Transcript :
Original letter can be found at the end of this post
Dear Mr. Chandler:
Our office is general counsel to the Lyme Central School District. Please accept this
letter as the
district comment on the preliminary scoping statement submitted by BP for the
Cape Vincent wind farm project.
Section 2.27 on pages 171 through 177 of the preliminary
scoping statement discusses the potential socio-economic effects of the
proposed wind farm. Page 172 of the PSS provides, in
relevant part, “local spending will result in the increased
tax revenue for the towns of Cape
Vincent and Lyme, the project will provide revenues to the
local communities through property taxes or through payments in lieu of taxes
(PILOT) arrangements, increased municipal revenues
will benefit the school district emergency services and
essential infrastructure. “
Please note the Lyme Central School District Board of Education
has passed a resolution opting out of New York RPTL section 487. Consequently,
should BP move forward with the
company in seeking a PILOT agreement pursuant to RPTL
section 412 – A, the Jefferson County
Industrial Development Agency policy requires a consent of
each of the affected taxing jurisdictions
including the Lyme Central School District.
To date, the Lyme Central
school district has not consented to any type of PILOT
agreement for your proposed project or any other wind
project. The Lyme Central School
District is willing to meet
with BP and other affected taxing jurisdictions to discuss term conditions for
a PILOT agreement. We noted that no effort has been made on the part of BP to
engage such negotiations to date.
Should Board President desire to enter into PILOT negotiations with the district and other taxing jurisdictions, the district is
amenable to doing as part of the stipulation process.
Thank you for your courtesies
Very truly yours
Ferrara ,Fiorenza ,Larrison, Barrett & Reitz.P.C.
Joseph G. Shields
6 comments:
Some members of the TI school district have wind leases with Bp. Let's see what kind of example they set for the children when it comes to voting their conflict of interest.
Imagine a drowning school district, hand up reaching for anything as they start to go down.
Desperate times require desperate actions, including begging for a PILOT agreement with a wind farmer who is selling out and a community that is getting ready to kick them out.
What a sad moment, of all the time to ask for a lifeline.
How foolish is would be for TI to consider giving PILOTs to developers for a high risk business that is not viable and causes up to a 50% reduction in home values.
Typical lawyer talk, does this lertter mean they would agree to a pilot or that they are willing to discuss it?
Seems out of protocol for the school district to even make such a comment at this phase of the process. An agreed upon PILOT is not a requirement for the PSS.
I'm sure this upsets Julia Gosier to have the school district sticking its nose in wind development, trying to influence the process through the back door.
Back door, front door. The voter for wind just like they did with the voter debacle in the Cape were just trying to take away our rights. If BP gets to the application stage I hope we see the voters for wind in court. And, I hope they wear there shits so Marion can tell who they are.
7:29
I was surprised also that our Lyme board got a few steps ahead of themselves. Anyone following this issue closely understands that any wind PILOT would be 14 cents on the dollar, and each job provided would cost the taxpayer over a million each for a handful of jobs and wind is a high risk and even the JCIDA agreed that the taxing jurisdictions should not be made to take that risk. As for Ms. Gosier she should tell Marion Trieste that she has overstayed her welcome.
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