New Hartford awaits state input regarding road projects

By ROBERT BRAUCHLE

Posted Dec 04, 2010 @ 03:46 PM

NEW HARTFORD —

The town’s synchronized plan to fund a pair of road projects that would provide access to the New Hartford Business Park will need to fall precisely in place for taxpayers not to feel the cost of those projects.

The town is proposing a two-pronged project to extend thoroughfares to the business park:

* Extending Clinton Street about 1,300 feet to meet an existing road in the park.

* Constructing ramps that would allow motorists to travel between the eastbound lanes of state Route 840 and the business park.

“With the 840 access, it’s not just a project that would benefit the developer,” town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski said. “It would open that whole area for development. There’s more up there than the business park in terms of tracts of land that can be developed.”

But before the town receives approvals to construct the Route 840 access ramp, it must first finalize plans to extend Clinton Street to the New Hartford Business Park.

“We’ve told the town that before they can build the access route to 840, that the Clinton Street extension has to be under way,” state Department of Transportation spokesman Anthony Ilacqua said.

The town submitted its final environmental impact statement for the Route 840 and Clinton Street projects to the DOT in November and is now waiting for comments from the state concerning the project.

“Once the DOT comes back with its comments, then things should start rolling quickly,” Tyksinski said.

Board reaction differs

This past week, town officials said they had mixed reactions to the two projects.

Town Board member David Reynolds said both access to Route 840 and the Clinton Street extension are needed for the business park to succeed. But, he said, developer Larry Adler should be the one to “bare the brunt” of the costs for those projects.

“I support development of the business park,” Reynolds said. “It’s an important project and important development for the town in the future. The Clinton Street extension is a must, and that has to happen as well as the access to the business park from 840.”

Board member Donald Backman said he has “serious reservations” about the projects.

“I’m not anti-business, but I do ask that businesses pay their fair share,” Backman said. “Those projects, I’m not sure they are both needed. The state has welded them together, and I’m not really pleased with that thinking.”

Adler, Tyksinski and Backman said they were told by the DOT that the state is mandating that both projects be completed for future development at the park to take place.

Ilacqua did not say whether that is correct, but he did say that the Clinton Street extension is to be a priority over the Route 840 access ramp.

Board members Rich Woodland Jr. and Christine Krupa did not return messages seeking comment.

Project could start in spring

Building roads and acquiring land will not come cheap. The Route 840 ramp is expected to cost about $800,000, and the Clinton Street project another $200,000 to $300,000, the town supervisor said.

In September, the town Planning Board approved a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel – being developed by Adler — to be built at the park.

Tyksinski said he would like the town to enter into a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the developer to help fund the roads’ construction.

Once the access projects are given the go-ahead, the town would bond for the cost of the roadway projects. PILOT payments made by Adler then would be used to pay off the debt service on the bond, the supervisor said.

Mitigation fees collected from developers to offset the cost of upgrading infrastructure because of their projects also could be used, Tyksinski said.

On Wednesday, Adler said workers are waiting for the winter to break before construction on the hotel begins.

“We’re hoping that everything is finalized and in place, and then construction can begin in the spring,” he said. “We’ve been kind of at a stand-still while the town goes through its process.”

Town Board members who spoke with the Observer-Dispatch said the developer should pay for building the roads.

“Another PILOT program is not what New Hartford needs right now,” Backman said. “For that work, the town will have to take out a bond and in essence, the town taxpayers are loaning that project money.”

Tyksinski said he expects payments from the hotel development will pay for the cost of the road work.

“There are a lot of things that need to fall in place for this thing to go,” he said.