Byline: KENNETH C. CROWE II Staff Writer
MALTA - Pine forest still covers the 1,350 acres of the Luther Forest Technology Campus, site of several promised high-tech factories with high-paying jobs.
The Saratoga Economic Development Corp. has invested $7 million in the campus since the project was publicly proposed in 2003, but the public has seen little apparent movement on bringing the first of a projected 10,000 jobs and $10 billion of capital investment. But SEDC officials say their work is on schedule and they are marketing the site to the world's semiconductor industry for as many as four large computer chip factories.
"Things are going as planned," SEDC President Ken neth Green said. "Luther Forest is going to grow, it's really going to grow."
SEDC anticipates an agreement on the first factory could be signed in two to five years and is marketing the site at worldwide trade shows, private meetings and on the Internet. Green said firms that are investigating the site have signed confidentiality agreements.
Local officials who waded through the approval needed to rezone the acreage - 75 percent of the site is in Malta and 25 percent in Stillwater - are waiting for something to happen.
"We did our part, which was to craft the legislation, which, if they come, will produce a top-notch product for the town with many benefits," Malta Supervisor David R. Meager said. "From the town's point of view, we haven't seen any visible impact. There haven't been any announcements."
"Not much has happened," said Stillwater Supervisor Greg Connors. "More people are skeptical of it today than a year ago. People when they can't touch something, feel something and see something, they become more skeptical as time goes on."
The five-member Malta Town Board unanimously approved the Luther Forest Technology Campus Planned Development District permitting development of the site on May 18, 2004. The Stillwater Town Board followed with its own 5-0 vote on June 14.
"We're all looking forward to the first tenant," Connors said.
The towns are not simply waiting for the first tenant to arrive; they are preparing for the impacts. Both communities are rewriting their master plans, so the towns are not overwhelmed by potential residential and commercial development.
"Our master planning is assuming they're going to come. This new master plan will guarantee that whether LFTC comes or not, the town's rural character will be preserved," Meager said.
SEDC is pursuing three types of companies: the large manufacturers with their 200,000-square-foot clean rooms for making computer chips; so-called boutique companies, which would use a 100,000-square-foot clean room; and companies that make flat screens for TVs, computer monitors and other equipment.
SEDC's engineers have fine-tuned information and plans for the site. Senior Vice President Jack Kelley said the site is pristine, or a "greenfield," as compared to a brownfield or contaminated site.
Consultants tell them Luther Forest is considered to be the No. 1 greenfield site in North America. "We're all set for the next generation of chips that are going to be manufactured," Kelley said. Kelley and Green said LFTC is different from previous economic development endeavors in the Capital Region because governments are making the investments before they have a client.
In July, the site will be wholly owned by SEDC when it completes the purchase of the remaining acreage from Alec Mackay, whose family owns Luther Forest Corp. Federal, state and county infrastructure improvements will be under way to provide water needed for chip manufacturing through Saratoga County's new water system and highway access roads.
Opposition to the buildup lingers.
"There are still some `No factories in the forest' signs," Meager said. "There was an opportunity for legal challenges but that has long since passed. People are letting events unfold and taking a wait-and-see attitude."
Andrea Austin, one of the leaders of Coalition for Responsible Growth, which opposed the project, said the negative impacts are arriving ahead of the chip factories as Wal-Mart proposes building in the town of Ballston and land prices rise.
"So far, we've seen a lot of the downside and none of the upside. Big-box development is proposed. There's speculation in land. I'm convinced that we're not prepared to deal with the growth impacts," she said.
"The whole county is paying the price for that in terms of our quality of life," Austin said. "Regional planning should have been in place long before this project."
For now, Saratoga County residents and their neighbors in the greater Capital Region await news on whether SEDC can deliver.
"You just can appreciate what a project like this could be not only for our community but for the entire region," Connors said. "If half of what we're dreaming comes true, it's going to be remarkable."
Kenneth C. Crowe II can be reached at 581-8438 or by e-mail at kcrowe@timesunion.com.
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