The village of Union Springs has established a six-month moratorium on the alteration of locally important, historically significant properties within the village by enacting a new local law.

On Tuesday, July 15, the law was passed unanimously after a public hearing. This came on the heels of a proposal by the Cayuga Nation to create a research and archival library facility in a historical home built by George Howland in the late 1940s.

“The village's comprehensive plan has a significant portion dealing with historic homes,” village trustee, Thomas Parsnick, who did not attend Tuesday's meeting, said. The village is still in the process of working on the plan and the zoning code.

“By putting a moratorium on, we could bring into play our zoning code, ” he said. “If nobody came forward to do a renovation, we wouldn't have had to implement a moratorium.” Parsnick said this would have applied to anyone wanting to renovate a historic home and was not specifically directed at the Cayuga Nation.

But the nation's proposed plan to install geothermal heat and to establish the library has now been withdrawn.

“We have since sent a letter withdrawing our request for a variance,” attorney Lee Alcott of French and Alcott, attorneys for the Cayugas, said. “We are going to allow it to remain a residence. Beyond that we don't have any comment on its original use.”

Alcott said a letter was written on July 14 indicating his clients' interest in keeping the former Howland residence a single family residence.

“Our current plans are to simply renovate a single family residence,” Alcott said. “We will not be in violation of the moratorium if we do that.” He said they had received no response from the village's attorney, Andrew Leja.

“There are at least a dozen structures of noted historical importance,” Andrew Leja, special consul to assist with zoning for the village. He noted that the village's comprehensive plan discusses its intent to preserve some of its past by protecting buildings of historical importance.

“The village is trying to work on putting together a historic preservation policy,” Leja said. “They want to consult with an expert in historic preservation and get input from others. It's going to take a little bit of time. They were very sincere and didn't want this directed toward the tribe.”

Leja said that although the moratorium can last for six months, it can also end earlier once its purpose is fulfilled. He was hopeful that the village and the Cayugas could ultimately work on the library project.

The village has been working with the county on its comprehensive plan in order to be eligible to apply for state grants, Johan Lehtonen, village trustee said. The old plan was created in the '80s when ideas about the direction of the village were different.

“The proposed new zoning basically has to do with tourism,” Lehtonen said. “It came from the county planning board.” He pointed out that there were many old houses in the village and that the historical society there was very active. They were concerned about there being nothing in the current zoning law to prevent the tearing down of a historical building, which was contrary to the new comprehensive plan.

Lehtonen said the idea of a moratorium had been discussed by the board for at least a year. Post-moratorium.once an application is made to the zoning office to get a building permit, the zoning officer can suggest that the building be protected,

“It was a stop-gap measure that had to do with zoning,” he said. “That does not mean that anything they (Cayugas) asked for would be turned down or that they would be prevented from doing what they wanted, but it doesn't mean it would be accepted either.”

On Monday, June 23, B.J. Radford, chief operating officer of the Cayuga Nation's Lakeside Enterprises, met with the village planning board to discuss plans for the library project. Radford then explained that the building would house a multifacted history of the Cayuga Nation, including ancestral relics, records of the oral tradition to preserve stories, either written or on videotape, physical artifacts associated with the culture, and a research setup for geneology and culture.

General contractor for the Nation, Bob Halverson, said that windows would be replaced, but indicated that every effort would be made to preserve the house's character, including its stone wall.

The Cayuga Nation has since withdrawn its request and will simply renovate the interior of the home as a single family dwelling.