DEVELOPMENT: Yahoo! incentive, site plans going to hearings

Local News

June 28, 2009

Staff Reports The Niagara Gazette Sun Jun 28, 2009, 11:07 PM EDT

TOWN OF LOCKPORT — Back-to-back public hearings will be held Tuesday regarding siting of a Yahoo! data center in the town industrial park.

• The Town of Lockport Industrial Development Agency will hold a hearing on a proposed Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes agreement with Yahoo! at 3 p.m. Tuesday in the IDA conference room, Town Hall Annex.

The IDA has offered to sell Yahoo! a 30-acre site in the industrial park, on which it would build a 191,000 square foot facility to house a data center; the site is bounded by Junction Road on the west, Enterprise Drive on the south and Crown Drive on the east. The sale price is $450,000.

The proposed PILOT is for 20 years. Terms include: Payment of zero property taxes, county or school, in years one through 10; then taxes on 20 percent of assessed value in years 11 and 12, 40 percent in years 13 and 14, 60 percent in years 15 and 16, 80 percent in years 17 and 18 and 100 percent in years 19 and 20.

Also, the agreement would convey mortgage tax exemption and sales tax exemption on all equipment purchases through 2028, rather than just construction-related purchases. The sales tax exemption is said to be significant to Yahoo! as it routinely replaces data processors.

Yahoo!’s application indicates the data center would employ approximately 75 people in full-time jobs; and construction would spark 250 short-term jobs. The center would be built in two phases, office and data center space first, then more data center space; work is projected to begin in August and be completed by September 2010.

• The planning board will hold a hearing on the Yahoo! site plan and request for subdivision approval at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Town Hall meeting room. The 30 acres that the company would purchase needs to be split off from an existing, 60-acre lot currently held by LIDA.

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