Manlius considers forming LDC

TOWN OF MANLIUS – The town of Manlius is considering the formation of a local development corporation with an eye on potentially using that entity to purchase property for a new town hall and police facility.
A public hearing on the creation of the Manlius Development Corporation is scheduled for the town board’s regularly scheduled meeting on May 8 at 6:30 p.m.
“We’ll do a whole presentation and then open it up for public comment,” Supervisor John Deer said at a meeting earlier this month.
Under state law, an LDC is technically a not-for-profit, said town attorney Joseph Frateschi, which in this case could be used for economic development and to assist in the development of a new town facility. The LDC would have its own board of directors that would be made up of members of the town board and could also include representatives of other departments within the town and potentially some town residents, Frateschi said.
“It will operate as a separate entity, separate and distinct from the town, but it will share some features with the town,” Frateschi said.
“The reason we’re having these conversations now is because we’ve been working diligently on finding a site for the new town facility,” Deer said. Through the past two administrations, the town has been considering locations to relocate the police department and town facilities, with the likely destination in the pending development along the east side of North Burdick Street.
The LDC, Deer said, could also be used to “as a tool that we’ll have in our toolbox to go after many of the goals in our comprehensive plan.”
Deer cited economic development and low-income housing as some of the projects the LDC could help facilitate. “It really does open the door to more ambitious projects.”