Community Homes deal near

The final phase of housing construction by Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes on post will mean more money for local jurisdictions.

It's not clear yet exactly how much Jefferson County and the town of LeRay can expect.

Officials from Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency and Lend Lease had a conference call earlier this week to talk about the cost of the project and the documents that need to be completed and signed.

"We're still in the process of sorting it all out," JCIDA CEO Donald C. Alexander said Thursday. "We got the breakdown on cost — what we need to do is work on the distribution agreements."

Lend Lease will include 22 additional homes in Monument Ridge, 161 new four- and five-bedroom homes in Crescent Woods and the renovation of 42 garden apartments into 21 townhouses on Fort Drum. The project totals about $80.2 million in soft and construction costs.

In the first two phases of home construction on Fort Drum, the developer will have paid about $11.6 million to local taxing jurisdictions in a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement. In the second phase, JCIDA's total receipts were $504,510, Jefferson County got $1,724,640 and LeRay got $605,188.

JCIDA's revenue from the first two phases, called Residential Communities Initiative, supported some development at Watertown International Airport, Dexter, and loans and grants through the community development fund. Of the $3.1 million it has received so far, the agency spent $61,985 on operating expenses and $1.7 million in grants and loans to projects such as Great Lakes Cheese plant expansion.

Through the initiative, the company built 1,399 homes and 192 apartments and renovated 2,270 homes so far.

"We are moving as fast as we can, because the construction season is so short," Mr. Alexander said.

Once the offer instead of property taxes for a community development agreement is clear, with the sales and mortgage recording tax breaks, JCIDA will discuss the distribution with the taxing jurisdictions. Fort Drum property is owned by the federal government and is tax-exempt. The agency will hold a public hearing on the project's package at 10 a.m. July 12 at the LeRay Municipal Building, 8650 LeRay St., Evans Mills.

"We are hoping by sometime midweek next week to have it all put together," he said.

JCIDA is likely to get some of the county's share again, but this time to help with rental housing development.

Both the county and the JCIDA have pledged $2 million each.

"The county and IDA will work together to make sure we have the money to support our commitments," he said.