Genesee responds to ‘baseless attempt’ by Orleans to halt sewer main for STAMP

Court date set for Dec. 5 as Genesee seeks to finish sewer project through Shelby to Oak Orchard Creek

Photos by Tom Rivers: The entrance to the STAMP manufacturing site in Alabama is located off Route 63, south of the Town of Shelby in Orleans County.

ALBION – Attorneys for Genesee County Economic Development Center have submitted court papers in response to a lawsuit from Orleans County seeking to halt a sewer main from the STAMP site in the Town of Albion down Route 63 to the Oak Orchard Creek in Shelby.

Genesee claims Orleans is making “obstructionist proceeding” in a last-ditch attempt to stop the project as part of an “extortionate” demand from Genesee for money to get the Orleans blessing.

Steve Hyde, the GCEDC executive director, in a sworn affidavit dated Nov. 6 said Lynne Johnson, Orleans County Legislature chairwoman, made the demand for the county to be paid $4.98 per 1,000 gallons discharged into the creek – which translates into about $10 million annually if 6 million gallons is sent into the creek daily from STAMP at full buildout. Johnson said that money should be disbursed quarterly to the Town of Shelby, Orleans County and Orleans Economic Development Agency, according to the Hyde affidavit.

Orleans County, in its lawsuit, said Genesee never had the county’s permission to do the project, and improperly formed a subsidiary – STAMP Sewer Works – to own the sewer main. Orleans also states the discharge into the creek would hurt the fishing resources through the world renown Oak Orchard and limit the economic development chances in Medina and Orleans County by adding up to 6 million more gallons of water daily to the creek.

Orleans County sued on Sept. 11. The State Supreme Court in Orleans County has set a 2:30 p.m. Dec. 5 court date with lawyers to appear by video conference. The Town of Shelby has since joined the lawsuit as an intervenor.

Attorneys for GCEDC and others named in the lawsuit – G. DeVincentis & Son Construction Co., Inc., Genesee Gateway Local Development Corporation, and STAMP Sewer Works, Inc. – filed a 56-page response earlier this month and called the court challenge “a baseless attempt … to obstruct or delay construction of a long-planned, duly-approved infrastructure project.”

The sewer main would allow businesses at the 1,250-acre STAMP to discharge treated sewer water into the Oak Orchard. The sewer main is imperative for economic development to move forward at the site, writes attorneys Craig A. Leslie, Adam S. Walters and Matthew J. Fitzgerald of Phillips Lytle LLP.

They say Orleans County was well aware of the project for several years and never objected until mid-2023. Its silence prior to that should be considered consent, the attorneys write.

“After Orleans County chose to sit on the sidelines during the years-long process that led to that project’s approval, and after having its demand for an extortionate payment rejected by GCEDC, Orleans County now seeks to block the project entirely, at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute, for no principled reason and seemingly purely out of spite,” the attorneys write.

The GCEDC attorneys say the state is strongly behind the site, and committed another $56 million to it on Nov. 2 through the Empire State Development. That brings the state’s commitment to economic development at more than $100 million for STAMP infrastructure and incentives, the attorneys said.

Plug Power is already under construction at STAMP and Edwards Vacuum has announced it will build a $319 million “Factory of the Future” semiconductor dry-pump manufacturing facility at STAMP.

Plug Edwards plans to employ nearly 70 people at its site, while Edwards Vacuum said it would have 600 highly skilled professionals in its facility.

Genesee says Orleans misfires in its lawsuit, including by failed to name other “necessary parties” in its petition, including the Town of Alabama, state Department of Transportation (which owns Route 63), the Niagara County Water District which agreed to provide water to the site, and landowners who have approved easements for the sewer main but won’t get paid if it’s not constructed.

The statute of limitations has passed and it’s too late to include the necessary parties now, GCEDC attorneys said.

The lawyers also fault Orleans for not establishing clear and convincing evidence that it will suffer irreparable injury.

“The balancing of the equities favors the STAMP Respondents, current and future STAMP tenants, the taxpayers, and the general public,” Genesee states in its court filing.

Genesee stated in the court papers the water from STAMP will be cleaner with lower phosphorus levels than the water treated by the Village of Medina sewer plant and sent into the creek.

“Once construction and installation are complete, the Force Main will be closely monitored and will continue to be overseen by multiple state and federal regulatory agencies which—unlike Orleans County —possess the skills, training, and experience to ensure the environment is protected,” the attorneys write.

They are harshly critical of Orleans for waiting so late in the process following more than a decade of planning with many chances for comment. Construction of the pipe is already in the ground on Route 63 in Genesee County. The installation is about half done with the project on hold in Orleans due to the lawsuit.

A sewer line is shown on Aug. 12 on Route 63 in the Town of Alabama. Genesee County Economic Development Center seeks to install the sewer main along 9.5 miles of Route 63 – from the STAMP site to Oak Orchard Creek.

Genesee said Orleans County could have voiced opposition in the previous seven years, waiting until mid-2023 when tens of millions of taxpayer dollars had already been invested in STAMP. The Orleans County Health Department approved the sewer project to the Oak Orchard Creek, and the Town of Shelby voted to be part of the STAMP Sewer Works, Genesee states in the court papers.

Genesee notes the project has faced stringent environmental reviews from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Transportation.

Orleans, in its lawsuit, also stated GCEDC is wrong to spend Genesee funds for a project outside its county and jurisdiction. But the Genesee attorneys say the project is funded by the state through an Empire State Development initiative.

Hyde, in his affidavit, said he and the GCEDC have worked 15 years trying to develop STAMP. It is one of the few mega-sites with more than 1,000 acres available in the state and is designed to attract large-scale, advanced manufacturing companies.

The site is attractive to semi-conductor companies because of “the extensive environmental review and pre-permitting diligence completed by GCEDC and Genesee Gateway to date, together with the significant investment in infrastructure made by the State of New York through its economic development agency Empire State Development,” Hyde said.

At full build-out STAMP can accommodate up to 6.1 million square feet of advanced technology manufacturing, office and retail space. GCEDC projects direct employment of up to 9,330 full-time jobs with a regional economic impact for support companies serving the site.

“Notably, it is projected that the economic impact of STAMP will benefit not only the Town of Alabama and Genesee County, but also the entire Greater Buffalo-Niagara and Rochester regions, including Orleans County,” he said.

The Genesee attorneys urge State Supreme Court Judge Frank Caruso to dismiss and deny the Orleans County petition.

“A judgment in Orleans County’s favor at this point would not only reward its dilatory and obstructionist conduct, it would waste $100 million in public investment,” the Genesee attorneys write.

Thwarting the sewer line would also do “irreparable harm to the STAMP Respondents—and to the public,” the attorneys write.

“That far outweighs the speculative harm claimed by Orleans County, tipping the equities decidedly in favor of the STAMP Respondents.”