LANSING, N.Y. — The farm fields and high-end homes with scenic views of Cayuga Lake will have a new neighbor in the form of a small “leisure village” community, if a local family of builders has their way.
The plans call for construction of 12 cottage units on 16.15 acres at the intersection of Drake Road and East Shore Drive, next to the East Shore Roadhouse. The “East Lake Cottages Leisure Village” site is currently heavily wooded and surrounded by fields and a number of single-family homes.
Sketch plans were submitted to the Town of Lansing this month by longtime local project engineer Larry Fabbroni on behalf of the Jonson-Bonniwell family of builder/developers. The late Ivar Jonson cut his teeth as a homebuilder in the village and town of Lansing over many decades, and his wife Janet and daughter Lisa Bonniwell have continued the family business, with work ongoing on their “Heights of Lansing” townhouse development off Bomax Drive.
The application to the town describes the rental homes as about 1,000 square-feet each, modeled after Bruno Schickel’s Boiceville Cottages and La Bourgade projects, located in Caroline and Hector respectively. Preliminary plans show a modern design for the cottage with open floor plans, 1-2 bedrooms and shed-style roofs.
The site would also host a barn-style 7,200 square-foot community center with pickleball courts and a space for a small farmer’s market and catered events. The environmental forms note that at least eight cottages must be actively rented before the community center “becomes necessary or economically viable.”
The community center space is clearly intended to cater to the wider Lansing community, given the size and the proposed 64 parking spaces accompanying the project.
Impacts on the town from the project are fairly limited. There will be a private gravel road and the project will use septic fields, so effectively a private sewer system. The buildings are above the flood plain, close to existing utility lines, and comply with stormwater regulations. It will use public water from Bolton Point, but the impact is not estimated to be large.
As proposed, buildout would occur in two phases (eight homes in phase one, four in phase two), starting in spring 2025 and finishing in late 2027. Of course, that’s all dependent on the town of Lansing reviewing and signing off on the plans in the coming months.
The sketch plan is set to be reviewed by the Town of Lansing Planning Board on Monday evening the 22nd, alongside a couple pole barn proposals elsewhere in the town.
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