Officials won’t say if tenant is Amazon
By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
About 200 residents, elected officials and business owners came together at Liverpool High School to share their comments and questions about a proposed 3,783,000-square-foot warehouse in the town of Clay at a Sept. 30 joint public hearing of the Clay Town Board and Clay Planning Board.
Last month, the Dallas-based real estate developer Trammell Crow Co. announced its plan to build the $280 million distribution facility, which would employ as many as 1,000 people with an annual payroll of $30 million. The 111-acre site is currently home to the Liverpool Golf & Country Club.
The developer is requesting a zone change from REC-1 Recreational District to 1-1 Industrial 1 District.
Town officials and representatives for the developer did not name the prospective tenant for the “speculative development project,” though several speakers at the public hearing speculated it is online retail giant Amazon.
Trammel Crow Co. executive George Laigaie said the developer expects to sign a tenant and begin construction by the spring of 2020 with a goal of having the facility up and running by the third quarter of 2021. Laigaie said Trammel Crow is in talks with three potential tenants.
According to the project description, the five-story warehouse would have four upper levels of “sorting fields with a perimeter of work stations and conveyor systems to deliver product to the ground level.” The ground floor will be outfitted with material handling equipment. The site plan also contains 62 to 69 loading docks with 205 trailer parking spaces, an employee parking lot with 1,819 car parking spaces and 16 motorcycle parking spaces. The facility will feature a state-of-the-art fire suppression system, dark-sky friendly lighting, landscaping, and site utilities.
Stormwater management features will include six retention basins, and wastewater will discharge into the Wetzel Road Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency is the lead agency for the environmental review of the project.
Bob Murray, an attorney for Harris Beach, said a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement would generate a projected $28,708,000 according to OCIDA. In contrast, the golf course currently generates about $53,000 in tax revenue annually.
A traffic study conducted by Langan Engineering and SRF Associates said the facility would generate 1,289 new trips in the peak morning hours (6 to 9 a.m.) and 1,268 new trips in the afternoon (4 to 7 p.m.).
Amy Dake, senior traffic engineer for SRF Associates, said morning traffic would see approximately 10 tractor-trailers entering and 10 trucks exiting the facility and afternoon traffic would see eight trucks entering and eight trucks exiting. Throughout the day, the facility would see 10 and 25 trucks come and go each hour.
“We don’t anticipate any significant adverse traffic impacts,” Dake said.
The audience laughed at Dake’s comment.
The study includes several recommendations to help manage the additional traffic, including changes to traffic signal phasing and timing, widening parts of Tulip Street and Morgan Road, and discussing with Centro the possibility of expanding public transit to the area.
Clay Town Councilor Brian Hall asked if the developers have considered installing solar panels or a garden on the roof to offset the loss of green space. Laigaie said there are no such plans right now.
Roughly 50 people spoke at the hearing, and the public was split on whether the proposal is a good idea.
Several members of the public called the proposal a great opportunity for Clay and Central New York.
“A thousand jobs means a better standard of living for over a thousand people locally,” said Thomas Ogden, of Liverpool.
Bonnie Nash, of Clay, said the proposal meant “food on the table for 1,000 families.”
Rob Simpson, president of CenterState CEO, said Central New York has been trying for years to attract a large distribution facility and the area is beginning to see “robust economic growth.”
“We really want to commend Onondaga County and the town of Clay for creating a business environment that is receptive to these types of investments,” he said.
Several speakers commented on the perceived lack of transparency from the town of Clay, Onondaga County and the developers.
“I can’t believe this would go this [far] without knowing who the company is that’s moving in,” said Gary Piontkowski, of Liverpool.
Piontkowski added that a more appropriate location for the warehouse would be Wayne County, Phelps or Lyons, places he said were worse off economically than Clay.
“We’re doing good in Liverpool,” he said. “We’re not a desperate community to bring down our way of life.”
Andy Breuer of Hueber-Breuer Construction disagreed with Piontkowski’s view of the Central New York economy, which he said would benefit from construction jobs the warehouse project would generate.
“We’re treading water,” he said.
John Kowalski, of Liverpool, said Amazon has made headlines lately because of its purported poor treatment of its employees. In July, Amazon workers in Minneapolis went on strike to protest inhumane working conditions. Kowalski cited news stories about Amazon employees working themselves to exhaustion or even suicide.
“These are not careers. These are not the jobs Central New Yorkers deserve and they’re not the type of jobs politicians should be proud of bringing,” he said.
“I think Amazon is taking great advantage of the desperation of Central New York for jobs and income and tax revenue,” said resident Carrie Frank, adding that the estimated $30,000 salary of these warehouse jobs would only attract “low-class” employees who would swear and litter.
Visit townofclay.org to read the project description, traffic study and other documents associated with this project.
The town board and planning board took no action on the zone change request Sept. 30. The public may submit written comments to Clay Town Clerk Jill Hageman-Clark via email at [email protected] or by mail: Town of Clay, 4401 Route 31, Clay, NY 13041.
