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Spill fund deal will bring remediated properties in Massena, Fowler and Fine back on tax roll

Posted 6/11/16

By JIMMY LAWTON St. Lawrence County is hoping to bring three more remediated properties back on the tax rolls thanks to an agreement with Environmental Protection and Spill Fund. The fund has …

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Spill fund deal will bring remediated properties in Massena, Fowler and Fine back on tax roll

Posted

By JIMMY LAWTON

St. Lawrence County is hoping to bring three more remediated properties back on the tax rolls thanks to an agreement with Environmental Protection and Spill Fund.

The fund has expended roughly $3 million on cleaning up the former gas station sites in Massena, Fowler and Fine.

All three sites are delinquent on taxes and the county is hopeful it can reclaim them. However, because the spill fund has invested money in the cleanup, the county could typically have to reimburse the fund before taking back the property.

Fortunately, the county has negotiated an agreement that will allow the county to reclaim and sell the property in return for half of the sale proceeds. That deal saves the county approximately $3 million.

At the Parker Site, located at 158 State Highway 37C in Massena, the fund has spent $467,985 on cleanup and removal of petroleum based containments.

At the Smithers Site, located at 3557 State Highway 3, in Fine, the fund has spent $1.4 million on cleanup and removal of petroleum based containments.

At the Fowler Site, located at 69 Main Street, the fund has spent $1.2 million on cleanup and removal of petroleum based containments.

Under the agreement, the fund would also hold harmless any future cleanup costs. This eliminates risk for potential buyers and makes the property far more marketable. However, that caveat would not be extended to persons who are deemed legally responsible for the discharge of the petroleum at the sites.

This agreement comes on the heels of a similar deal that will bring the former Sealand Dumpsite in Lisbon back on the tax rolls.

St. Lawrence County Attorney Stephen Button credited Gary S. Bowitch of Bowitch & Coffey, for making the deals come to fruition. He said Bowitch is tuned in with the Department of Environmental Conservation and EPA and has been instrumental in getting assistance from the EPA to test and remediate various sites at minimal costs to the county.

Bowitch has been at the forefront of similar, but smaller projects in Lisbon, Potsdam and Gouverneur. See more on those projects at http://bit.ly/22YWN2S.