FARMERSVILLE
Legislators to tour 437-acre site seized for back taxes
FARMERSVILLE — Cattaraugus County’s District 5 legislators will take a tour Wednesday morning to get a close-up look at the county’s newest acquisition, a 437-acre rural property seized in a January for $359,000 in back taxes owed by a commercial landfill developer.
“It’s an opportune time to take a look,” said Jerry E. Burrell, R-Franklinville, who arranged the outing with Donna M. Vickman, R-Farmersville Station, and Charles F. Hebdon, D-West Valley, as lawmakers decide how to best use the parcels.
The legislators were criticized in the spring by the Farmersville Town Board for refusing to include the land in the county’s annual tax foreclosure auction, but all three have said they want to take time to assess the property before seeing that it is returned to the tax rolls.
Possibilities they said they were considering include a wind farm, oil and gas wells, and subdivision lots.
Last month, Burrell and Hebdon, accompanied by Sheriff’s Sgt. David Schuman, were given some more suggestions by a small group of town residents attending a forum in the town fire hall, but insisted no decisions for the site’s use had been made.
The ideas offered by speakers in the audience included a park as recommended by a county consultant more than a decade ago, selling it to Amish farmers, renting it seasonally to hunters and devoting it to a general recreational use.
Several asked questions about a wind farm that may be proposed in the town. Other comments were provided to the legislators in writing, both during the meeting and by mail, but those have not been made public.
Burrell said the tour will begin at 11 a. m. at the county highway barns in Machias, rain or shine, using vehicles to climb the property’s steep terrain. He confirmed that representatives of Noble Environmental Power, a wind farm developer, were invited on the tour but as of Monday had not confirmed participation. Expected to join are Farmersville Town Board members, County Attorney Dennis Tobolski and Schuman.
Noble has powered up its nearby Bliss Wind Park in Wyoming County and is preparing a 67-turbine project in the adjacent towns of Centerville and Rushford in Allegany County.
While town officials have said the foreclosed parcels do not provide optimum wind resources and another area of the town is under consideration, the company’s staff has met numerous times with town officials regarding a wind farm spanning Farmersville and Freedom.
Farmersville passed a local law in 2007 regulating wind generating facilities but does not have a zoning ordinance or a comprehensive land use plan. Noble has secured at least 30 leases from Farmersville property owners for sites on which to place wind turbines.
