Open for Business Press Republican Thursday, October 14, 2004

Chesterfield boasts first approved industrial sites in park By Dan Heath

CHESTERFIELD – The Town of Chesterfield is now home to the first shovel- ready industrial lots located within the Adirondack Park. Four lots totaling about 18 acres in the 102-acre Chesterfield Commerce Park received shovel-ready designation Wednesday from the New York State Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform. Chesterfield Town Supervisor Gerald Morrow thanked the Adirondack Park Agency, among others, for its help in obtaining the certification, which means a tenant could start work on a new facility within 24-48 hours. “A lot of people say business won’t come to Essex County because it’s in the Adirondack Park,” Morrow said. “That’s what helps attract people. Take a look here today at the beauty that’s all around you,” Morrow said. APA Special Assistant for Economic Affairs Stephen Erman said that in the past, it would have been nearly impossible to get approval without specific details on the type of industry being built. “It’s very nice to be acknowledged as a partner in a project that will benefit a community.” Erman said. The four lots are pre-permitted by the APA and the New York State, departments of Environmental Conservation, Transportation and Health for construction of 35,000 square-foot facilities. The sites are eligible for Empire Zone tax credits. The APA has developed a set of covenants with the town on the types of industries that can be built. It gives the APA a good understanding of what the first four lots will look after they are developed, he said. Those details include access, parking and site plans. Infrastructure, including water and sewer service, electrical lines and roads, is already in place. The site also benefits from natural screening by trees and will protect nearby wetlands with a series of retention basins to gather stormwater runoff. Office of Regulatory Reform Deputy Director David Bradley presented the certificate to Morrow. “It seems like only yesterday, but it was six years ago we applied for the first grant,” Morrow said. It has been about five years since the town received that grant, a $50,000 Build Now New York grant which the town matched with cash funds. Those funds were used to design the commerce park. The town later received a U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration grant of more than $1 million for site improvement. “My board again had to come up with $400,000. We went out and bonded for that,” Morrow said. The publicity alone from shovel-ready designation should be a tremendous benefit in attracting companies to the park. “We will have tax-paying jobs here which will bloom off into out other communities,” Morrow said. Bradley said the shovel-ready program came about a year ago in an effort by Gov. George Pataki to create an inventory of industrial sites. “We’re competing with the whole world for these jobs. One thing we can offer is the ability to get those jobs up and running quickly.” Bradley said. He said 12 sites have been certified as shovel-ready in New York State thus far, and about seven others have applied. Assemblywoman Theresa Sayward (R-Willsboro) said the site’s proximity to Interstate 87 – three miles south on Route 9 – is another plus. “We sit here on an international trade corridor which runs from Quebec City to New York City, and it is growing. Before we know it the sites in Plattsburgh will be filled and companies will be filled and companies will be looking south.” Sayward said. The creation of Plattsburgh International Airport will also lead many companies to look for sites along the corridor, she said. “This one here is ready.” Sayward said.