Members of the Syracuse Redevelopment Commission vote to accept the purchase offer for Lot 7 in the Technology park. Going clockwise are David Rosenberry, Virgina Cazier, David Wilkinson, Jeff Goralczylk and Nathan Scherer. Photo by Lauren Zeugner

By Lauren Zeugner
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Redevelopment Commission agreed to accept a formal bid for $22,000 for Lot 7 in the, technology park, located north of town during its regular meeting Tuesday night, July 16.

Lot 7 is the last lot to be sold in the park. While there has been significant interest and others have attempted to purchase it, it poses some unique issues with several utilities, including a Canadian pipeline, running underneath it.

The purchaser intends to invest approximately $1 million on improving the lot.

The commission agreed to terms of the development agreement grant where the purchaser receives $6,000 for phase one, development and construction and $4,840 for phase two when the owner takes occupancy of the building.

Town Manager David Wilkinson told the commission the bid for the Pearl Street Parking Lot project came in lower than expected. He would like to have the remaining money allocated to that project shifted for street paving and street engineering for the remainder of this year and into 2025.

All of the funds come from the Syracuse Tax Increment Finance District, which has approximately $1.5 million in it.

The commission approved raising the paving budget.

Wilkinson told the commission he would like to do a study regarding changing the type of stop lights in the Wawasee Village area as a first step in redeveloping the area.

Another plan is to look at reconfiguring the Bowser Road/SR 13 intersection.

Wilkinson asked to use VS Engineering to come up with a proposal for a cost of $50,000 for the Bowser Road/SR 13 intersection.

He asked for an additional $50,000 to hire JPR Engineering to look at the possibility of installing some kind of boardwalk over the drainage ditches between SR 13 and the access roads for pedestrians and bike riders. The commission approved both requests.

Nathan Scherer, a member of the commission, told the commission he would be meeting with an organization out of Kendallville that works on eliminating blighted areas. He’s interested in learning what techniques they use that might be impactful in Syracuse.