A Canon HQ in Suffolk would need Riverhead's help
But town officials want something in return
1 comments below
New York State and Suffolk County officials want to transfer 20 acres of Riverhead's tax-friendly Empire Zone to Huntington Town to allow Canon Inc. to build its international headquarters in Melville, a move that could keep the camera giant from moving out of state.
But some Riverhead Town officials say this is not the first time the state and county have sought concessions from the town, and they have a list of issues they hope to use as leverage in the Canon negotiations, such as the homeless sex offender trailer at the county jail.
The state's Empire Zone programs allow for various tax and other incentives to lure businesses.
"I'm not against helping, but we've got to get something in return," Councilman John Dunleavy said, noting Riverhead Town has already gifted 50 acres in Calverton to the state to build the Stony Brook Small Business Incubator, and gave Empire Zone acreage to both Babylon and Southampton towns at the state and county's request.
"We give and give and give," Mr. Dunleavy said. "We have to get something in return."
Babylon received 24 acres in Wyandanch, and Southampton about four, which went to Gabreski Airport, officials said.
She said a total of 65 acres of unbuildable Empire Zone land at the former U.S. Navy weapons reserve, now known as the Enterprise Park at Calverton, or EPCAL, has been identified. But, she added, the town could move some of those credits to other portions of the EPCAL property that can be developed.
Chris Kent, a former Riverhead Town Board member who is now the chief deputy county executive, said Canon currently has its national headquarters in three buildings in Nassau, but it wants to consolidate into one corporate building. He said the company has looked at Suffolk County, and outside the state.
Suffolk County offered a benefits package based on a provision of the Empire Zone that permits regionally significant projects not in an Empire Zone to receive credits. However, because only 207 of the 1,100 new jobs proposed for the Canon project were categorized as high-tech jobs, the amount of benefits Canon would receive were far less than they had hoped for, according to Mr. Kent.
The proposed solution to that problem was to transfer Empire Zone credits from an existing Empire Zone location, namely Calverton.
"The idea was to carve out some of Calverton that couldn't be developed anyway," Mr. Kent said. "I don't think it's a loss to the town."
Since there is no mapped Empire Zone at the Melville site, and since state law prohibits the expansion of the existing Empire Zone, the acreage had to be subtracted from the Calverton site, officials said.
Unbuildable or not, Supervisor Phil Cardinale said the town wants to get something in return for its cooperation. He typed up a list of 19 items on which the town would like assistance from the county, and said he hopes to negotiate with the county to decide which issues can be addressed.
The list includes approving the proposed YMCA on county land by Stotzky Park, moving the county's trailer for homeless sex offenders from the jail in Riverside, getting the county to refund the amount town taxpayers pay for police dispatching while keeping local dispatchers on the job, making the county health department more efficient in processing applications.
Mr. Kent said the county has been helpful in a number of areas. He said the YMCA will be on the June 9 agenda of the County Legislature, the county is going to try and acquire land along Route 58 to create more of a right of way once the county expands the road to four lanes starting in the fall, and the issue in which the town's new ball parks in Calverton were held up at the county health department over bathroom permits has been resolved.
Mr. Cardinale said there will be two votes needed by the Town Board and two votes needed by the Empire Zone board to make the proposed transfer happen, and that a no vote on any one of those could derail the proposal.
The Empire Zone board unanimously voted in favor of a preliminary resolution Tuesday.
tgannon@timesreview.com
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1 comments found
Riverhead Town : 6/12/2009
"Unbuildable or not"? Wait, isn' the intent of the Empire Zone to bring in new development? Only Riverhead Town would place Empire Zone designation on preserved property, publicize it AND then use it as leverage. WOW.
