MONTICELLO, NY — It has long been a goal of Mark Baez, the president and CEO of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development (Partnership), to develop more shovel-ready sites to attract light industrial operations to the county. At a meeting at the government center on April 6, Baez told the county legislature he had received commitments of  $20,000 each from the Village of Liberty, the Town of Liberty and the Town of Thompson for a study of a possible corridor for such sites. It runs along Route 17—future I-86—from roughly Exit 102 to Exit 101, mostly located in the Town of Liberty, with a bit extending into the Town of Thompson. He asked the legislature to kick in an additional $100,000.

The idea would be to set the groundwork for the Partnership to create shovel-ready sites where light manufacturing businesses could be located. Baez said this particular corridor is suited to the purpose because it’s the largest expanse of acreage in the county already zoned industrial-commercial, and all of the land-use studies of the county over the past 15 years or so indicate this corridor is where light manufacturing development could and should take place. Baez said the Partnership has identified 400-plus acres in the corridor as suitable locations for shovel-ready sites. He said each of the identified sites is located within 1.5 miles of an interchange connecting to State Route 17.

One of the main improvements that companies are looking for in a shovel-ready site is readily available water and sewer service.  Baez said the study “would create a foundation to seek grants and other funding streams to pay to extend water and sewer services” from the Village of Liberty to reach as far into the corridor as possible.

Following the initial study, the project would require a Generic Environmental Impact Study to be performed, which he estimated would cost $600,000 to $800,000.

Baez said other counties in the Hudson Valley had created shovel-ready sites and in Sullivan County, “We’re losing inquiries every day; we’re not even in the game. All you have to do is look south [to Orange County]—they’re getting project after project, because they are ready and they have invested.” He said there was also competition for sites in Pennsylvania.

He said the sites identified are parcels that are vacant and currently available for sale.

Legislator Joe Perrello asked what, once the county and Partnership invested a lot of money into the corridor, would prevent the property owners from raising the price to unreasonable levels.

Baez said one way would be to have the properties acquired by local development corporations (LDCs). “Site selectors like to work with Local Development Corporations,” in fact they prefer it, because LDCs can assure predictability as to the cost per acre and the necessary approvals.

The legislature asked Baez to get them more information about the proposition and they would discuss the matter again at a future meeting.