For months the Chautauqua County government has been signaling that it is finally moving toward acquiring land for a new industrial park. The newspaper stories this spring indicated the location involved would probably not be revealed until 2024.

Surprisingly, however, the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) went ahead and announced that this Industrial Park with a tentative County investment of $11,000,000 would be in Ripley. Not in the Dunkirk-Fredonia-Sheridan area. Not in the Jamestown-Busti-Ellicott area. But Ripley.

The potential Ripley site would eat up all of the $4,800,000 federal infrastructure dollars from the Biden Administration the County Legislature had budgeted for industrial parks.

The Town of Ripley has a population of about 2,300 people. Google Maps shows it would take a person about 50 minutes to drive from Frewsburg to work at an employer in Ripley. Similarly it would take about 45 minutes for a person to drive from Silver Creek to Ripley for work.

By contrast, the site is only 2 miles from Pennsylvania. It would take only 11 minutes for a resident of North East, Pennsylvania to drive to a job in Ripley, and only 20 minutes from Harborcreek Township, Pennsylvania (population 17,000).

A very different approach to the development of industrial parks was taken by the County in 1998-99, the last time a major County investment was made in industrial/business parks.

The County’s Industrial Parks Task Force in 1999 recommended to the County Legislature and the County Legislature approved a $13,000,000 investment in 3 industrial parks: the General Stoneman Industrial Park on Hunt Road in Busti (the birthplace and still home to Southern Tier Brewing and other businesses), the Chadwick Bay Industrial Park in the Dunkirk area (next to Nestle/Purina) and the South County Industrial Park (now home to Serta Mattress and other businesses).

These industrial parks are located in the County’s two largest metro areas where a clear majority of the County’s workforce lives.

The county bought back 60 acres of land in the South County Industrial Park from Bush Industries under former County Executive Vince Horrigan using $200,000 of State money. The County should use some of the $4,800,000 Federal infrastructure dollars to put roads, water, gas, and sewer lines into that 60 acres the County already owns.

The county’s website shows a 44 acre County owned parcel available on Girts Road at the Airport Hill Industrial Park. The County should put some development money into that land the County already owns.

The newspapers have recently reported that the county is probably going to give a Payment in Lieu of taxes to a solar farm project in Busti on 109 acres “adjacent to the Cummins Jamestown Engine Plant.”

Would it not make sense to have the county invest in an industrial park expansion on such a substantial parcel adjacent to the county’s largest manufacturing employer? Such a county industrial park would allow for further expansion of Cummins or for suppliers to Cummins to locate adjacent to the Cummins factory. The nearby Stoneman Industrial Park on Hunt Road in the Town of Busti is full.

Earlier this year the County Executive submitted a Resolution to the County Legislature with a remarkable admission: “we are woefully deplete of shovel-ready sites to attract outside investments.”

While it would be good for the economy of Chautauqua County if there were substantial economic development at our Thruway interchanges, including Ripley and Westfield and the interchanges on Interstate 86, including Kennedy, Stow, Stedman, Sherman and French Creek, would it not be logical to have as the number one county priority to add industrial/business park lands in our Dunkirk-Fredonia and Jamestown metro areas that already have the water, sewer and other infrastructure capacity to handle new development?

The County Legislature appoints one of the seven CCIDA Directors. In addition, a county legislator sits on the board and the County Executive appoints the remaining five board members, subject to Legislature confirmation.

The County Legislature should scrutinize the $11,000,000 Ripley proposal. Does the purchase price of the lands make sense? As stated above the county bought back 60 acres of County Industrial Park lands from Bush Industries for $200,000 or $3,300 per acre. The County Industrial Development Agency itself just sold 2.9 acres of industrial land on Harrison Street in Jamestown to the YMCA for $29,000 or $10,000 per acre because that was the tax assessed fair market value. According to the newspapers, the County proposes to purchase 64 acres in Ripley for $2,000,000 or $31,000 per acre and another parcel of 85 acres would cost $2,200,000 or $26,000 per acre. The county acknowledges that 26 of these acres are wetlands and, therefore, not usable.

Is there a competent study showing what it will cost the taxpayers to prepare these lands for the declared purposes of warehouse/distribution or light manufacturing?

Is there a competent projection of the taxpayer cost per job likely to be created? Typically these types of business only create 3 to 5 jobs per acre. A recent acquisition of a 10 acre parcel in Dunkirk and existing 200,000 square foot building for warehouse/distribution purposes, for example, will only create 10 jobs, or 1 job per acre.

Chautauqua County government has a duty to scrutinize what its Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency does with the public’s money.

Fred Larson served as Chautauqua County Attorney from 1998 to 2005 and was a Chautauqua County Industrial Parks Task Force member in 1998-99.