NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Pursuant to Article 18-A of NYS General Municipal Law, a public hearing will be conducted electronically, as hereinafter described, by the Erie County Industrial Development Agency (the “Agency”) on June 14, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. regarding the project, as described below, said public hearing, given the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis and related Executive Orders issued by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, to now be conducted electronically as hereinafter described.  PLEASE NOTE the special hearing logistics and instructions included at the end of this notice.

283 Ship Canal Parkway, LLC, and/or Individual(s) or Affiliate(s), Subsidiary(ies), or Entity(ies) formed or to be formed on its behalf (the “Company”), has submitted an application to the Agency (a copy of which is on file at the office of the Agency) requesting the Agency to undertake a certain project (the “Project”) consisting of: (i) the acquisition by the Agency of a leasehold interest in certain property located on 283 Ship Canal Parkway, City of Buffalo, Erie County, New York (the “Land”), (ii) the development and construction on the Land of an approximately 335,000+/- square-foot warehousing and distribution center within the Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park (the “Improvements”), and (iii) the acquisition by the Company in and around the Improvements of certain items of machinery, equipment and other tangible personal property (the “Equipment”; and, together with the Land and the Improvements, the “Facility”).  The Facility will be initially owned and operated by the Company.

The Agency will acquire a leasehold interest in the Facility and lease the Facility back to the Company.  The Company will operate the Facility during the term of the lease.  At the end of the lease term, the leasehold interest will be terminated.  The Agency contemplates that it will provide financial assistance to the Company for qualifying portions of the Project in the form of sales and use tax exemption benefits, mortgage recording tax exemption benefits, and real property tax abatement benefits consistent with the policies of the Agency.

The Agency, on April 26, 2021, held a public hearing with respect to the Project as so described above.  Since then, the Company has requested, in cooperation with the City of Buffalo (the “City”) and the County of Erie (the “County”), that the Agency and the Company enter into a non-standard payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreement (“PILOT Agreement”) whereby the Company will make payment, for each tax fiscal year, in an amount equal to the real property taxes that would be paid as if the Company owned the Facility and the Agency had no interest in the Facility, multiplied by the applicable percentage set forth below:

The PILOT Agreement will operate consistent with the Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park Development and PILOT Redistribution Agreement, dated as of July 1, 2005, by and among the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation (the “BUDC”), the City, the County, and the Agency (the “BLCP Agreement”). The BLCP Agreement established the Buffalo Brownfield Redevelopment Fund (the “BBRF”) to be funded, in this case, with certain portions of the PILOT Agreement payments as herein described.   Funds deposited in the BBRF are to be utilized for certain infrastructure costs associated with lands owed by BUDC adjacent to the Project Facility and/or for other comparable project undertaken by BUDC located with the City of Buffalo. The BLCP Agreement requires that, with respect to the Project, PILOT Agreement payments be made to the Agency, and then (i) 50% of the PILOT Agreement payment will be submitted to the BBRF, and (ii) 50% of the PILOT Agreement payment will be remitted to the City and the County.   

PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL PUBLIC HEARING CONDUCT INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION:

In accordance with Section 859-a of the NYS General Municipal Law, a representative of the Agency will present a copy of the Company's project Application which is also available for viewing on the Agency's website at www.ecidany.com under tab Events/Public Hearings & Meetings.  However, given the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis and related Executive Orders issued by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, the Agency will not be able to accommodate any in-person public attendance or participation at this hearing.  Nonetheless, and in furtherance of the provisions of Section 859-a of the NYS General Municipal Law requiring interested parties be provided a reasonable opportunity, both orally and in writing, to present their views with respect to the Project, and pursuant to Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.15 issued on April 9, 2020 authorizing the conduct of public hearings through use of telephone conference, video conference and/or other similar service, the Agency will livestream the Public Hearing for those wanting to listen only at https://www.ecidany.com/streaming.  The Agency will provide public access to provide oral comments during the Public Hearing at https://www.ecidany.com/public-comment-and-registration. If you would like to make oral comments at the Public Hearing, please register to do so no later than 12:00 p.m. on June 11, 2021.  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the call to provide oral comments.  Finally, the Agency also encourages all interested parties to submit written comments to the Agency, which will all be included within the public hearing record.  Any written comments may be sent on the Agency’s website, or mailed to the Agency at 95 Perry Street-Suite 403, Buffalo, NY 14203 until the comment period closes at 4:00 p.m. on June 22, 2021. 

Click here for a copy of the application (PDF)