Niagara County Village of Barker seeks buyer to put part of former Birds Eye operation to new use
BARKER — Wanted: A suitable use for a seven-acre site in the heart of this quiet village of 577 residents, home to a bank, a school district headquarters and a dozen mom-and- pop businesses.
Property comes complete with six buildings, water and electricity, plus more than an acre of green space.
Price tag: Negotiable, but, to recoup some expenses, more than the $20,000 the owner paid for it last year.
The owner is the village itself, which purchased a portion of the property last Decemberfrom Birds Eye Corp.
For many years, Birds Eye had operated a processing plant and provided housing for migrant workers on the property, under a handful of different owners.
Birds Eye sold the larger portion of the site to Mayer Bros., which now uses it for warehousing.
But the village purchased the smaller, seven-acre portion last year.
Officials said the municipality bought the property to find a proper use.
This followed two court decisions blocking an Elba farm from purchasing it for migrant worker housing — this time without any attached processing plant.
Village officials said they wanted to take this opportunity to explore other uses for the property.
Mayor Jo Ann Greenwald said the village and planning boards have contemplated a number of ideas.
“We have talked about an office park because we could use another doctor in the area,” Greenwald said.
“We have one doctor, Dr. [Margaret A.] Libby in Somerset, and she’s very, very busy. We could use a dentist and an attorney. We could use a grocery store. People have to travel to Medina or to Lockport, and we lost the grocery store in Newfane. [Shurfine closed earlier this year.] Maybe this site could be a nursing home or a call center.
“We’ve talked about light, clean industry — something that would fit into our little village and increase the tax base and bring in some business,” she added.
Greenwald said geography presents a challenge. “We’re off the beaten path here, in between two major routes — Routes 18 and 104 — so you pass by here but not through here.”
Barker serves as the business district for the Town of Somerset.
“Any business would be good business,” said Carol Ander, manager of Thee Barker Store on Main Street. “We just need to get some bodies in Barker. With the way the economy is, people are sitting on their hands as well as their wallets because they don’t know what the future holds.
“But with the big businesses failing, I sometimes think maybe we’ll go back to the small towns and the small businesses. We just need to bring people to this area.”
Somerset Supervisor Richard Meyers echoed Anders’ remarks.
“Look at Amherst or downtown Buffalo,” he said. “Companies pay a lot for everything, from parking to property. I think more businesses are getting out of cities and moving to the countryside.
“You can buy a great house with property here for $120,000 that you’d pay $500,000 for in other places. It’s a great little place.”
JT Precision recently tried to purchase the property to expand its Somerset business.
But on the recommendation of the Planning Board, the Village Board turned down the company’s $20,000 offer.
The company instead is pursuing plans to build a new facility near Somerset Town Hall.
Herb Meyer, Barker Planning Board chairman, said his board recommended against the sale to JT Precision because it did not include plans for the entire site.
The mayor added that the $20,000 offer did not cover the village’s additional outlays, estimated at $10,000, to pay for legal fees, insurance, taxes (remaining for the year 2007) and maintenance.
“We’re looking for the best use of the entire property,” Meyer said. “There is a house that served as an office, a dining hall, two residence dorms, a garage and a pavilion-type building.
“They all need some renovation. They’ve been vacant for a while. The village has been maintaining the property as best it can.
“We’ve considered perhaps splitting it up and leasing spots, and we need an engineer to come and tell us the best way to do that so that there is road access to all of the buildings,” Meyer said of the site, now accessible only from East Avenue.
“We were thinking maybe a day camp or Boy Scout camp for kids, or a dance studio or karate studio, for example,” Meyer said. “There’s a lot of potential to this. But this [owning property] is something new for us. The Planning Board has lots of nice, fresh ideas, and we’re trying to put them together for the good of the village.”
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