Community members rally against IDA tech park

TOWN OF MAINE, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – Concerned residents from the Towns of Maine and Union used last night’s public hearing to speak out against the Broome County IDA’s proposed technology park.

The Agency held a public hearing at Maine-Endwell High School, gathering feedback about their drafted scoping document.

Scoping is part of the state’s Environmental Quality Review Act, which requires developers to research the potential environmental and community impacts from their construction.

Audience members were given three minutes to speak, as representatives from the IDA were taking notes.

The Agency says the proposed tech park would span 526 acres in the Towns of Maine and Union.

Town of Maine Councilman Art Robinson says he urged Agency Executive Director Stacey Duncan to consider an area already zoned as industrial, not rural-residential.

“I spoke to Stacey, and we had a great conversation, and one of the things I asked, I said listen, when you’re done with this engineering, where you’re spending $500,000 of taxpayer money, and you come to the Town of Maine for rezoning, we say no, what are you going to do? And I was told, we will go away,” said Robinson.

Several speakers brought up the impact the park could have on local traffic and how it may affect things like noise, water supply, sewer, and air quality.

The IDA is accepting additional comments through the 24th of September.

Frank Pavia is a partner with Harris Beach, representing the IDA, and says the final scoping document will be released to the public around October 17.

“You may have been somewhat frustrated by the lack of information this time, because this document is not intended to be an environmental impact statement. It’s intended to be an outline, and like Lisa said, a table of contents. And it’s to provide you, with ‘Hey, here are the things we are thinking about assessing in that GIS.’ We want to hear from you, whether there’s more stuff that we should review and assess. And you’ve done that,” said Beach.

The IDA says the tech park will feature over six and a half acres of ‘shovel-ready’ space, to entice businesses.

You can submit comments by mail or email.

Find out more at BroomeTechPark.com.

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