MONTICELLO, NY — The heads of organizations that issue monthly reports to the Sullivan County Community and Economic Development Committee agreed that since the awarding of a casino license to the Montreign/Adelaar project near Monticello, activity has increased significantly.

At a meeting at the government center on January 8, Jennifer Brylinski, executive director of the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), said, “There has been a noticeable increase in people looking for information on IDA projects and loans,” both from within the county and outside the county.

Mark Baez, the executive director of the Partnership for Economic Development, said inquiries have also increased for that organization. He said, “We have developers that have hung on to property for 10 years or so waiting for something to happen,” and now property owners are getting ready to act. He said two “shovel-ready” projects are moving forward.

He said the Partnership has received an inquiry from a hotel and indoor water park not associated with the Adelaar/Montreign project. There are also proposals for workforce development housing; there are investors interested in perhaps buying and refurbishing golf courses in the county; there are developers interested in traditional retail development in the Monticello area. He also said, “There is a whole host of speculative real estate purchases. People are buying stuff left and right.”

Baez is working with Laure Quigley, the executive director of the Center for Workforce Development, on a “large-scale workforce development training program, to prepare the anticipated skill-set requirement” for employment in the casino and ancillary businesses that officials believe are coming.

He said that that would require a “full-fledged labor-shed analysis,” prepared by a consultant, and that the county has to “spend some money to do it right.”

Baez said there is some concern among existing businesses in the county that there could be some labor shifting, or people changing jobs, as the casino project progresses, and he said there will be some of that.

In other announcements related to existing businesses, Roberta Byron-Lockwood, president of the Sullivan County Visitors Association, said her organization, working with Sullivan County Community College, was successful in obtaining a grant that will be used to provide training from the Disney Institute to employees of businesses in the county.

Freda Eisenberg, commissioner of the Division of Planning and Environmental Management, said the department has revived the microenterprise assistance program with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and through the state Consolidated Funding Application process. The program provides training and loans to people who might be thinking of opening businesses in the county. The deadline for application in this round of funding is January 16.

In a development related to the further greening of the county, Baez announced that the college has received approval to move forward with a two-megawatt solar installation.