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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-01-11 - PB TOWN OF ULYSSES P LANNING BOARD MEETING J ANUARY 11 , 1994 TOWN HALL P RESENT : CHAIRMAN : DAVID TYLER ; MEMBERS : BUDD STOVER , DAN SMITH , PETER DEMkTANEC , GREGG HOTTMIRE , KRYS CAIL , GERRI KEIL ; BUILDING/ ZONING OFFICER : ALEX RACHUN ; SECRETARY : ROXANNE SMITH G UEST SPEAKER : MICHAEL STAMM , PRESIDENT , TOMPKINS COUNTY AREA DEVELOPMENT , INC . G UESTS : MASTER PLAN COMMITTEE MEMBERS ( TOWN OF ULYSSES ) : CATHERINE STOVER , SUE POE ,LVOORDE , JOANNE MOT. INO AND RUTH KAHN ; TOWN BOARD MEMBER : TOM REtTZ ; MASTER PLAN MEMBERS ( VILLAGE OF TRUMANSSURG ) : JOHN O ' LEARY AND PAUL ODEI. I. . Chairman David Tyler called the meeting to order, at 7 : 30 PM . He introduced a new Member to the PLanning Soard , Peter. Demjanec . He then introduced Michael Stamm from TCAD ( Tompkins County Area • Development , Inc . ) as the evenings ' guest speaker . Mike is well versed in light industry , a category that the Planning Board has added to B2 mentioned Drys . Mike opened his comments with some remarks about his organi -- zatton , TOAD . TCAD is a private , not - ;For - profit corporation ( 501 - C6 ) , founded in / 964 . Until 1965 it was run by part - time community leaders like Dave Cutting , Ray Van Houtte and Roy Parks . It ' s mission. is to create quality employment opportunities and strengthen the tax base . TCAD targets manufacturing , which they define rather broadly to include one person ' s software development company all the way up to Borg - Warner . Businesses such as Agri - businesses , cottage , bio -- tech , etc . TCAD will work with any entrepreneur that is selling a product or service outside of Tompkins County . They will avoid help - ing a retail or commercial business that is going to end up competing w ith an already established business in Tompkins County . For that ✓ eason TCAD was the first agency in NY State to turn down Wegmans ' ✓ equest for assistance as they clearly would be competing with other companies and did not need assistance . TCAD is funded by a mix of public and private sector funds . They just finished a three year membership campaign . They would like more public sector support . As an aside , Tompkins County only invested $ 17 , 000 . 00 into economic development which they feel is low . In the past TCAD has been involved with the Sorg - Warner project on Warren Road , the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell , Precision Filters , also Kolar Machine ( all before Mike ' s affiliation ) . Mike has been involved with CEORD , a software development company , Wilcox Press , Hi - Speed Checkwei. gher , AC Technology , Claritas , and a couple of not -- ;for - profit organizations more recently . Y The private and public sector officials focus on the un -- employ -. went rate as the measure of the health of our economy , It ' s a curse that we have the lowest un - employment rate ( Tompkins County ) in NY State , yet it measures nothing . It ' s an abysmal measure of the health of our economy . An example of that would be in the late 40 ' s , of those that worked , about 48 % of them were in manufacturing ( quality high paying jobs ) . Today that figure is less than 8 % . Then until now , we have virtually lost our middy class because no one was pay - ing attention . We were focused on the un - employment rate . More 1 recently , with a cyclical challenge , the Recession , fared reasonably well . Borg - warner is at its ' highest employment level ever and continues to have expansion potential . Emerson is hiring . Our medium size electronic companies that relied on defense are having a hard time adjusting to the cuts in defense spending . We have a very strong entrepreneurial sector , small technology , software , some in bio -, tech and some in electronics . A dozen of whom continue to expand right through the Recession . q TOWN OF ULYSSES 2 PLANNING BOARD MEETING J ANUARY 11 , 1994 TOWN HALL • Mike also addressed some of the issues that we face . This Community , along with Cornell needs to invest in an incubator facility . ( A place that helps entrepreneurs start small business . ) Secondly , we need to establish a zero state venture fund ( an equity capital fund that we 'nvest in small start ups ) . Thirdly , we need to address the sewer and water problem we have in this commun - ity , which has really impeded a significant amount of investment and expansion . We are the only county in NY State that does not h ave a county sponsored employment and training office . There is a t remendous skills mismatch problem with these new high tech companies t hat are trying to employ people . There is no training program to h elp those displaced by cuts in the traditional companies . In general there appears to be a lack of concern for economic devel - o pment . After sharing TCAD with the various members , Mike asked if t here were any questions . David asked about business development in the Town . Mike stated that you have to understand where bus - inesses come from . All economic development either comes from ex - pansion of existing businesses or new businesses started by existing e ntrepreneurs . All the projects TCAD has been involved in in the last few years , totals about 35 million dollars , 460 , 000 square feet of space and about 400 new jobs have all been attributed to e xpansion or new businesses started by existing entrepreneurs . The notion that a community can attract major businesses is not t rue . ( It really never has been true . ) Companies certainly are not going to come to NY State and if they were , Tompkins County probably wouldn ' t be the place they would go unless they needed t o be near Cornell University . The flip side to that is that we have a very strong entrepreneurial community , unlike any of our contiguous counties . This Community needs to do a lot more to accelerate that growth process , particularily the technology trans - fer process within Cornell , and help those technologies become commercialized . Cornell does an abysmal job of technology transfer . O f the 300 million dollars worth of research and development ( R & D ) funds that go into Cornell , very little is trickling out the other e nd . State , Federal and Corporate fundseare beginning to tell Cornell that they need to commercialize technologies or they ' re going to loose those dollars . They are still