Greece, N.Y.- On Tuesday, Monroe County awarded Bryant and Stratton’s new Greece campus with a $620,000 tax incentive.
For the college, this is progress after several contentious months.
In August 2011, the Greece Town Board rejected the college’s plan to relocate their current Greece campus on Bellwood Drive to a new one on Long Pond Road near English Road.
“Many of the neighbors felt that this proposal did not fit in with the neighborhood,” says Greece’s Director of Development Services Gary Tajkowski.
He says many nearby residents were concerned about traffic the new campus would bring, especially since Long Pond Road is already so busy and Greece Athena High School is so close.
Walter Butler lives behind the proposed Long Pond Road site and says at first, he didn’t want to see the school go into that plot of land.
“I think we envision more congestion and of course, that's a concern of mine,” Butler says.
However, at this point, Butler like many other residents has accepted that the school will move in.
“Well, we have to accept it.” Butlter says. “It's a done deal now. The New York State Supreme Court is deciding it in the college’s favor.”
In January 2012, the State Supreme Court overruled the Greece Town Board’s decision and the school was granted a special use permit.
Construction on the 33,000 square foot facility will start as early as April this year.
Some people, like Wendy Rockcastle, are looking forward to the new campus. She owns a flowers shop near the site and says the new campus may be good for business.
“I don't think it could ever hurt to have another business in the neighborhood,” she says. “ There’ll be more people coming into the area, so I think that could be a great thing.”
Also, she’s not too concerned about traffic.
“We understand that a lot of their courses are at night,” she says. “Plus, I have faith that the town will help with the traffic issues might occur, but we don't see that as big a problem.”
Butler says that after nearly 20 years of being empty he knew the lot would be developed sooner or later. He says a college may actually be better than other developments that could fill the spot.
“Ideally, I would like it to stay vacant but that's unreasonable,” Butler says. “In my opinion, a college is not a bad thing to have in there. I prefer that to a strip mall.”
The Greece Town Planning Board will meet Wednesday to discuss the college’s proposed design plans for the campus.
The new campus would enroll about 400 students and create eight new full-time jobs.
