The Broome County Industrial Development Agency (The Agency) is hoping to create opportunity in the Southern Tier with the development of up to 600 acres into what it’s calling a green prototype tech park.
The process is still in the early stages, says Stacey Duncan, executive director of The Agency. A generic environmental impact study (GEIS) is in progress, looking at 15 to 20 different areas of potential impact from traffic to noise to visual impacts.
The goal, Duncan says, is to have a comprehensive plan that addresses all potential impacts and provides solutions before the Agency approaches the towns of Maine and Union between Airport and Reynolds roads, where the organization has nearly 500 acres of land under contract from three different owners.
With the Agency already fielding calls and having conversations with businesses interested in locating in the Southern Tier, the park is very needed, she says. The last park the Agency developed was the Broome Corporate Park in Conklin in the 1980s. That park has only about
25 to 30 scattered acres left available, Duncan adds.
A new park, focused on attracting a mix of businesses that fit into the region’s status as a battery tech hub, will benefit the region on multiple levels, she says.
“Broome County has a very high poverty rate,” she says. At around 19 percent, the rate is one of the highest in the state. “That is not a data point we want to maintain. The way to address that is to create opportunities for economic mobility.”
A new business park focused on bringing in high-tech manufacturing jobs will help lift up the community by providing job opportunities now and in the future, she says.
Broome Tech Park would build upon the region’s strengths. “We have some of the best K through 12 schools in the nation,” Duncan contends. “We have this gorgeous natural setting. We have a tremendously great business community.”
Once the GEIS is complete, the Agency will pitch its plan in full to the towns of Maine and Union, she says. She expects that within the next four to six weeks, the Agency will have a site plan to share. By next year, the organization hopes to plan a town hall-style open house to give the community the opportunity to learn more and meet the team behind the project.
That team includes The Agency; EDR; CJS Architects; HUNT-EAS; Atelier Ten; MRB Group; and Delta Engineers, Architects and Surveyors.
Information is also readily available and will be updated regularly online at broometechpark.com, and the team just launched an email newsletter.