Economic development in the Hudson Valley received a whiff of good news at two sites last week that could eventually and potentially pay off in an influx of high-paying manufacturing jobs in the region.
The Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation (HVEDC), announced that along with the owners of the 741-acre Winston Farm in the town of Saugerties and Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC), it is proceeding with a detailed feasibility study and master plan alternatives for the development of the parcel as a high-tech business park.
IDC Architects, a CMH2 HILL company will continue conducting the feasibility study and build on the data and conclusions of a Phase 1 study the firm completed for HVEDC last September. The firm will also conduct community workshops in August and September to help prepare three illustrative master plan concepts. These next phases are expected to be complete by the end of October. The site owners and HVEDC will pay about 45 percent of the costs each and the town of Saugerties will contribute 10 percent.
Also announced this week was creation of new office space for The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC) at Tech City in the town of Ulster. The office space donation was announced by Dan Wieneke, President of TechCity Properties, who said the office space is being donated to TSEC as part of a campaign to spark a regional solar cluster.
TSEC is a partnership of public and private funding and academic resources that is seeking to foster a solar energy cluster in New York state and particularly in the Hudson Valley. It has had modest success thus far in the two years it has been in operation, helping bring a handful of solar-related companies to the region, and potentially hundreds of jobs. TSEC officials say they are hopeful of adding to that roster soon.
“They are an indispensable resource to the fledgling clean tech, solar companies we hope to attract and their presence here at TechCity will be a tremendous boon as we continue moving toward our vision of creating a first-rate green facility,” said Wieneke.
The two announcements potentially place Ulster County at the center of high tech development in the Hudson Valley, in terms of green development and renewable resources.
“The biggest barrier to attracting high-tech companies to the Hudson Valley is not having enough large shovel-ready greenfield sites with the infrastructure in place that is required for doing business today,” said Marissa Brett, HVEDC vice president. “It can take years and millions of dollars for sites to go through the environmental assessment, the permitting process and infrastructure development and most technology companies can”™t wait for all that to happen even if the site is perfect. They”™ll move on to different locations where communities have already developed shovel-ready parks.”
The Winston Farm, running roughly northwest from the corner of State Route 32 and State Route 212 in Saugerties, has its main entrance across the road from the southbound interchange at Thruway exit 20. The proposal is for a business park on roughly 250 acres of the parcel.
Besides Thruway access, the site has gas lines running nearby which could be extended to Winston Farm for a relatively modest sum. The electricity needed for high-tech business could be problematic, although a Central Hudson substation across the Thruway east of the site could be moved and conduits run under the roadway to the Winston Farm, under one plan being considered.
The site is bordered by water and sewer mains, but those would need to be extended onto the property. An additional complication and expense involves storm water management in the rolling environs of the farm, which is laced with creeks and seasonal water courses. It also overlays an extensive aquifer which could provide an abundant water supply for development at the site, but would need protection.
The 260-acre Tech City site has 27 buildings and a total of some 2.5 million square feet of industrial, commercial and office space, a powerful redundant electrical supply, abundant water, easy Thruway access and a rail siding. It also has a 40-acre plume of solvents under a central location on the campus. While the plume is no longer considered dangerous to health or the environment, it is a legal red flag, despite insistence by state DEC officials that it is no reason for it to be an impediment to redeveloping the site.
Tech City is in the midst of having a new master plan approved by the town of Ulster, which Wieneke said would initially create a new “green field” with capacity for half-a-million square feet of space and would avoid the plume, simplifying the matter for companies moving operations to the site.
The town of Saugerties, too, is so far showing support for development at the Winston Farm, said town Supervisor Greg Helsmoortel, who has overseen the process of coordinating public input from the town perspective. “More than 85 percent of the residents who responded to our survey indicated that the town of Saugerties should further investigate the feasibility of a high-tech development at Winston Farm,” Helsmoortel said. “Of these respondents, the No. 1 priority related to the proposed development project was creation of jobs.”
The HVEDC is closely tied to Central Hudson, with the energy company having created the entity as part of its customer benefit fund with money accrued from the sale of power-generating equipment. Since HVEDC was created in 2003, it has received some $6.3 million from Central Hudson, according to Central Hudson spokesman John Maserjian. In addition, Stephen V. Lant, chairman, president and CEO of CH Energy Group Inc., served as the chairman of HVEDC”™s board of directors.
