Grocery
Store interested in Gray
By Elizabeth Prata
Gray--Community Economic Development Committee chair
Julie Sheets reported to the CEDC members last Wednesday
night that she had been contacted by Realtor Rhonda
Lee who is representing Mr. Elvin Copp. Mr. Copp owns
32 acres of land just south of Gray Plaza worth 1.4
million dollars on the open market. Ms. Lee has been
contacted by three businesses, Ms. Sheets said, all
in the grocery industry, and they were all interested
in that parcel for new construction. One store seemed
more interested than the others, and had said they
wanted to build a 38,000 square foot building on the
lot. Ms. Lee had been referred to the CEDC by Town
Planner Dick Cahill, and Ms. Lee's request was for
the Committee to write a letter in support of the
grocery store.
The Committee discussed the situation at length. The
parcel had been tied up in a consent agreement due
to long-term environmental problems that the owner
had caused. The Town and the property owner, along
with the Department of Environmental Protection, have
been trying to get the owner to clean it up for many
years, and though progress has been made, Ms. Sheets
and the Committee expressed concern that the owner
may see this as a way to avoid financial obligations
of the clean up.
As for the letter, Ms. Sheets was in a quandary as
to how much information to disclose regarding the
realtor query. She said she did not want the Committee
to have to sign a letter not knowing specifically
to whom the letter was addressed. The committee also
discussed what would be the contents of the requested
letter. Ms. Sheets put the item on hold until she
could contact the realtor again and said she would
bring the matter up at next month's meeting.
In other business, the CEDC discussed its name at
length. The members' focus had been on the "Economic"
portion of their title, and have not been focusing
on the "Community" portion of their name.
Member Jeanne Adams asked what community projects
the CEDC has completed or would be interested in working
on, and the consensus of the committee was that they
were not interested in the Community portion of their
title. Ms. Sheets said that they were a small committee
and they needed to prioritize, and the focus would
remain on economic development and not community.
The Committee also discussed what information they
would or would not contribute to the newly redesigned
Town website. They did not see their role as contributing
to the website in order to encourage business or promote
the Town as a good business area. They did commit
to placing minutes and agendas on the site, and said
that the new Website committee could handle further
content submittals. Their consensus was that the website
was adequate as it was, though Ms. Sheets said that
when she went to find information about the Route
100 TIF to help give her background to the Rt. 100
grocery store issue, she was disappointed not to find
any.
In August, the Committee had discussed their charge.
Every Town Committee has a charge, outlined in the
Council Rules. The CEDC's charge was also outlined
in the Rules but they wanted further definition. They
also noted that their recent initiatives have not
been successful and wanted a project that they could
conclude positively.
The Council has decided to monitor the problems surfacing
from applicants, business owners, and developers regarding
the difficulties they face in doing business in Gray.
The Town Council fulfilled the CEDC's request for
a charge and a project. It is to research and discover
the problems inherent in the regulatory quagmire that
Gray is known for, a term coined by CEDC member Ralph
Wink at September's meeting. That charge has now been
delivered to the CEDC by the Council.
