LAKEWOOD – Village Trustees Monday heard an update about the proposed Route 394 (Fairmount Avenue) Sidewalk Extension Project.

In October, trustees approved a resolution denouncing the design that was presented in September at an informal meeting at the Busti Town Hall, 125 Chautauqua Ave., to hear about preliminary concepts that are being explored by the New York State Department of Transportation.

Mayor Randy Holcomb said he had spoken with the DOT, and it is pulling back the scope of the sidewalk work. Holcomb said the details of the new scope are still being worked out by the DOT, and a third public informational meeting may be held. Also, Holcomb noted, is that the sidewalk will be held to one side of the road.

The proposed design negatively affects property owners and substantially affects their landscaping, Trustee Ellen Barnes said in October.

In an Oct. 5 letter to the Readers’ Forum, former Village Trustee and current Lakewood Resident Rich Fischer stated that he, Trustee Barnes and Trustee Nancy Jones had visited almost every resident and business along Fairmount Avenue and said that they did not support any kind of sidewalk proposal.

He was at the Monday meeting and again stressed that trustees should not support that proposed state plan.

“My opinion is that if the village board was saying ‘no’ to them (the DOT), they would maybe have second thoughts and not go through all the new design,” Fischer said.

Holcomb said the trustees “are doing our due diligence.”

“We are getting it (the plan) down to where it is, hopefully the best we can have it, because it’s going to happen, whether you, me or anybody doesn’t want it,” Holcomb added.

In October Trustee Ben Troche said he had hoped the DOT would listen to the recommendations by the board, and by affected property owners. Also, he said in October, that the approved resolution was the beginning of communication between the board and the DOT.