As New Scotland town officials consider an extension of the moratorium on commercial development, representatives from Syracuse-based Sphere Development LLC tell Spotlight Newspapers that they need an estimated 137,000-square-foot Target retail outlet to develop the 179-acre plot, formerly the Bender melon farm along Route 85A.
Greg Widrick, a managing partner at Sphere Development LLC said, We need to have an anchor store. We need Target to make it a viable development site.
The proposed development would cost close to $100 million.
New Scotland currently has a moratorium on commercial development on buildings more than 30,000 square feet. Until an extension is formally made, the moratorium ends Nov. 21.
Town officials say an extension is necessary so they can have more time for public input and to work out details in zoning law language.
The Commercial Zone Advisory Committee is attempting to bring zoning laws up to speed with the comprehensive plan, and talks about a cap on the limit of commercially developed buildings have been at the crux of the discussions to change the zoning laws.
A public workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 17, and officials say the moratorium extension could be two or three months.
Widrick said Sphere understands the precautionary move to propose and draft an extension to the moratorium.
`We’re trying to work with the public to come to a solution to this thing,` he said.
Widrick did say, though, that Sphere would be severely limited by a building cap, and in order to `viably` develop the site, they need a building that will far exceed the discussed 50,000-to-60,000 square feet as an anchor.
A final plan will need to be reviewed by Albany County and the new Scotland Town Board.
CZAC chair Roz Robinson said that process could take 30 to 90 days.
Robinson said that while they are having trouble deciding on an appropriate cap for the size of commercial developments, that is not the primary reason for a potential extension.
`We haven’t had a vote yet,` she said of the cap size. `We have different numbers and different ideas on what the cap should be. We’re still gathering information.`
Robinson said the first opportunity the advisory panel has to have a public workshop will not be until the middle of September, and that is the primary reason the town may have to extend the moratorium.
The public workshop, scheduled for Sept. 17, will be open for input from property owners in and around the area, Robinson said.
`It’s looking more and more like we’re going to need to extend it,` Supervisor Tom Dolin said of the moratorium. `We seem to be stuck on caps for square footage. I was hoping they would have moved beyond that.`
Widrick said that a more in-depth study of an appropriate cap is needed before a number can be generated.
`For them to arbitrarily pick a cap without a full financial feasibility study; it’s just like picking a number out of the air,` he said.
He said there are private firms that specialize in generating appropriate numbers.
`It’s basically pure economics,` he said.
Kurt Wendler, the other managing partner for Sphere, said that if the company were to develop the land, other than the anchor store, the remainder of the buildings would most likely fall below the discussed cap.
Widrick and Wendler did commend Robinson for working so hard to keep the moratorium deadline and for her openness to the input of all the interested parties.
Dolin said local businesses have not been overly active in rushing to end the moratorium.
He attributed that mostly to a slumping economy. He also said that because buildings under 30,000 square feet are not affected by the moratorium, many businesses are still obtaining building permits.
Jeff Pine, code enforcement officer in the town’s building department, echoed Dolin’s sentiment.
`We haven’t really had a groundswell of interest to develop the commercial zone,` said Pine.
He said in 10 years, there have only been three developments that would have been affected by the moratorium if it had been in place.
After the public workshop in September, the recommendations that the property owners make will need to be reviewed by the town. “