FROM THE PUBLISHER: Avon Crossroads Park Now the Bermuda Triangle of Time

I wish that Julie Marshall, Director of the Livingston County Industrial Development (LCIDA) Agency, had been my 5th grade teacher instead of Mrs. Brewster. If she had, maybe I would have passed 5th grade on the first try.

In this Friday’s LCIDA meeting, Marshall proudly announced that the Avon Crossroads Park debacle, a quarter-mile road extension at the Avon Commerce Park, was completed the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. Later on, however, she sort of clarified the remark and said that actually, only the base and binder layers of the paving were complete, and the road was still awaiting infrastructure and a topcoat. “Infrastructure,” by the way, includes necessities like drainage, lights, and shoulders.

A 5th grader could perhaps appreciate Marshall’s claim “completed by last Wednesday,” but teachers and most parents still know that doing 5 out of 20 homework questions is an incomplete assignment.

Where we now stand is that the “road going nowhere” won’t be top coated until spring, and then the Town of Avon won’t touch it until after their own engineers take a close look at it to ensure it was built properly and that the existing water retention pond has been expanded.

About that pond.  According to the LCIDA, they need to expand the pond to meet the standards of the Town of Avon and their engineering firm, the MRB Group. MRB has requested that another 3,200 cubic yards be added to the rain water retention pond to protect lower lying areas from flooding. The added capacity of the retention pond will eat 3/4 of an acre somewhere, possibly lot 33, which will cost $321/yard to excavate, for a total of $10,300. And this is not a minor detail. The Town estimated last year’s flood damage at $75,000.

The so-called road going nowhere, formally known as Tec Drive, was initially scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2014 as part of a land sale contract between Tec Drive Associates and the LCIDA. Among the key terms of the deal were that the LCIDA was to complete the extension of Tec Drive, from the center of the park to Route 15. Dom Genova, who owns Tec Drive Associates, was supposed to get road and utility access to his newly purchased property on Tec Drive, on which he intended to build an auto repair facility. Genova placed $150,000 in an escrow account, the property was transferred to him, and he now holds the deed.

The purchase money still sits in the escrow account, however, and as a result of the County’s failure to meet the deadline specified, Genova can legally remove the money and keep the deed. Genova has since filed a lawsuit that has made such a splash that the Rochester Business Journal printed an in depth report on the debacle.

The Bermuda Triangle of time in the case thickened this past June, when Marshall stated that the road would be complete in October 2015. Robert Tugal, Chairman of the Town of Avon Planning Board, now famously said over 180 days ago, “The good news is that we are going to get a road in 60 days. These things happen.”

The short version of why it took the LCIDA two years to extend a road the distance of a lap around the track is this: they were trying to save money by getting an EDA grant which included so much red tape that it was difficult for the LCIDA to handle. They were in over their heads, and had signed a legal contract to meet a deadline that was impossible to meet. When they realized there were going to be problems, instead of going to the other party, a respected local business owner, they came up with a series of buffoonish excuses blaming everyone from U.S. Sen. Schumer to U.S. Congressman Chris Collins, and of course the media, for the delays. The only ones the LCIDA did not hold accountable was themselves.

This past June, Marshall said that the project was ‘on schedule’ and would have significant completion by November.

At the LCIDA board meeting on Dec. 4, Marshall said that the road is usable for walkers but will remain barricaded, and that contractors will be driving on it as they build out the infrastructure through the winter.

Among the concerns that were raised during the Dec 4 Board meeting were who would maintain the unusable road that is partly complete, through the months of winter. With no shoulder and infrastructure, for example, it would be easy for a plow truck to roll off the unfinished and unmarked surface into a ditch. Marshall conceded that the road will remain with a barricade in front of it, and she hoped that contractors would plow it themselves as they worked on drainage, lights, shoulder and other infrastructure needs.

And it’s still unclear how Mr. Genova’s legal claim will play out.

I think sometimes about why I failed 5th grade. One reason is that no one was checking my homework. My second time through 5th grade, I passed. Things had improved at home and there were people around checking my homework. If we hadn’t changed anything the second time around, I would likely still be in 5th grade. So as we look at this embarrassing incident for the LCIDA, I wonder. Have they changed anything? And is anyone out there checking their homework?