Late last year, we alerted the community to a legal challenge brought by the Town of Maine that sought to halt portions of the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process for the proposed Broome Technology Park. We are pleased to share today that the court has rejected that lawsuit and recognized the importance of allowing our thorough environmental review to continue moving forward.

The Broome County IDA has always maintained that a project of this scale and potential positive community impact deserves a comprehensive review that gives residents and community leaders a straightforward understanding of how potential development could impact the area before development actually occurs. The court’s ruling reinforces that approach and allows us to complete our work under the state’s well-established process to set parameters for what future responsible development of this site could look like.

In the coming months, we will continue working with the Towns of Maine and Union, Broome County, community stakeholders, and technical experts as we prepare a Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS). This work includes carefully reviewing and addressing comments received during the public hearing and comment period that took place earlier this year. The feedback we have received throughout this process has been valuable and helps inform the next phase of our work.

While there is still significant work ahead, we remain committed to conducting a transparent and thorough review that best positions us to explore opportunities in the advanced manufacturing and technology sectors. Our initial review demonstrated that in sustainably designing the park to preserve roughly 77% of the proposed site for open space, natural buffers and recreation areas, development on the remaining land would support 7,000 jobs, $690 million in earnings and $2.3 billion in economic activity at full buildout after 20 years. Our focus is on ensuring future development is done the right way to achieve those benefits for the people of Maine, Union and Broome County.