News
Price Chopper seeks water, sewer hookup with Chatham village
Company offers $50K hookup fee; $20K per year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes to village
By Paul Crossman
After its most recent meeting, the Chatham Village Board was left with a decision about whether to approve a request from the Price Chopper Corporation to allow them to connect a proposed new grocery facility to the village’s water and sewer system.
The company asked that the town review the proposal and give a response before the next board meeting to determine how to best move forward with the project.
The proposed 45,000 square foot new facility — a larger building than its current one, which Price Chopper representatives say is necessary to compete with other area grocery stores — would be located mostly in the Hamlet of Ghent.
But according to current plans, a portion of the parking lot will be in the village of Chatham, and it is because of this that the request was made to hook up to the water and sewer lines.
The village initially accepted the request on the condition that the land in question be annexed to Chatham so that the building would essentially be on Chatham property and pay taxes to the village.
According to the Village Board though, Ghent declined the request to annex Chatham the land, and without this stipulation, the board was not inclined to allow Price Chopper to use its water and sewer.
Representatives of Price Chopper attended the recent board meeting to propose a second offer to the village in the hopes that the matter could still be resolved, even with annexation being taken off the table.
The new proposal consisted of offering the village a one-time connection fee of $50,000, and an annual payment-in-lieu-of-taxes of $20,000 a year for the duration of the 20-year lease. It also included the stipulation that Price Chopper would collaborate with the village to obtain approval for the sewer from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and that they would pay the standard rates for sewer and water.
Reaction to the new offer was split among members of the board, with several people — including Mayor Paul Boehme — voicing their opinion that the offer seemed reasonable and should be looked at closely.
“[The offer] doesn’t seem unreasonable,” Boehme told the rest of the board. “We should definitely look at this and think about how it relates to us today, tomorrow, and next week.”
Deputy Mayor George Grant was steadfastly against the idea though, voicing his opinion that just because Price Chopper was offering the village money didn’t change the fact that the town didn’t need the added strain on their already burdened water and sewer.
“So basically you’re just trying to buy us off,” he asked the representatives from Schuyler Companies, who is representing Price Chopper in the project.
Representatives from Schuyler said that this wasn’t the case though, and that they were simply trying to find the best possible solution for every one involved, including the residents of Chatham.
“The numbers in [the offer] were arrived at with the intent to keep the village whole,” one representative told the board.
Grant had other concerns as well though, and went on to ask the board where it would end if they continued to allow companies on Ghent land to hook into the village’s water and sewer.
Several other board members felt that this wasn’t an issue as each company or individual to apply for water and sewer could be approved or denied on an individual basis, and that just because they might approve Price Chopper did not mean they would have to approve someone else in the future.
Boehme also said that the amount of water and sewer the new building would use would not place much of an additional burden on either facility, and that it would be even less of an issue in the future, as plans are underway to help renovate the sewer plant.
Other members of the board agreed, saying that there had to be a point where Chatham stopped annexing land from Ghent.
“The village is never going to extend all the way to Dairy Queen,” said one board member.
It was also the opinion of Boehme and several other members of the board that the monetary amounts in the offer were a starting point, and that the village should think about an amount it thinks is fair and respond to the company with a counter-offer.
Though no decisions were made on the subject, the board decided to call a special meeting for Wednesday to discuss what the best course of action would be to deal with the issue, and hope that they can reach an agreement by the next board meeting in December.
To reach reporter Paul Crossman, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com.
The company asked that the town review the proposal and give a response before the next board meeting to determine how to best move forward with the project.
The proposed 45,000 square foot new facility — a larger building than its current one, which Price Chopper representatives say is necessary to compete with other area grocery stores — would be located mostly in the Hamlet of Ghent.
But according to current plans, a portion of the parking lot will be in the village of Chatham, and it is because of this that the request was made to hook up to the water and sewer lines.
The village initially accepted the request on the condition that the land in question be annexed to Chatham so that the building would essentially be on Chatham property and pay taxes to the village.
According to the Village Board though, Ghent declined the request to annex Chatham the land, and without this stipulation, the board was not inclined to allow Price Chopper to use its water and sewer.
Representatives of Price Chopper attended the recent board meeting to propose a second offer to the village in the hopes that the matter could still be resolved, even with annexation being taken off the table.
The new proposal consisted of offering the village a one-time connection fee of $50,000, and an annual payment-in-lieu-of-taxes of $20,000 a year for the duration of the 20-year lease. It also included the stipulation that Price Chopper would collaborate with the village to obtain approval for the sewer from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and that they would pay the standard rates for sewer and water.
Reaction to the new offer was split among members of the board, with several people — including Mayor Paul Boehme — voicing their opinion that the offer seemed reasonable and should be looked at closely.
“[The offer] doesn’t seem unreasonable,” Boehme told the rest of the board. “We should definitely look at this and think about how it relates to us today, tomorrow, and next week.”
Deputy Mayor George Grant was steadfastly against the idea though, voicing his opinion that just because Price Chopper was offering the village money didn’t change the fact that the town didn’t need the added strain on their already burdened water and sewer.
“So basically you’re just trying to buy us off,” he asked the representatives from Schuyler Companies, who is representing Price Chopper in the project.
Representatives from Schuyler said that this wasn’t the case though, and that they were simply trying to find the best possible solution for every one involved, including the residents of Chatham.
“The numbers in [the offer] were arrived at with the intent to keep the village whole,” one representative told the board.
Grant had other concerns as well though, and went on to ask the board where it would end if they continued to allow companies on Ghent land to hook into the village’s water and sewer.
Several other board members felt that this wasn’t an issue as each company or individual to apply for water and sewer could be approved or denied on an individual basis, and that just because they might approve Price Chopper did not mean they would have to approve someone else in the future.
Boehme also said that the amount of water and sewer the new building would use would not place much of an additional burden on either facility, and that it would be even less of an issue in the future, as plans are underway to help renovate the sewer plant.
Other members of the board agreed, saying that there had to be a point where Chatham stopped annexing land from Ghent.
“The village is never going to extend all the way to Dairy Queen,” said one board member.
It was also the opinion of Boehme and several other members of the board that the monetary amounts in the offer were a starting point, and that the village should think about an amount it thinks is fair and respond to the company with a counter-offer.
Though no decisions were made on the subject, the board decided to call a special meeting for Wednesday to discuss what the best course of action would be to deal with the issue, and hope that they can reach an agreement by the next board meeting in December.
To reach reporter Paul Crossman, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com.
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