STAMP could be major user of Medina sewer

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 August 2014 at 12:00 am

Village will study capacity, pipe route

MEDINA – The village has millions of gallons of excess capacity at its sewer plant, and wants to make that available to businesses at the proposed STAMP site just across the Orleans County border in the Town of Alabama.

But before the village commits to providing sewer, it will study capacity issues for the sewer plant, types of discharges from companies that could set up at the 1,250-acre STAMP, flows for different times of the year and possible routes for sewer line to the site in Alabama.

The village has engaged Larsen Engineers for a study. Terms for scope of work and costs haven’t been approved.

‘This has enormous potential as a funding source for the village,” Mayor Andrew Meier said during Monday’s Village Board meeting.

He sees businesses at STAMP, and supply companies that could set up in Medina and Shelby as future customers for the village sewer services. They could help drive down sewer rates for village residents, or perhaps provide other revenue to relieve the strain on village taxpayers.

Medina and Route 63 corridor are ideally situated for STAMP-related businesses. Besides a close proximity to high-tech companies at STAMP – Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park – the Route 63 area is within a 30-mile radius for low-cost hydropower from the Niagara Power Project.

“There are enormous synergies,” Meier said. “It could be an enormous boost for the community.”

The engineering study may look at increasing capacity so the Medina area can accommodate as much of the potential economic boom as possible.

Meier would like to see sewer lines run down Route 63, but he is open to other routes if the swamp proves too difficult or costly of an obstacle for the infrastructure.

The Genesee County Economic Development Center has been working for about a decade to develop STAMP, a 1,250-acre site that will accommodate nanotechnology companies including semiconductor 450mm chip fab, flat panel display, solar manufacturing, and advanced manufacturing.

Gov. Cuomo and the State legislature approved $33 million in the current state budget for infrastructure to make the site more attractive to developers.

The site, in full build-out, is expected to employ 10,000 people with many making $100,000 or more. Another 50,000 jobs will be created in the region to support the companies at STAMP, Steve Hyde, GCEDC chief executive officer, told county officials in April.

Hyde said he expects at least 800 to 1,000 people to work at STAMP from Orleans County, and perhaps 4,000 to 5,000 more through construction and supply-chain jobs.