Alternative-energy park proposed at Silver Hills

But how far it goes will depend on its infrastructure and federal and state financial support for it, county IDA Director Peg Churchill said.

The Industrial Development Agency owns 62 acres at the village’s Silver Hill Technology Park and would like to develop its long-planned industrial sustainability park on the site, she said.

Using alternative energy would allow companies to reduce their utility bills and estimate their utility costs years ahead of time, making the site attractive to developers, she said. The site could also bring new jobs to the area and give the local economy a boost.

“We would create a park that would be interdependent – an almost symbiotic relationship between industries [and] energy sources so that industries would choose to come here,” Churchill said.

One company on the site might, for example, produce excess heat in its manufacturing processes that could be used to heat another company’s offices, she said.

“... we sincerely hope that the developer can work out any issues and that they could become part of our community,” Mayor Peter Blandino said.

For now, though, the site is empty, and Churchill said that any construction timeline would depend on the amount of interest from businesses and the financing available.

The site does have two ponds on it, one of which is spring-fed.

“So the potential of doing geothermal is pretty good,” Churchill said.

The IDA also wants to complete a three- to six-month wind study to determine if the site is suitable for wind turbines. Churchill said the agency would need a zoning variance from the village of Newark because a temporary, 160-foot-high tower would have to be constructed for the test.

The data collected from that test could be used as a benchmark to estimate wind levels elsewhere in the county, she said. Such turbines could power water plants, farms, cold storage facilities and other buildings as well as additional industrial sustainability parks.

“Although there may be opportunities for very large-scale wind farms, there may be many more opportunities for focused-use turbines,” she said.

Harbec Plastics in Ontario, which has such a turbine, was part of the inspiration for the sustainability park, Churchill said. Harbec uses a combination of solar power, wind power and efficient energy use to keep utility costs down.

“You take that model and expand it so it’s a whole park,” Churchill said.

The village and the Town of Arcadia would probably not receive tax revenue from the park because the IDA owns the land. The agency might instead make payments in lieu of taxes, Churchill said.

But Blandino believes the park could still have a positive impact on the village.

“Sure, the taxing side of it is very important,” he said. “However, the long-term positive effects can in some instances offset the temporary loss of revenue from taxes.”

The IDA originally planned to put the park in Ontario because it already had wind data from the Harbec turbine. Event though several companies were interested, the plan fell through, Churchill said.

“Part of it was timelines,” she said. “The timelines that were driving the construction basically couldn’t be met.”