Greece town supervisor disputes ‘open space’ claim on housing site

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Greece Town Supervisor Bill Reilich said the Democratic Party candidate to be his successor is misinformed about the land that will be used for a proposed senior apartment community on Island Cottage Road.

Jeff McCann on Tuesday said town officials have agreed to sell the property at 354 Island Cottage Road for the development of Penn Central Apartments, even though the parcel was meant to be forever open space.

“The town made a commitment that this land would not be developed when it was purchased in 2004,” McCann, who is currently deputy Monroe County executive, claimed in a news release sent out by his campaign.

But Reilich countered with his own news release on Thursday, saying McCann’s claim simply is not true.

“There was never a promise to maintain green space on what decades ago was an apple orchard, in part because of contaminants that remain in the soil,” Reilich said.

He added that the town bought the property for $214,753.80 in 2004 but “no where in the resolution did it state that this purchase was ‘for the purposes of preserving open space,’ ” as McCann alleged.

Reilich did say that while previous town leadership under former Supervisor John Auberger had talked about making the property dedicated parkland, “that is certainly not what the previous administration did.”

Reilich’s comments on Thursday were in response to allegations made by McCann in a story that ran on RBJ.net on Tuesday. Town officials did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday before the story was published.

Penn Central Apartments, with a total of 310 units, will be constructed in two phases. The $36 million first phase calls for 163 units for seniors and health care workers. The second phase would add an affordable housing component.

As part of the conditional site plan approval, Reilich said the developer is responsible for remediation of contaminants, as well as subsurface and air quality testing.

“It is important to note that the town of Greece has the highest senior population compared to all other towns in Monroe County,” Reilich said. “Additional housing opportunities are critical to allow our senior citizens options to enjoy continued independent living in our community. This project provides this important need, and the sale of this land ensures that taxpayers will be made whole, and then some.”

Reilich, who is not running for reelection due to term limit regulations, also said that the resolutions for three other property purchases by the town between 2003 and 2004 specifically noted the intention of preserving open space.

“It is extremely important that a political candidate seeking to lead our town gather all the facts before making false claims or conveying misinformation to the public,” Reilich’s news release said.

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