A public forum is set for Tuesday Aug. 4 at the Marcellus Fire Station to give residents the opportunity to ask questions and voice their concerns about the proposed East Main Street project. Phase one of the development, proposed by Emanon Equities, would include a mixed-use commercial and residential building on East Main Street and 30 to 35 townhouses behind it, built along a looped road with two entrances to Main Street, according to Jeremy Gorelick. The mixed-use building would incorporate an existing building, the “Monster Mansion,” along with new construction. The first stage of the development would also include building the first half of the townhouses, a cul-de-sac road leading to the housing from Main Street, and the demolition of the Laundromat. A small park would be established temporarily at the Laundromat site until phase two of the project. Phase two of the project would include building the second half of the townhouses, a second, smaller mixed-use building where the Laundromat currently stands, the completion of the loop road to create a second entrance from Main Street and the designation of a community garden area. Gorelick said phase two would be on hold until the sewer capacity in the village was increased. Gorelick said he plans to have the most recent plans and rendering of the proposed architecture available for the public forum Aug. 4. The long, slow planning process
The Gorelick team first approached the Marcellus Village Planning Board with big plans for Main Street in late 2008, and working towards a shared vision has meant a lot of work sessions and tweaking of initial plans. The planning board would not accept Emanon Equities’ incomplete preliminary site plan, sending the team back to the drawing board to tweak the details of the project to be more in line with the board’s vision for the village. “We really ended up seeing a sketch plan application rather than a site plan application, and the sketch plan application they submitted was not really complete,” Planning Board Chair Dick Kelley said. “It just wasn’t done right, so we kind of had to start over with the process and get back on the same page.” The planning board also submitted a “wish list” of details they wanted to see in the changes, Kelley said. The board’s must have’s included more detailed graphics of the building architecture, more green space and increased protection for the water of Nine Mile Creek, which would flow along the eastern boundary of the development. Gorelick said that in addition to meeting with the planning board, input from agencies like the DEC, DOT, Onondaga County and village Architectural Review Board will help put the proposed project on the path to fruition. The public will be able to become a part of that process and learn more about the project at 7 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 4 in the Marcellus Fire Department’s Community Room. For more information, call the village office at 673-3112.