CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
Area leaders tour land to examine its possibilities
FARMERSVILLE — The two Cattaraugus County sheriff’s four-wheel-drive vehicles took only a few minutes to climb a couple of hundred feet in the rain. But to the small group of passengers, the ascent afforded them an endless view of possibilities for the land that had hung in the balance for 19 years as a controversial commercial landfill proposal.
Before its purchase in 1989 by Integrated Waste Systems, the 437 acres of springs, forests and meadows were used by generations of farmers and hunters. In January, the land was seized from the developer for back taxes by the landfill’s key opponent, the Cattaraugus County government.
The move took the property off the tax rolls through 2010 and brought an end to the county’s landfill opposition costs. The town assessor has recoded it as vacant farmland. But it upset town officials who didn’t like losing the taxes generated by the $2.6 million manufacturing assessment the property was given during the landfill siting process. The District 5 legislators sought help from the townspeople this summer in healing the bad feelings caused by the project and have announced that a beneficial use will be found.
Jerry Burrell, R-Franklinville, organized the tour and heads the Development and Agriculture Committee, which will recommend a use to the Legislature. Tuesday, he assured acting Town Supervisor Joe Brodka and Councilman Bill Kozak the county won’t drag out the process.
Burrell, as well as Donna Vickman, R-Farmersville Station; Charlie Hebdon, D-West Valley; and District 7 Legislator Jim Boser, D-Allegany, who looked over the site Tuesday, said the county shouldn’t keep the property but should return it to the tax rolls. Brodka said he shared that view, but when Kozak suggested the property could be rented out to bean growers or others to generate income while the decision is finalized, County Attorney Dennis Tobolski responded that liability issues may prohibit renting the land.
Brodka asked the legislators if the Town Board could tear up the contract it signed in 1991 with the landfill developer. Burrell and Tobolski suggested asking Town Attorney Don Swanz.
Burrell later told the group that the area’s average assessment for rural vacant land runs from $800 to $1,200 per acre. He said the county’s forestry consultant, Forecon of Jamestown, will analyze the timber, and well drillers will be asked about the site’s natural gas reserves. Possibilities for business projects are expected to be examined by Joe Williams, acting county economic development planning and tourism director, who joined the tour.
Tobolski, expressing awe at the setting in the rising mist, said, “I just wanted to come out and see what we’d been fighting for all these years. It’s pretty nice up here.”
