By a unanimous vote, members of the Orleans Economic Development Agency board of directors Feb. 14 approved the full payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement for the Cottages at Troutburg seasonal community planned in Kendall.
The tax incentives drew fire from Kendall residents at two separate, well-attended public hearings. Residents overwhelmingly spoke against the agreement and questioned figures from the Orleans EDA which project more than $12 million in economic benefits to the community over the 10-year life of the PILOT. The development eventually could include 400 cottages at a 126-acre former Salvation Army Camp site along Lake Ontario at the Monroe/Orleans County border.
Kendall Town Supervisor Tony Cammarata offered no comment following the vote Feb. 14. He and a handful of other Kendall residents attended the monthly Orleans EDA meeting held at 8 a.m. in Albion. Visibly frustrated, Cammarata said he had made his comments known during the two public hearings. He testified that he was against the PILOT, that the town had never been given any indication tax breaks would be sought for the project, and asked the EDA board, “… please don’t pass this through.”
Al Lofthouse, a Kendall resident and Conservative Party chairman in Orleans County, attended the EDA meeting. He said he couldn’t understand the decision and worried about low-income taxpayers in the town and older residents who don’t get tax breaks.
“It went in one ear and out the other,” Lofthouse said of the testimony from the public hearings.
The EDA board did make a change in the PILOT, adding a stipulation which will tie continuation of the agreement to performance.
The Wegman Group must increase by at least $500,000 per year the total assessed value of the premises beginning with the 2015-2016 tax fiscal year for the Kendall Central School District and the 2016 tax fiscal year for the Town of Kendall and the County of Orleans, or the agreement could be terminated.
EDA officials said that means the PILOT could be cancelled if the project stalls or fails.
Many residents testified during the hearings that they worried the project might not be as successful as expected and Kendall Town Councilperson Bruce Newell asked the EDA board to consider making the PILOT agreement performance based.
“It would put the burden on the developer,” he testified.
Prior to the board vote, member Ken DeRoller, who is a county legislator from Kendall, gave his own analysis of the project. He said it is important to focus on the benefits of the project.
He noted Kendall averages only about one new home construction each year and that with declining school enrollment, the cottages would provide a positive tax benefit to the community.
DeRoller also said the town must take full advantage of one of its most important resources – the lakefront – and that, although residents of the cottages likely will take some of their spending money to Monroe County, the development, “is challenging (entrepreneurs) to step up.” He said the county needs to do more to promote attractions like fishing charters, wine trails and farm markets. “We need to market Orleans County,” he said.
Other board members said the project will generate taxable income on properties which have been off the tax rolls for a half-century.
The PILOT agreement will save the Wegman Group $227,777 in town, county and school taxes over its duration. Developers will pay an estimated $186,363 during that period. The The agreement covers only the property in its current condition, which is assessed at $1.3 million. The cottages which will be built and all other improvements are not included in the PILOT and will be taxed at full valuation.
