Posted: Sunday, August 16, 2015 1:06 pm | Updated: 6:24 am, Mon Aug 17, 2015.
By DON MATHISEN Contributing Writer
The town of Oneonta Planning Board is scheduled to vote Monday on the Otsego County Industrial Development Agency’s site plan for 25 acres of vacant land at Pony Farms Industrial Park.
If the board gives the plan the thumbs-up, the IDA said, it will begin aggressively marketing the shovel-ready site.
According to IDA Chief Executive Sandy Mathes, that could mean up to $50 million in private investment, three new buildings totaling 400,000 square feet, and creation of as many as 200 jobs.
“We’re seeking approval of what I would call the parameters of development,” Mathes said. “Once that’s approved, it will make the process quicker when we bring a specific project back to the Planning Board.”
The proposal includes parking for 400 vehicles.
“A traffic study was required by DOT,” said Planning Board Chair Joe Camarata, referring to the state Department of Transportation. “It’s really a traffic issue. It’s not so much the size of the buildings, it’s who the end user is and the impacts of traffic.”
Mathis said he wants a decision Monday.
“Ultimately what we need as a public developer is predictability on time frame,” he said. If given the green light, “we hit the street to secure a project as quickly as we can to bring it back to the Planning Board for final approval,” he added.
Camarata said he is prepared to back the plan if all the paperwork is in order.
“We need jobs here. It’s the right location. We already have the right resources there: water, sewer, natural gas, electric,” Camarata said. “We just have to approve the SEQRA environmental impacts of traffic, lighting, erosion and sentiment control.”
SEQRA refers to New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act. The legislation requires all state and local government agencies to consider environmental impacts as well as social and economic factors when making development decisions.
Mathes said he is optimistic the board will give its approval. “A no vote would be bad news. It would send us back to the drawing board,” he said.
Supervisor Robert Wood says he wants the project approved, but has concerns about traffic jams on state Route 205 along the corridor from Interstate 88 to Corporate Drive.