking has always been a passion.
Today, Taras achieved a goal. He and Alex opened their own winery near the corner of Hindsburg Road and Route 104. Salamaca Estate Winery is debuting with four different wines, with two more to soon be released (once the labels are approved). Two more could then follow by New Year’s.
Taras Salamaca is pictured in the vineyard by De Chaunac grapes.
“This is a long-time dream of mine,” Taras Salamaca said this afternoon at the winery, 2660 Hindsburg Rd.
The brothers have been working on the project for five years. Taras worked with Jonathan Oakes, the winemaker at Leonard Oakes Estate Winery. Taras learned the art of wine-making and also studied with the Oakes family in growing grapes. Taras has 15 varieties growing next to the winery.
His brother Alex will manage the wine sales, the tasting room and the retail side of the business. They worked together remodeling a barn from 1898. They have kept original wooden beams, built wine racks from the old wood, and kept an original door and hardware from a horse stable inside the barn.
Alex Salamaca is pictured next to wine racks with the tasting area behind him.
“There are a lot of commercial wineries out there,” Taras said. “We wanted it to be rustic.”
Even in the vineyard, Taras picked wooden posts over metal ones to give the farmland an old-time look.
The brothers believe the winery will be a draw from Rochester, especially with the Niagara Wine Trail being extended last year from Niagara County through Orleans and to Route 390 in Rochester. Salamaca was approved by the Niagara Wine Trail for inclusion on the trail and should benefit from the group’s marketing efforts, especially into the Rochester market.
“We’re in an excellent location,” Alex said. “We will try to draw the crowd from Rochester.”
The winery has a rustic look and includes lots of repurposed wood. The horse stall was reused as a wine containment area.
The brothers also want to honor their heritage. They are sons of Ukranian immigrants. Their father Illa and mother Sophia left the Ukraine and settled in Rochester. They operated a small grocery store in Rochester before moving to Murray in the 1970s. They preferred life out in the country. They purchased the barn that is now the winery about 40 years ago.
Two of their sons – Oleh and Myron – own and operate the Murray Superette.
The logo for Salamaca Estate Winery is similar to the trident symbol for the Ukraine.
The Salamacas expect to have a bigger grand opening in the spring. For more information, visit the winery’s website at salamacaestatewinery.com.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 October 2014 at 12:00 am
Editorial
Photos by Tom Rivers – Workers from Lyons Heavy Towing and Recovery in Medina are on the scene when a tractor trailer was pinned under a railroad bridge on Monday.
HOLLEY – Monday afternoon another trucker hauling a load of goods out of Holley got stuck under a railroad bridge.
The bridge was high enough for the truck and the front end of the trailer. However, as the trucker headed up an incline on Route 237 the trailer got stuck under the bridge.
Traffic on South Main Street was closed for about three hours. The trucker was from Florida with a load of French fries. He had his trailer hauled to Medina for repairs.
The stuck trucks is a frequent occurrence in Holley. About three weeks ago another truck was stuck under the bridge for about seven hours.
Firefighters and a police officer on the scene cast blame on the truck driver on Monday. He was ticketed for failure to observe a traffic control device.
“The problem is they don’t read,” a firefighter said about the truckers and their inability to follow the clearance signs.
I’m not so sure the truckers see the signs – in time to stop. There are two small clearance signs – 11′-11” CLEARANCE – posted just before both sides of the bridge. The bridge also has clearance signs on the steel sides. But by the time truckers see those signs, it’s too late.
The DOT has other clearance signs posted about a quarter mile in each direction. Those signs are yellow and also say “11′-11”.” The one on the south side of the bridge near Hillside Cemetery is clearly visible on the east side of the road, as a driver heads down a hill. But the one on South Main Street near Geddes Street is obstructed by a tree.
A clearance sign is positioned to the right of the road, in front of a tree, making it difficult to see.
Here is a closer view of the sign not too far from the tree.
