By Chris English
SCHOHARIE COUNTY — SUNY Cobleskill President Marion Terenzio stopped by the Friday, Jan. 16 Schoharie County Board of Supervisors meeting and delivered some good news.
During Privilege of the Floor, Terenzio announced that a total of $18.3 million had been awarded to two Schoharie County Projects from Governor Kathy Hochul's ACHIEVE competition. That total is part of the $32 million awarded to projects in the six-county Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council area.
The Schoharie County awards are $11.1 million for the $59 million Hoshino Mineral Spa Resort project in the Village of Sharon Springs and Town of Sharon, and $7.2 million for the $403.35 million Empire State Greenhouses project on the SUNY Cobleskill campus.
Terenzio described the SUNY Cobleskill project as something to benefit start-ups and to serve "the next generation of agriculture. The county is ready to be known nationally." She added the Hoshino project would be the first of its kind in the country.
The SUNY Cobleskill project is described on the Empire State Greenhouses website as something that "through a start-up NY relationship with SUNY Cobleskill, Empire State Greenhouses plans to build and operate net-zero-energy controlled environment vegetable and mushroom grow facilities as well as biogas digester.
"Once completed, the 300,000 square-foot facility will host three separate greenhouses and support growth of out-of-season produce on a rotational basis. The Institute for Rural Vitality at SUNY Cobleskill is working in close collaboration with ESG."
Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Federice thanked Terenzio for her work on getting the awards and asked what funding might be possible to benefit additional housing in the county.
"We need projects for housing," Terenzio said. "It's a problem across the state. If we can work together to push that, it would be critically important."
Federice said he has asked BOS Vice-Chair Don Airey to facilitate putting together a list of what housing projects are in the works in the county and what might be coming and bring it to next month's BOS meeting.
Supervisor Alicia Terry thanked Terenzio for SUNY Cobleskill's many contributions to Schoharie County over the years.
"What a tremendous resource SUNY Cobleskill has been for decades," Terry said. "We're so fortunate to have you here."
Federice added "we owe a great deal to all the efforts of SUNY Cobleskill. We're truly thankful we have SUNY Cobleskill as one of our key partners for economic development."
In other news from the Jan. 16 BOS meeting, there was discussion of a proposed increase in the county's occupancy tax from 4 to 6 percent. It's a tax on hotel, motel and other short-term rentals and is generally factored into those bills paid by guests, county Economic Development Coordinator John Crescimanno explained. The increase would be a way for the county to raise more much-needed revenue, he added.
A motion to move forward with the increase by Supervisor Alex Luniewski was eventually approved. However, the increase needs legislative action from the state and also a public hearing and another vote from the county BOS before it's officially approved and put into effect, county officials said. Those steps could take awhile, Crescimanno added.
Supervisor Ben Oevering and some others expressed some concerns with the proposed increase.
"I feel like we lack a lot of information," Oevering said.
"There's been debate about it, and a lot of concerns.....(but) we don't want to be left behind," said Airey, noting that some other nearby counties have increased their occupancy tax.
"I support 6 percent. It is a tax and we might as well use it for economic development," board member Earl VanWormer III said.
In other news from the Jan. 16 meeting, Airey reported that a proposal to replace the former county jail in the Village of Schoharie with housing is making good progress. He said an informational meeting to discuss the proposal will be held 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at Schoharie Central School.
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