resisting change as most large institutions do . David queried what kind of change is n eeded ? Mike stated that an incubator facility is badly needed . ( A building where an entrepreneur can work out of that requires no long term lease , has low rent , a variety of services available - secretarial , counseling , etc . ) The first place to start would be to inventory existing busi - nesses in / near the Town or inventory where people are working now to see if there is some sort of expansion potential there . Gerri asked Mike why the corridor of expansion on the east side of the lake was so successful and what we would need to attract businesses here . Mike said let ' s address why they settled there : - they have sewer, and water - high tech companies are obsessed with being in sight distance of the airport - proximity to Cornell - industrial parks are available E ntrepreneurs usually want to work near where they live . It would be good to nurture them and also focus on the Agri - Business that is h ere . John discussed the Cherry St . Park and its ' odd mix of bus - inesses . Before it was filled another was built ( Carpenter Park ) . The tax abatement program was a big incentive . Water and sewer is TOWN OF ULYSSES 3 P LANNING BOARD MEETING JANUARY 11 , 1994 TOWN HALL very important . It is very expensive for a sparsely populated government entity to fund ( such as our Village and `lawn ) . The Carpenter Park is a really good example of a municipality invest - ing government funds and a lot of time in a park in a bad location . For supposedly being an Industrial Park it . has high visibility and is right on Route 13 . A lot of industrial prospects that looked at that do not want that kind of visibility , they ' d rather be t ucked away some place . It is much more appropriate for a com - mercial park said Mike . You need to start with some market re - search ; consult established businesses about whether they would have settled here if space was available . There has been no incentive for the Town to develop ways to t ake advantage of the summer traffic or the natural resources said Alex . The Chamber of Commerce of the county tourism promotion program gets close to $ 400 , 000 . 00 ( due to the room tax ) . Remember , e conomic development has only gotten about $ 17 , 000 . 00 said Mike . You can get Tom King here to discuss ways to capture that tourism and you need to talk to your county rep and state that you need to get some attention from the Chamber of Commerce said Mike . If there is a destination type of facility proven to be feasible , there are government funds available to help finance that . It has to be some - t hing that would attract a broad range of visitors . It can be seasonal . David wondered how many businesses in Tompkins County are spinoffs from Cornell . Not many businesses come because of Cornell said Mike . One of the biggest problems is job recruitment said J ohn . If someone comes and then doesn ' t like their job they have to pick up and move again . There is not a critical mass of similar companies said Mike . Ninety percent of companies that TCAD had worked with have been associalted with Cornell said Mike . People come to college and like the area so much they never leave said Ruth . Mike ' s subjective impression is , the east side of the lake is high tech and t he west side is the cottage business / craft business side . We have a cultural area in a country setting said Gerri . Access to government funding will not be your greatest challenge . Access to water and sewage may be , said Mike . TCAD is in the beginning stages of doing a study of the sewer and water needs of Tompkins County . Tom Niederkorn is doing it , funded by the State , due in about n ine months . There are a lot of politically based myths . Some com - munities are stifling growth by saying there isn ' t sewage capacity . We hired someone we hope will be objective to make some recommendations . He is free to talk to CEOs ( who had trouble expanding , who are con - sidering expansion ) government officials , private and public sectors . P eter Novelli will be looking at the technical aspects . There are funds available for existing companies who need help in financing infrastructure ( particularally sewer and water ) . If you are going to d o it on a speculative basis they may not be as available . Find out who wants to do what and try and meet their needs . David wondered if a professional should be hired to do the market research . Mike sug - gested that Ray Bordoni from the Department of Economic Development ( DED ) be contacted as there is grant money out there . TCAD has been t rying to get Tompkins County to come up with an economic strategy . The reasons for their resistance has begin there is not growth , envir - o nmental concerns ; they ' d never get the various Towns to agree to a strategy for the entire county said Mike . Consultants always have ideas about funding . The community that has experienced the most growth ( through no effort on their own ) is Lansing . The Town / Village of Groton really h ave their act together . They have a point person who is always available . They spent a lot of time and effort with Ithaca Peripherals , who unfortunately when they expanded moved elsewhere . They ' re a good e xample of a Village and Town working well together , said Mike . Tom I TOWN OF ULYSSES 4 PLANNING BOARD MEETING JANUARY 11 , 1994 TOWN HALL Reitz suggested that the Town and Village co - sponser a forum , bring - ing together area businesses . Change will happen and it isn ' t always for the good . It ' s important to take control of your destiny . You shouldn ' t rely on funding as that could sway your direction . It would be helpful to meet with someone from the city ( the county rarely gets involved , the city is better ) said Mike . He then handed out some brochures on TCAD . The Members thanked him for coming . The Members decided to quickly review the minutes from December 6 , 1993 . An asterisk with the comment " minimum acreage for a sewered site to be detirmined at a later date " was added to R2 . All of this information from this evenings ' meeting needs to be digested , perhaps at the next two or three meetings said David . That will be an item for the agenda . Gerri made a motion to adjourn and Krys seconded . The meeting was adjourned at 9 : 10 PM . The next Planning Board Meet- ing will be January 17 , 1994 at the Town Hall at 7 : 30 PM .