The city of Batavia has temporarily halted a $120 million expansion project with HP Hood in the town of Batavia due to “violations of the town’s contracted wastewater capacity limit,” and both municipalities are working to rectify the situation, City Manager Rachael Tabelski says.
Tabelski sent the town Planning Board a letter on March 13 notifying the group that the city had not been informed in a timely manner that the town had been established as lead agency for the proposed expansion of process lines at HP Hood on Feb. 13, 2024, and the city did not receive word of that until March 4. The city, therefore, objects to the town acting as the lead agency, Tabelski said.
In addition, ”due to violations of the town’s contracted wastewater capacity limit, the project cannot proceed,” Tabelski said in the letter.
When asked for further comments in an interview, Tabelski said, “As we are in active negotiations with the town regarding a new purchase capacity agreement, I’m going to respectfully decline an interview at this point.”
She did provide the two-page letter sent to the planning board, which includes background about the apparent increased wastewater discharge that was “identified as part of the state environmental quality review (SEQR) for the project application and 2021 SEQR amendment for the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.”
“The city was never furnished a copy of the 2021 GEIS (generic environmental impact statement) amendment and is an involved agency,” Tabelski said.
In 1983, the city and town entered into a wastewater facility agreement that outlined ownership and operation of the new treatment plant. In February 2015, they entered into a wastewater facility agreement and a wastewater metering agreement. The city currently owns 84.55% of the total plant capacity, and the town owns 15.45%.
Due to ongoing development in the town, including the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, the town’s sanitary sewer flows are exceeding the contractual limit of .85 million gallons per day (MGD) or 15.45% of the total capacity, Tableksi said.
Each city and town resolution in May 2023 identified the parties’ mutual concerns about potential increased flow resulting from the Kings Plaza pump station project, and the average sewer flow was 1.2 MGD. In fall 2023, the town advised the city that HP Hood was expanding but that it was only the warehouse and would not create additional demand for water or sewer capacity. Hood already discharges 1.1 to 1.2 MGD. By the end of 2023, the town’s average sewer flow had increased to 1.33 MGD, Tabelski said.
“This is well in excess of the town’s contractual limit of .85 MGD,” she said. “Consequently, the town has no capacity to allocate to expansion of HP Hood or any other facility at this time.”
The city also cannot permit increased sewer flows from the town of Batavia until the wastewater treatment plan expansion study is complete, she said.
“The city and town still need to enter into a proposed wastewater agreement that was circulated in January 2024. However, this agreement will still not allow for increased discharge beyond 1.2 MGD. This pending agreement will be the town’s limit for wastewater discharge.”
As for its objection to the town being lead agency for the Hood project, Tabelski said that “the town has failed to accurately and timely inform the city about the expansion of wastewater capacity demand at the Ag Park.”
“In addition, the town is in breach of the wastewater agreement with the city by discharging in excess of .85 MGD,” she said. “A lead agent under SEQR is responsible for thoroughly and accurately evaluating the potential environmental impacts prior to making a determination of significance on the action.
“The town’s excess wastewater discharge beyond contract limits threatens the city’s discharge limits and has the potential to exceed the city’s (State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit,” she said. “As a result, the city objects to the town’s lead agency designation for this action under SEQR.”
The Batavian sent questions on Wednesday to Planning Board Chairwoman Kathy Jasinski about why the town exceeded its wastewater capacity and what the town would do to rectify the matter so that it could proceed with the Hood project, which has received the blessings of Genesee County Economic Development for the $120 million expansion.
Jasinski replied on Friday, referring The Batavian to the town engineer. The Batavian has sent questions to Steven Mountain and received an auto-response that he will be out of the office until March 27.
The Hood expansion is to be 32,500 square feet and pledges to create 48 new jobs while retaining 455 full-time equivalent jobs at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park. This project accommodates its automatic storage and retrieval system refrigerated warehouse. It will also include new batching and processing systems and other upgrades, which will allow the company to increase capacity and begin a new production line.
HP Hood’s investment is projected to result in a local economic impact of $49.87 million in wages and tax revenue. The GCEDC approved sales tax exemptions estimated at $4.52 million, a property tax abatement estimated at $549,705 based on an incremental increase in assessed value, and a mortgage tax exemption estimated at $536,000, bringing the value of the proposed financial agreements to approximately $5.6 million.
GCEDC’s board recently approved the Hood financial package, prompting The Batavian to ask if the agency was aware of the wastewater situation and request comment about the city’s action to put a hold on the project.
“We are aware that the city and town of Batavia are continuing discussions regarding the current capacity at the wastewater treatment plant as our communities plan for the future,” Director of Marketing and Communications Jim Krencik said. “The GCEDC Board of Directors approved incentives that directly support HP Hood’s warehouse expansion. All IDA incentives cannot be approved until the completion of a project’s SEQR. The non-warehouse project is currently under the SEQR review by the town. Soliciting comments and feedback from interested and involved agencies, such as the city’s letter, is the first step in that process.”
In her conclusion, Tabelski said the city is willing to consider “other mitigation options to decrease wastewater discharge by the town” so that it can remain within the contractual limit.
“Unfortunately, until such wastewater reduction options are implemented by the town, there is no wastewater capacity,” she said.
