Over 100 people attended a public hearing last week about the proposed Broome Technology Park. The park is a project of the county’s Industrial Development Agency (IDA). Overall about 25 people spoke during the hearing.
Stacey Duncan, Executive Director of the IDA, made a short presentation about the draft generic environmental statement before the hearing began. The generic environmental statement is a framework document that can continually be updated as a plan progresses toward completion.
“We need a place to support the growth of local manufacturing. If companies can't grow here, they will grow somewhere else. And I think many of us in this room have seen what happens when companies have to make those decisions, and if they leave, they often leave, [and] take people with them,” said Duncan.
The project would cover over 500 acres across the towns of Maine and Union. Over 75 percent of the land would be natural areas and trails for hiking and biking. It would also include new housing.
Duncan said that aspect of the design was in response to local residents telling the IDA they wanted to preserve the rural character of the area at a public session last year.
It is estimated the park would take 20 years to be completely built out.
The project has already received criticism from residents and town officials in Maine. The town board passed a resolution stating it will not approve zoning changes relating to the park.
The town of Maine has a population of about 5,000 people. Town Councilmember and Deputy Town Supervisor Art Robinson said many people there feel the IDA has ignored their ideas and concerns.
“The Town of Maine is in favor of economic development and job creation. In fact, our comprehensive plan identifies hundreds of acres of real property that is primed for development. These properties are zoned industrial. They are shovel ready, and they're near other industrial uses,” he said at the public hearing.
Several people expressed concerns about infrastructure and the overall size of the plan.
“We have a lot of existing vacant properties, a lot of them in the area. I personally believe that that is a better source, because there's already a lot of the infrastructure there, but there's, you know, the streets and sewer and everything else is already there,” said Chet Lowrie.
Not everyone who spoke had reservations about the plan.
“We need to be able to retain our staff, and we need to be able to recruit staff.
And what we're competing with is communities across the country today in specialties that are in short supply to try to attract good providers, physicians and physician assistants and nurses, etc, to this community,” said Kathy Connerton, SVP and President of Guthrie Lourdes Hospital. “We have to continue to grow. We have to find a pathway to continue to grow.”
The project planners say the tech park will create thousands of jobs from its construction and the companies it attracts.
They said it will attract graduates from Binghamton University and benefit from the development of the Micron microchip manufacturing facility near Syracuse.
Some people spoke about their children or grandchildren leaving the area because they cannot find good jobs.
Tony Maione runs a local family business. He said he speaks to high school students each year and they tell him they do not plan to come back to the area after college for two reasons: no good jobs and the weather.
“I'm only speaking from my experience as a business owner with six kids of my own and someone that talks to high schoolers that don't want to come back here. So we need to take this chance seriously, because people are not coming here, and we can't act like we can't, that we can just do the same old thing,” he said.
No one who spoke at the public hearing said they were from the town of Union.
Written comments about the environmental statement can be submitted until May 8.
The statement is over 1100 pages. Shorter summaries, slides and a link to a video are on the project website. Duncan said her agency will be going through the comments and taking them into consideration as the planning continues.
