Economic Development Information

On Wednesday, February 6, 2002 Whitestown Town Board unanimously agreed to turn over 92 acres worth of Empire Zone designated property to Mohawk Valley EDGE. Before this boundary amendment was passed Whitestown had 222 acres in an Empire Zone sub-zone shared with New Hartford. Only two Whitestown businesses have been able to benefit from this Zone, Utica Corporation and Oneida Research. Under this resolution more Whitestown business will be able to apply for Empire Zone benefits.

When initially established in 1998 Oneida County ‘s Empire Zone was distributed to the Whitestown-New Hartford sub-zone, Griffiss Business and Technology Park and portions of Frankfort and Ilion. New York State legislation passed in 2001 now allows for the modification of zone boundaries and eliminates the need to keep parcels of land connected. Currently the land between the New Hartford and Whitestown businesses in the Empire Zone is wetland and can never be developed. By returning this amount of acreage to the Mohawk Valley EDGE and Oneida County the Zone Administrative Board may now redistribute the benefits of this Zone to other businesses in Oneida and Herkimer County.

Our Whitestown leaders have negotiated with the Mohawk Valley EDGE and Oneida County to assure that the remaining 130 acres designated to the Town of Whitestown will be retained and redistributed in the Town itself. The other 92 acres returned will be distributed throughout Oneida and Herkimer County. New Hartford and Ilion have already returned their undeveloped acreage and Rome and Frankfort are considering similar action.

Many of our local businesses were present at the meeting in which this action took place. All expressed their support for the amendment and look forward to applying for possible Empire Zone benefits. This is a move to strengthen business within our town as well as our region. The ability to designate any parcel within the county Empire Zone eligible will surely enhance the prospect of new growth in our communities. We, as the Town of Whitestown, have available prime sites for commercial and industrial development and look forward to using this Empire Zone acreage as a tool to attract business to our municipality.

Once again town, county and regional co-operation proves to be a gain for the region. In this significant piece of legislation passed by the Whitestown Town Board we all can see our leaders putting their best efforts forward to enhance the economic climate in our region.