Irondequoit, N.Y.—In a unanimous vote, East Irondequoit school board members chose to penalize the Medley Centre’s developer for not investing enough in the property.
The $827,722 penalty was voted upon because the board found the project in violation of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement between the developer, district, county and town.
“We’ve seen for sometime that there has been a lack of construction, so there’s no real surprise that we are where we are,” said John Abbott, Deputy Superintendent at East Irondequoit Schools.
Abbott said he spoke with Medley’s developer, Scott Congel, on two occasions Monday and explained the board’s plan to take action.
“He must have invested $90 million by April 30,” said Abbott. “If he didn’t, it specifies precisely what supplemental payment that he owes.”
Congel fell roughly $25 million short of the $90 million milestone, according to the district.
There were two six-month extensions. Both have expired, according to Abbott.
Irondequoit residents expressed mixed feelings on the idea of penalizing the developer in this way.
“I think they probably should,” said Larry Slotnick. “This developer hasn’t done a lot for Irondequoit.”
“I’d hate to see if he’s anywhere near on this, I would hate to see him discouraged, (but) he has an obligation,” said Ed Easton.
The district would receive approximately $550,000 of the more than $800,000 levied, according to Abbott.
To date, East Irondequoit has received roughly $1 million from developers over five-years. PILOT payments are due in January and it is the district’s expectation that the next payment will be made. Should Congel invest all $90 million before the payment is due, there would be some “adjustment” to the supplemental payment. But it is unclear if the penalty would be removed, according to a school spokesman.
13 WHAM News was unable to reach Congel for comment on this story. Our calls were not returned.