I missed seeing the sign near Geddes Street on Tuesday when a drove down the street, looking for signs that might warn there was a bridge ahead. This sign should be placed away from a tree or the tree should be trimmed. I bet many of truckers don’t see this warning sign.
Truckers don’t have a straight shot view of the bridge in either direction. I think it catches many of them by surprise. They round a bend and the bridge is right there, too late to stop.
Holley Mayor John Kenney said the bridge has been hit on a regular basis since he moved to Holley in 1964. Many of the truckers report their GPS directs them to drive under the bridge.
This truck has room to pass underneath the bridge that was built in 1905.
Holley officials have tried to get that changed, to have the GPS systems not route truckers by the bridge.
Kenney has also asked nearby manufacturing plants, cold storages and food processors to tell truckers not to use the route by the bridge.
It seems clear the current strategy isn’t working, and the DOT and village need to try harder. I think more signs would help, and perhaps some with outlines of a tractor trailer with an X on it so it’s clear they should avoid the bridge.
The bridge was built in 1905. It gets looked over after every accident by Genesee Valley Transportation, which operates the railroad. That bridge is already over 100 years old and isn’t being helped with all the shots it takes from the tractor trailers.
The local officials shouldn’t just blame the truckers, especially because this is such a frequent problem. Better signage may prevent some of these mishaps.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 October 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – The old Holley High School has been decaying at the corner of routes 31 and 237, a prominent part of Holley.
HOLLEY – The Village Board thinks it may have a solution to move along the redevelopment of the old Holley High School and to also get eight homes currently owned by the federal government back into the hands of residents.
The village is working on establishing a local development corporation. That entity could hold title on the properties and also be vehicle for directing resources to the sites, with a goal of getting them back on the tax rolls and contributing to the community, said Mayor John Kenney.
Other communities have LDCs to take possession of troubled properties and work on their development. Holley will need to name members to a board for the LDC and legally create the corporation. Kenney said those efforts are in process.
The village has been pressuring the federal Environmental Protection Agency for years to put eight houses back on the market. Congressman Chris Collins and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer have also pushed the EPA to release the sites so they could be sold as residences. The houses are on Jackson, Geddes, Van Buren and North Main streets.
Jackson Street in Holley is a tree-lined neighborhood with residential appeal, Mayor John Kenney said. Some of the houses owned by the EPA are on the street, which also used to be home to Diaz Chemical.
The houses were feared contaminated from a leak at the former Diaz Chemical plant in January 2002. The houses have been cleaned and deemed safe. Yet the EPA still sits on them. Kenney said the village will offer to take the sites through the LDC so they can be sold. Proceeds from the sale would go to the LDC and be directed to other community benefit projects, Kenney said.
That could include helping with the rehabilitation of the old school. That site has been abandoned for nearly two decades and stuck in limbo through a bankruptcy.
Local governments have declined to take possession of the site due to the potential liability. Kenney said an LDC may been better able to push development at the old school.
The village also is trying to get the school on the National Register of Historic Places. That status could draw grants and tax credits for a redevelopment project at the school.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MURRAY – A monstrous 400-ton crane loomed high along Ridge Road today while Crane-Hogan Structural Systems set precast concrete pieces for a new bridge on Hulberton Road. (Several readers sent the Hub messages, urging us to stop by and get photos.)
Crane-Hogan of Spencerport set 10 pieces of the bridge today, with the heaviest at 22 tons. The crane will remain on site on Wednesday while 12 more pieces of the wing walls are installed, according to a site inspector from Labella Associates in Rochester. (The inspector noted several salmon have been passing through the creek each hour while on their salmon run.)
Lakeland’s Concrete in Avon manufactured the precast concrete pieces for the bridge over the west branch of Sandy Creek. The new bridge is expected to be complete and open in time for Thanksgiving. The project cost about $1.3 million.
The federal government is paying 80 percent of the costs, with the state paying 15 percent and the county the remaining 5 percent.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 October 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
HOLLEY – A tractor trailer got stuck under the railroad bridge in Holley this afternoon, an occurrence that Fire Department officials say isn’t uncommon.
