Cresco Labs has been granted its request for a $27.99 million reduction in property taxes over 15 years and $10 million in sales tax exemptions for construction of a $209 million cannabis growing facility in the town of Wawarsing.
The Ulster County Industrial Development Agency board voted 7-0 to approve a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, concluding that concerns about the business involved did not outweigh the economic benefits.
“The sun is finally going to shine on Ellenville after a long, long cloudy spell,” board Chairman James Malcolm said.
“When you promise 375 jobs … it’s going to be a tremendous amount of ripple effect for this community,” he said. “It’s a super project.”
Cresco is proposing to construct a 380,000-square-foot facility on the site that formerly housed Channel Master, Imperial Shrade, and Hydro Aluminum off U.S. Route 209 along the Ellenville-Wawarsing municipal line.
Local officials, the school district superintendent, and several business owners during a May 3 public hearing voiced support for the the project, while speakers from outside of the immediate community spoke in oppsition
On Wednesday, May 18, written comments were made available for public review. Among them were 14 supporting statements using the same form letter, which asked that the tax breaks be approved.
“A project of this size with over $200 (million) in investment in a decrepit property and the promise of (375) jobs will be an incredible contribution to the Wawarsing community,” the letter states.
Written opposition came from three people in two letters, with former New Paltz town Councilwoman Kitty Brown arguing that growing heat craving plants is far from being a “green” business because of around-the-clock lighting and intensive ventilation needs. Quoting information from The New Yorker magazine and The Guardian news site, she said electricity use for marijuana growing operations amounts to 1 percent of total U.S. electricity use.
“Renewable energy should be required,” she wrote.
Dave Toder, also of New Paltz, wrote that awarding a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement seems to be at odds with the intent of state approval of recreational cannabis use.
“New Yorkers were told that legalizing pot would result in increased tax revenues for New York state, but the Ulster County IDA is poised to offer huge tax breaks to pot industry,” he wrote. “Giving tax breaks to … Cresco Labs, the largest marijuana processing company in the country, will harm the taxpayers of Ulster County.”
Marijuana grower wins tax breaks from Ulster County development agency
