BILL NUMBER: S6080

SPONSOR: RITCHIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act authorizing the commissioner of general services to convey real
property at the St. Lawrence psychiatric center to the city of Ogdens-
burg

 
PURPOSE:

To convey certain surplus land at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center to
the city of Ogdensburg.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 authorizes the Commissioner of General Services to convey
certain specified land and improvements situated thereon, at the St.
Lawrence Psychiatric Center, to the city of Ogdensburg.

Section 2 describes the parcels of land at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric
              

Center which are to be conveyed to the city of Ogdensburg.

Section 3 provides that the description in § 2 of this act is not
intended to be a legal description but is only intended to identify the
premises to be conveyed. It is a condition of purchase that the City of
Ogdensburg submit to the commissioner of general services an accurate
survey and description of the lands generally described here.

Section 4 provides that the commissioner of general services shall not
grant the land description in § two of this act unless application and
improvements is made by the city of Ogdensburg within one year after the
effective date of this act.

Section 5 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center campus covers more than 400 acres,
including extensive frontage along the beautiful St. Lawrence River, and
access to highways and a major international border crossing.  Over the
course of several decades, core services at the facility have been
centralized in just a few of the more than 100 buildings at the site,
and much of the land remains vacant and unused, excluded from develop-
ment and removed from local tax rolls.

Community leaders have long recognized the development potential for
this unused land and buildings, and the City of Ogdensburg proposes to
begin a long-term revitalization program utilizing these neglected
assets. Development of these parcels would transform underutilized
eyesores into major community assets that can help revitalize the North
Country's economy and serve as a model for the rest of the state. The
City envisions redeveloping approximately 160 acres of surplus proper-
ties and buildings, arranged in four distinct sites across the campus,
for mixed use residential, recreational, commercial and industrial
purposes. Because the success of such an ambitious redevelopment plan
will rely on full support and aggressive action by local community
stakeholders, the City seeks transfer of these parcels from the state.

One needs only to look at other recent examples to understand why local
control is critical to the success of redevelopment efforts involving
underused government-owned assets. Two such examples involve the former
Griffiss Air Force Base, and Governor's Island near Lower Manhattan,
where local control is allowing redevelopment after years of delay. Such
a visionary redevelopment effort would benefit Northern New York and St.
Lawrence County by attracting significant private investment, creation
of hundreds of construction and permanent jobs, and returning hundreds
of acres of now-exempt property to local tax rolls

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill. Similar legislation has been introduced in previous legisla-
tive sessions.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.