A driver from Florida was hauling a load of French fries at about 3:50 p.m. when the trailer got jammed under the bridge.
The bridge has a clearance of 11 feet, 11 inches. The truck and the front of the trailer cleared the underpass. As the truck went up the hill on South Main Street (Route 237), the trailer got stuck.
Lyons Heavy Towing and Recovery in Medina dislodged the trailer by dragging it backwards. Traffic was blocked from that section of the road for about three hours.
A similar incident happened about three weeks ago when a driver hauling blueberries got stuck under the bridge. That driver was headed north, from the opposite direction from today’s incident.
Fran Gaylord, Holley Fire Department president, said trucks get stuck under the bridge a few times a year. Some also slam on the brakes and manage to stop in time.
“The problem is they don’t read,” Gaylord said about the clearance signs.
The trailer is dragged backwards by Lyons Heavy Towing and Recovery at about 6:30 p.m.
Holley police ticketed the driver with failure to observe a traffic control device.
Genesee Valley Transportation, which operates the railroad, was on scene and inspected the bridge and found it to be structurally sound after the crash.
Historic burial grounds picked for ‘Five to Revive’
Photo by Richard Margolis/Landmark Society – Hillside Cemetery includes a chapel built in 1894 that is in need of repairs.
ROCHESTER – A historic cemetery in the Town of Clarendon has been identified as one of five preservation priorities for the Greater Rochester region.
The Landmark Society of Western New York today announced Hillside Cemetery and four other sites were included in the 2014 “Five to Revive” – a list of historic sites it has determined to be in need of targeted revitalization. The announcement was made at the Landmark Society headquarters on Fitzhugh Street in Rochester. The list includes:
Auditorium Theater, Rochester
Designated Buildings of Historic Value, Rochester
Erie Canal Warehouse, Village of Brockport
Hillside Cemetery and Chapel, Town of Clarendon
Former Trinity Episcopal Church, Town of Seneca Falls
“The preservation efforts of The Landmark Society of Western New York continue to be focused on community revitalization,” said Wayne Goodman, executive director. “This is the second year we are announcing a Five to Revive list to call attention to key properties in Western New York that are in need of investment. We can’t stress enough that these are significant historic properties whose rehabilitations can become catalytic projects for the neighborhoods and communities that surround them.
This is the second year a Holley site was picked for the list. Last year’s debut “Five to Revive” included the old Holley High School.
The Five to Revive initiative is chaired by Tom Castelein, Vice-President of Preservation on The Landmark Society Board.
“Our inaugural 2013 list of properties are moving closer to the goal of contributing to economic revitalization in their communities,” Castelein said.
The effort continues to enhance the organization’s ongoing efforts to support revitalization in WNY.
“Preservation is revitalization,” Goodman said. “Preservation creates local jobs, stimulates investment, increases tax revenues and builds sustainable communities. When residents, communities and those in local and state governments work together the possibilities are limitless.”
Here is what the Landmark Society said about Hillside Cemetery:
Hillside Cemetery and Chapel
NYS Route 237 and South Holley Road
Town of Clarendon, Orleans County
Located just outside the village of Holley, Hillside Cemetery is an active town cemetery established in 1866 and developed between 1866 and 1938. Encompassing approximately 30 acres, the cemetery is a significant example of two periods of cemetery design. Built in 1894, the elegant Gothic Revival Chapel is prominently located near the entrance to the cemetery on the west side of South Holley Road and is a primary feature of the cemetery. The Chapel has been vacant and largely unused since the 1960s. Both the designed landscape of the Cemetery and the Chapel suffer from deferred maintenance and lack of funds.
Why Selected:
The Hillside Cemetery and Chapel are important examples of historic landscape architecture and building architecture in Orleans County. They are highly visible resources at the southern gateway into the village of Holley. With such historic and architectural significance, the Hillside Cemetery and Chapel could, with proper funding and maintenance, serve as attractive assets in the Clarendon and Holley communities.
