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Price Chopper wants to expand, but needs water/sewer hookup
Most of facility on town of Ghent property, but water and sewer hookup is in village of Chatham
By Paul Crossman
CHATHAM — After the Nov. 12 meeting, the Chatham Village Board was left with a decision about whether or not 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 would be located mostly in the town of Ghent, but according to current plans, a portion of the parking lot will be in the village of Chatham. With this proposal, a 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 taxes paid to the village.
Ghent Planning board Chairman Jonathan Walters said, though, that Ghent has recently revised its Comprehensive Plan and one section in it makes sure key commercial corridors in the community reflect the values of Ghent. Based on this, the town didn’t feel they should annex the land to Chatham.
“It would be inconsistent with our Comprehensive master Plan to annex the land to Chatham,” he said.
Without annexation, the village board seemed disinclined to give the company water and sewer hookups, so Price Chopper representatives attended the Nov. 12 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 offer for the village includes 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 includes the stipulation that Price Chopper would collaborate with the village to obtain approval for the sewer from the Department of Economic Conservation and that they would pay the standard rates for sewer and water.
“Everyone, including Price Chopper, is trying very hard to make this work,” said Walters.
Reaction to the new offer was split with members of the village 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.” Though, he added that a decision should be reserved until more information was available from either Price Chopper or the town of Ghent.
Deputy Mayor George Grant was steadfast against the idea, saying 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 remarked to representatives from Schuyler Companies, the company representing Price Chopper in the project.
Schuyler representatives said that this wasn’t the case, though, and that they were simply trying to find the best possible solution for everyone involved, including the residents of Chatham.
“The numbers in [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 and asked 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, though, since each company or individual who applies for water and sewer could be approved or denied on an individual basis. Just because the board 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, since plans are under way to 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 village board members that the monetary amounts in the offer were a starting point and that the village should think about an amount they think is fair and respond to the company with a counter-offer.
Though no decisions were made on the subject, the Chatham Village Board called a special meeting for Wednesday, Nov. 18 to discuss what the best course of action would be to deal with the issue and hope to reach an agreement by the next board meeting Dec. 11.
A complete proposal of the new Price Chopper building is expected to come before the Ghent Town Board at their regular meeting 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2.
The proposed 45,000-square-foot new facility would be located mostly in the town of Ghent, but according to current plans, a portion of the parking lot will be in the village of Chatham. With this proposal, a 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 taxes paid to the village.
Ghent Planning board Chairman Jonathan Walters said, though, that Ghent has recently revised its Comprehensive Plan and one section in it makes sure key commercial corridors in the community reflect the values of Ghent. Based on this, the town didn’t feel they should annex the land to Chatham.
“It would be inconsistent with our Comprehensive master Plan to annex the land to Chatham,” he said.
Without annexation, the village board seemed disinclined to give the company water and sewer hookups, so Price Chopper representatives attended the Nov. 12 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 offer for the village includes 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 includes the stipulation that Price Chopper would collaborate with the village to obtain approval for the sewer from the Department of Economic Conservation and that they would pay the standard rates for sewer and water.
“Everyone, including Price Chopper, is trying very hard to make this work,” said Walters.
Reaction to the new offer was split with members of the village 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.” Though, he added that a decision should be reserved until more information was available from either Price Chopper or the town of Ghent.
Deputy Mayor George Grant was steadfast against the idea, saying 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 remarked to representatives from Schuyler Companies, the company representing Price Chopper in the project.
Schuyler representatives said that this wasn’t the case, though, and that they were simply trying to find the best possible solution for everyone involved, including the residents of Chatham.
“The numbers in [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 and asked 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, though, since each company or individual who applies for water and sewer could be approved or denied on an individual basis. Just because the board 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, since plans are under way to 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 village board members that the monetary amounts in the offer were a starting point and that the village should think about an amount they think is fair and respond to the company with a counter-offer.
Though no decisions were made on the subject, the Chatham Village Board called a special meeting for Wednesday, Nov. 18 to discuss what the best course of action would be to deal with the issue and hope to reach an agreement by the next board meeting Dec. 11.
A complete proposal of the new Price Chopper building is expected to come before the Ghent Town Board at their regular meeting 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2.
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