NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

            Pursuant to Article 18-A of NYS General Municipal Law, the Erie County Industrial Development Agency (the “Agency”) will hold a public hearing on November 18, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. at the City of Lackawanna City Hall located at 714 Ridge Road (Council Chambers), Lackawanna, New York 14218 regarding:

Erie Wind, LLC, and/or an Individual(s) or Affiliate(s), Subsidiary(ies), or Entity or Entities 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 continue to undertake a certain project (the “Project”) consisting of:  (i) the acquisition by the Agency of a leasehold interest in two (2) parcels of land located at 2303 Hamburg Turnpike in the City of Lackawanna, Erie County, New York (the “Land”) together with two (2) 2.5 megawatts wind turbines (the “Existing Improvements”), (ii) the replacement and upgrading of the Existing Improvements without changing the existing towers, foundations and electrical equipment (the “Improvements”), and (iii) the acquisition and installation by the Company of certain items of machinery, equipment and other tangible personal property necessary for the operation of the wind energy generation facility (the “Equipment”, and collectively with the Land, the Existing Improvements and the Improvements, the “Facility”).

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 proposes to provide financial assistance to the Company in the form of a lease for a term of fifteen (15) years and a partial tax abatement of real property taxes for the term of the lease.  The proposed financial assistance deviates from the Agency’s UTEP in the following respect:

Payments under the PILOT Agreement deviate from the UTEP as they will be based upon megawatts generated by the Facility in connection with the operation thereof and not based upon the assessed value of the Project.  The Agency proposes to deviate from the UTEP given the nature of the Project and that the Project will provide a benefit not otherwise available within the locale of the Facility.

A representative of the Agency will be present at the above-stated time and place to present a copy of the Application and hear and accept written and oral comments from all persons with views in favor of or opposed to the proposed financial assistance.  Written comments may be submitted at this public hearing or delivered to the Agency at 95 Perry Street-Suite 403, Buffalo, NY 14203 until the comment period closes on November 19, 2019.  The project application is available for public inspection at the Agency’s offices Monday through Friday (excluding public holidays) from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

This public hearing is being conducted in accordance with Subdivision 2 of Section 859-a of the New York General Municipal Law.

Click for a copy of the application (PDF)

Click here f or a copy of the transcrpit (PDF) 

If you would like to submit a comment regarding the project, please use the form below.  Alternately, you mail also e-mail us directly at [email protected].  Comments will be accepted up until November 19, 2019 at 4:00 p.m.