January 18th 2022
Kevin Loewke gave local labor monitoring reports for the month of December and for 2021. The local labor rate at the Amazon Manitou site is at about 62% with a goal of 70%.Brian LaFountain discussed labor exemptions for the Amazon Manitou site. As of January 8, 61.4% of workers at the site were local. Local labor was paid $28 million which was 70% of total worker pay. Steel workers account for some of the non-local labor. It’s projected that these workers will be finished in March or April at which time the 70% target could be met. If the target is not met in the end, the Board can reduce benefits that had been approved for the project.
APPLICATION REVIEW:
Requests for sales tax exemptions, recording tax exemptions and/or real property tax abatements were approved for the following applications:
Wolf Solar LLC, a Canadian company, for construction of a solar energy project at 7484 Fourth Section Road in Sweden. Saturn Power Corporation is the parent company for both Wolf Solar LLC and Mantisi Solar LLC. No decision has been made as to procurement of panels.
Mantisi Solar LLC, a Canadian company, for construction of a solar energy project at 7397 Fourth Section Road in Sweden.
1365 Emerson Street LLC and Tri Tower Telecom LLC for the acquisition and renovation of a warehouse facility at 1365 Emerson Street in Rochester to accommodate business expansion.
Erie Station 241 LLC and CooperVision Inc for the renovation of an existing facility and the construction of a new facility at 180 and 230 Thruway Park Drive, respectively, in Henrietta.
Li-Cycle North American Hub, Inc., a Canadian company, for the construction of facilities at 50 and 205 McLaughlin Road in Greece to produce metallic compounds from an intermediate product of lithium battery reclamation. The current request pertains to the facility hub; the application for a warehouse was submitted to COMIDA in December. The by-product will be handled at the facilities and not the batteries themselves.
PROJECT MODIFICATIONS:
The following requests were approved:
• South Union Street LLC requested an increase in project costs for the on-going construction of a Hampton Inn and Suites adjacent to The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.
• Tony Celino LLC requested approval to assume the real property tax abatement for the HIVE@155 mixed use development in Rochester.
• HFC Associates LLC requested approval to assume the real property tax abatement for 795 Monroe LLC. • Alkemy Machine LLC requested extension of their sales tax exemption through December 31, 2023.
• Ren Square LLC requested extension of their sales tax exemption through December 31, 2022.
• Butler/Till Media Services Inc. requested an extension of the sales tax exemption through December 31, 2022.
• Rochester Clinical Research, Inc. requested an extension of their sales tax exemption through June 30, 2022. • Skyway Communications Inc. requested an extension of their sales tax exemption through June 30, 2022.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
The Compliance Committee is recommending that job creation waivers be approved for a restaurant and a technology company. The Board voted to approve both waivers.
OTHER BUSINESS
• Jim Gertner and Marcy Lynch from the Mpower program at MCC provided a program update to the Board. An additional $200,000 was requested to support the Health Care Program through June 2022. The request was approved.
• COMIDA staff requested $12,500 for the purchase of Pro Track Plus software to support customer relationship management and economic development processes. The request was approved.
• A draft dashboard report was presented to the Board for the first time. The report will be issued monthly.
An update on the sale of the Brew Road property to Solar Energy Suppliers was discussed by staff.
Observed by Deborah Rice Gordon