For more information on the Landmark Society, click here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 October 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Clarendon’s first cemetery is located off Route 31A on Hibbard Road and includes the sign, “Christian Graveyard.” The town’s founder, Eldredge Farwell, is buried there.
CLARENDON – The town last month erected a historical marker for Hillside Cemetery, a sign that notes the cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Leaders of the Clarendon Historical Society are working to get more markers up, so the community and visitors can better understand and appreciate some of the town’s notable historic sites.
The markers cost about $1,200 each. The William Pomeroy Foundation paid the cost for the Hillside marker, but only after extensive research for the site.
Some of those details can be difficult to track down and pinpoint from the 1800s, making it a challenge to satisfy the Pomeroy Foundation, said Erin Anheier, a member of the Historical Society. The group may need to consider raising the funds and doing a marker each year.
“The Pomeroy Foundation wants documentation and some of these events are so old it’s hard to get documentation,” she said.
A historical marker could note the Old Stone Store, at the corner of routes 31A and 237, is built in 1836 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Anheier would like to see the community put its next historical marker by the Old Stone Store, a building the Historical Society saved from demolition about three years ago. The Historical Society teamed with the Landmark Society of Western New York and the Town of Clarendon to find a buyer and developer for the building from 1836.
Joe and Sue Fertitta are renovating the site, which was named to the National Register of Historical Places. It’s one of the oldest Medina Sandstone structures in the county.
The building was used as a general store, and also at different points housed the post office and town court functions.
George Copeland was one of the operators of the store. He lived on Church Street near Route 237. The Historical Society would live to see a historical marker by his former home, a white Greek Revival house.
The society also believes two cemeteries are deserving of markers. A cemetery on Hibbard Road, just off Route 31A, was the first in Clarendon. It bears the grave of Eldredge Farwell, the town founder.
Eldredge Farwell is buried in the cemetery on Hibbard Road. He died in 1843. Farwell discovered Clarendon in 1810 while looking for his brother Isaac’s lost horse. He traced Isaac’s footprints along the border of Sandy Creek and was impressed with the town waterfalls.
Farwell saw the waterfalls as a potential source of power for business. He moved his family to Clarendon in 1811 and built saw and grist mills. The town was originally named Farwell’s Mills but was renamed to Clarendon. Farwell was from Clarendon, Vermont.
The cemetery on Hibbard Road has a sign that says, “Christian Graveyard.”
The Historical Society would also like to put a marker by Cook Cemetery on Munger Road. That cemetery is the final resting place for Lemuel Cook.
When he died in 1866, he was 106. He is believed to be the last living Revolutionary War veteran.
Melissa Ierlan, the Clarendon town historian, unveils a historical marker on Sept. 21 for Hillside Cemetery, which last year was named to National Register of Historic Places.
MURRAY – A vacant trailer at 24 Skyline Circle in the Town of Murray was destroyed in a fire early this morning. Firefighters responded at about 2 a.m. and encountered heavy smoke from the burning trailer.
Kevin Dann, deputy chief for the Holley Fire Department, said the fire was under control in about a half hour. Holley firefighters were assisted at the scene by the Fancher-Hulberton-Murray Fire Company and Brockport Fire Department. The Kendall Fire Department filled in at the Holley fire station.
The fire is under investigation by the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department and Orleans County Emergency Management Office.
Staff Reports Posted 27 September 2014 at 12:00 am
BROCKPORT – A Holley resident was killed on Friday night while trying to help a stopped motorist in the town of Sweden, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is reporting.
Brian D. Lonnen II, 26, stopped on Route 31 near Gallup Road at about 8:20 p.m. While he was crossing the road to help a motorist on the south side of the road, Lonnen was struck by a van and killed.
The driver of the van isn’t facing any charges. The Sheriff’s Office says the accident remains under investigation.
