Syracuse Public Works Committee Meeting – March 17, 2026
Public Works and Infrastructure Committee Meeting – March 17, 2026
On March 17, 2026, the Syracuse Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Joel Majuka and joined by councilmembers Donna Moore, Hannah Enright, Jimmy Mantov, Martinave, Rita Penawa, Corey Williams, and administration representative Eric, held a meeting to discuss a proposed road closure on Comstock Avenue related to Syracuse University’s new residence hall construction. The meeting featured testimony from Jeremy Thurston (President, Hainer Hoyt Corporation, the general contractor) and Joel Fury (Syracuse University Director of Canvas Manning Design Construction), as well as engineering department representative Mirza Malikos. The primary topic was a request for a 90-day extension of a full road closure (beyond the initial administrative 90-day closure that expires in late March 2026) to allow further negotiations on fees and safety planning for the two-year project.
Discussion Items
- Project Overview: Syracuse University is building three new residence halls to move most of the sophomore class to main campus: Ostrom Avenue (already underway), Waverly Avenue (762 beds), and Comstock Avenue (537 beds). The Comstock and Waverly projects began foundation work about two months prior. Total construction value for all three halls is approximately $360 million, employing 600–700 workers.
- Road Closure Need: Jeremy Thurston explained that the full closure of Comstock Avenue (a one-way street) between the two building sites is necessary for safety. Construction involves two high-rise buildings on both sides of the street, built to property lines, with tower cranes crossing overhead and dozens of heavy trucks delivering materials daily. Thurston stated that keeping the road open would invite “unnecessary risk” to pedestrians and drivers. The contractor has instituted flaggers, detours (to Walnut and Marshall streets), and enhanced sidewalks. The administration noted that a tragedy in 2024 (two students killed by a construction vehicle near campus) underscored safety concerns.
- Fee Schedule and Revenue: Eric explained that the current fee schedule, adopted in 2025, was not designed for a full road closure lasting two years. The project has already paid for a foundation permit, site permit, parking meter removal ($1,500 per meter), and a $75 liability waiver for the initial road closure. Additional fees have not been finalized because the required road cut permit has not yet been issued. The engineering department estimated that charging the full staging fee (based on 30,000 sq ft of right-of-way, at $500 per 200 sq ft per 14-day period) over two years would total approximately $2.6 million. However, the administration is concerned that this amount could make projects economically infeasible and wants to re-examine the methodology before setting a precedent. Councilmember Moore expressed concern that altering fees for one project undermines the uniformity of city legislation.
- Permit Status: The building permit is under third-party review; a foundation and site permit have been issued. The road cut permit (which triggers the full fee schedule) has not been issued. The administration stated that the 90-day request would allow time to develop a new approach for full road closure fees, with any further extension requiring council approval. The contractor confirmed that the city’s permitting and engineering departments have been “fantastic” and responsive.
- Safety and Traffic Management: Mirza Malikos noted that the initial fee estimate of $2.6 million assumed only the road would be closed (curb-to-curb), but enforcement may find that sidewalks and entire right-of-way are used, increasing fees. The project team committed to replacing all sidewalks, curb lines, and repaving the road. Councilmembers asked about staff time and costs, and the building permit fee (approximately $1 million for the two buildings) was cited as accounting for city review resources.
Key Outcomes
- No formal vote was taken on the road closure extension. The committee agreed to wait for additional information—including a breakdown of all permits and fees collected, the methodology for the $2.6 million calculation, and a comparison of the current fee schedule applied to the project—before moving forward.
- The administration (Eric) committed to providing this information “in the coming days.”
- The committee acknowledged that the 90-day closure (from end of March to end of June 2026) would be considered after receiving the data, with the understanding that a longer closure would require subsequent council approval.
- Councilmembers emphasized the need to balance project feasibility with fair and uniform enforcement of city fee schedules, especially given the city’s projected budget deficit of $20 million. No final decision was reached at this meeting.
Meeting Transcript
We would like to get going with our meeting. Welcome to public works and infrastructure committee meeting. I'm joined by my colleague Donna Moore, Hannah Enright, Jimmy Mantov, Martinave, myself, Joel Majuka the chair, and our president Rita Penawa. Do I Eric, are you joining us? I was gonna be here and then Okay, okay. Would you introduce yourself? Uh good afternoon. Oh, and then I'm I'm sorry, and uh counselor Corey Williams as well. Go ahead. Uh good afternoon, my name's Jeremy Thurston. I'm the president of the Hainer Hoyt Corporation and the contractor that's doing the work up at Syracuse University for the project we're gonna discuss. Okay. Well, this meet and then we have another person. I've got uh Joel Fury from Syracuse University and the director of Canvas Manning Design Construction. So welcome. Um first we would like to just see the overview of the project, to see uh where is it, uh what is it for, just uh those basic stuff. Uh for just we have people joining us online as well, so just give them a little gist of what this project is for and what's about. So about practically two years ago the university initi uh uh put in place an initiative. Um to um move most of our sophomore class to the main campus. So we went through the uh zoning approval process. Um we have right now we have one of the buildings um is on Ostrom, and then these two that we're talking about here related to the Comstock uh related to the Com to Comstock Ave are the um Waverly Ave uh residence and dining hall and the Comstock residence hall. Um the bed numbers here. Um Waverley is 762 beds. And uh Comstock's 537 beds are located on Comstock uh Avenue near the intersection of Comstack and Waverly. Um and the Ostram residence hall is is located just a couple blocks away on Ostrom Ave. Um so right now um we have the project on Ostrom is is well underway. Um and Hayner Hoyt, represented by Jeremy Thurston here, is in the process of beginning the foundations or doing the foundation's work on uh the Waverly and Comstack projects. So when when did uh this project commence? Um when do we start? Um we we probably started about two months ago where the first shovel went in the ground. Okay, okay. And um, I I take everything for that you need from the city is in order, right? You've got your permits, you've got everything you need. All of that stuff. Yes, so right now we are in the process of of uh we're doing third-party review on the building permits for Waverly and Comstock. We've uh all the city com city departments have come provided comments. And uh well Bella is closing out that process right now with uh with the central government office. We but we do have site and foundation permits allowing us to start construction. Okay. Um so let give me a second, let me turn to Eric quickly. Eric or is it oh what just happened? I think the computer went to sleep, so he was just uh gonna turn it back on here. Um but yes, counselors, sorry. Okay, so so from from this project, what what have from the liability waiver, how's that has been in terms of implementation of it? Sure, you know, all of that from the city's side. Yes. So there's a number of different permits and and permissions that the project team and Syracuse University have come before the city on. Uh that includes a few different things. So uh it includes the parking meter rental is one element for any portion of a roadway where the parking meter spaces are being taken up. The city has a process and a calculation by which uh that needs to be calculated.
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