Demolition On Track for 1000 New York Avenue

Asbestos abatement is expected to start Monday at an old garage at 1000 New York Ave., with demolition following, based on how quickly asbestos and lead removal work takes place, members of the town's Economic Development Corp. board learned Tuesday night.

The abatement work turned out to be more extensive than initially thought when asbestos was discovered on the exterior and roof, said Joan Cergol, EDC executive director. All the abatement work on the 7,200-square-foot asbestos-affected area has to be done before demolition can start, and regulations require an unrelated company to monitor air quality to make sure nearby sites remain safe, Cergol said. The low bid on the abatement work came in at $64,000, and demolition is expected to cost about $30,000. There's about $100,000 from a state Restore New York grant available to cover those costs.

News of the pending demolition drew nods of satisfaction from the board and those attending the meeting. A round of chuckles from the audience greeted one comment that a resident would get his truck in there and get the demolition done in two days if he could get at it, and Cergol promised to send e-mails to those who provided addresses when the demolition date was determined.

Requests will be sought for proposals to develop the site, which is about half an acre.

Previous plans were submitted in a grant application that was funded with $1.17 million and call for a 10,800-square-foot mixed use office building. But if a developer wants to buy the land, appraised at $535,000, and turn in a different development proposal, the board will listen, said Rob Ripp, EDC board president, and submit a grant request if the developer wants to seek state reimbursement.

"We have to go in front of the Empire State Development Corp. for final approval so they can get the reimbursement," Ripp said. If the building that ends up at the site is smaller than what was planned when the grant was funded, the grant dollars will be pro-rated.

Resident Nicholas Wieland asked if the board couldn't do something about the adjacent properties so the whole area looks better. He suggested the EDC direct some of its matching funds for façade improvements there. "You may want to do some improvements on the façades," Wieland said. "The problem is going to be what's next to it and how it looks."

The EDC can suggest façade improvements and let owners know money is available, members noted, but the land is private property. That said, members noted a developer is welcome to submit a proposal that uses the three properties at the corner if they are willing to acquire the private parcels. "The town has money to buy open space. We don't have money to buy commercial property," Cergol said. Nor do they necessarily want to. "The whole rationale for Northridge [a proposed nearby mixed-use development] and facades is to try to kick-start private development. It's to encourage it," said EDC legal counsel Thomas Glascock.

David Pennetta, EDC board vice president, told Wieland and other audience members that EDC board members also feel a sense of frustration about how long it can take to line things up, and how many factors affect development. "It's a feasibility thing," about how the board focuses efforts, he said. "It's a time vs. returns kind of thing."

Pennetta noted that if a developer steps forward, they could start construction Monday on the Northridge parcel, which is about an acre in size, since the EDC obtained all town and zoning approvals, along with building plans for retail on the first floor and a commercial or community-oriented use on the second floor, but the economy faltered and development stopped. Wieland asked the price of the land and the board said an appraisal would be needed, but suggested he double the recent $535,000 appraisal price for the 1000 New York Ave. lot since that was the most recent comparable rate and the Northridge plot was double the size. No appraisal has been done since it was to be a ground lease, which doesn't need a value placed on the land. That's an example of how plans can stay on hold, Pennetta said. "Every nook and cranny and twist, we feel we're going forward, and then it's something else," he said.