SKANEATELES - No alternate routes.

That was the main point of contention at the most recent meeting of the Upstate New York Safety Coalition Task Force, a committee created to deal with the continuing garbage-truck traffic in the Finger Lakes area.

Village officials, area residents and representatives from local political offices met in the Skaneateles village office late last month to discuss the latest developments on this topic.

A main subject of deliberation was whether or not to address this issue by designating alternate routes for trucks besides Interstate 81 and the Thruway.

Currently, talks are underway for a contract between the New York City Department of Sanitation, IESI (the trucking company) and Seneca Falls' Seneca Meadows landfill. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in December 2007 that this proposed contract would prohibit trucks from going past environmentally sensitive areas, such as lakeshores on Routes 41, 41A, 20, and 90.

Until an agreement is reached, the trucks hope to continue using rural routes, but the task force is mostly opposed to that option.

Task force chairman Barbara Clary presented a suggested route that would have the drivers leave the interstate at Homer and travel on Routes 90 and 34 to reach Route 20, bypassing Auburn by using outlying residential roads on their way to the landfill.

But Skaneateles Village Mayor Robert Green pointed out that the idea doesn't solve the problem, since the trucks will still travel through populated areas.

“I know with the Thruway toll issue and everything, (using the interstate) may not be acceptable to the trucking companies, but I think that has to be our number one suggestion,” he added.

Approximately 30 to 40 trucks per day coming from New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut leave Interstate 81 and travel through Skaneateles, Ithaca and other residential areas to get to Seneca Falls, the task force said.

The thinking is that the drivers hope to save time - and money on Thruway tolls - by using rural roads, a decision that many Finger Lakes residents believe is threatening their quality of life.

Also present at the meeting was Cornell University instructor Linda Haas Manley, who announced that Cornell's Institute for Public Affairs is planning to study the truck-traffic issue.

Manley, who is program coordinator for CIPA's Public Service Exchange, said that the study will start in February by graduate students enrolled in city and regional planning classes.

“There have been similar studies done in other upstate areas,” said Manley, who will oversee the project. “One objective of our (study) will be to culminate the findings in one group.”

Green also said that community members can lend a hand by writing letters to elected representatives, which will aid in the passing of a state law that will firmly designate truck routes for haulers carrying hazardous materials.