By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The village board wants to lease a lot on Pontoon Bridge Road for a DPW salt storage lot for $1 a year, but the town supervisor said he would rather not because it would make the area unattractive.

The village is looking for a new DPW site because they are selling their current storage lot on South Main Street to a soybean processor who will open a factory there.

“We’re under the gun … we’ve got to find place or a facility by September,” Village Trustee Tim Ahlfeld said. “It seems like there’s surplus land on Pontoon Bridge Road that nobody’s doing anything with right now.”

Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said he wants to make that area of town attractive to tourists and thinks the village facility might spoil that.

“I’m a little concerned if we’re trying to make the area attractive, if we have a maintenance facility on the same route,” Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said. “We don’t have any plans right now.”

The area is near the St. Lawrence River and the Massena Town Beach and intake boat launch. It’s also right next to the enormous Alcoa plant.

“If you’re not using it, why would you not give it to another municipality? You’re not getting any revenue about it right now,” Ahlfeld said. “You’ve got a smelter a pitching wedge away from where you’ve got a salt facility.”

Throughout the discussion, Ahlfeld made several references to distance using golf club analogies instead of a standard unit of measurement. In this instance, he was referring to the distance an average golfer could shoot a golf ball with a pitching wedge club, which is usually a little over 100 yards.

Gray said he would like the town and village share a facility, possibly the existing DPW garage and office off of state Route 37.

“I think that’s been my interest is co-locating at the DPW. It’s got a central location,” Gray said.

The town is also in the market for a new Highway Department location, but they aren’t on a crunch like the village.

“We’re not talking about a shared facility until we make a decision on what we’re going to do and when we’re going to do it,” Councilman Albert Nicola said.

Some of the village trustees are concerned about locating the lot too close to a heavy residential area.

“We want the best balance between efficiency and limiting the number of impacted residents,” said Deputy Mayor Matt Lebire, who attended the meeting along with Ahlfeld.