in April 2000, paints a rosy picture of local and regional impacts. The April 2000 Strategy, as it is known, summarizes the impact:

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1 SEWER FACILITIES The Town has no sewer districts in place, instead residents are provided service from the Village of South Corning. The Village of South Corning sewage treatment plant currently serves about 600 homes: 400 in the Village and 200 in the Town. The plant s capacity is 200,000 GPD with about 90,000 GPD available for use. The map on page 13a shows the extent of sewer service in the Town. The Carapella and Kamine sites located in the valley along Caton Road are crossed by the sewage transmission line. POPULATION TRENDS Projected population growth of 10% from the 1980 level (4971) did not happen; in fact, the Town of Corning lost 4% of its population in 1990 by dropping to This follows a decline of 3.8% from Meanwhile, neighboring towns grow and level off. (See population chart on page 13b.) Population projections made in 1985 show moderate increases. Up to the minute population projections are expected by September 30 this year which will apportion town and village populations to total the county projections made by NYS Department of State. However, because of the sudden surge of new job opportunities, the Corning Painted Post Area School District released a report in late August 1997 estimating the impact of the new development on school enrollment. Reversing the trend of dropping enrollment (31% from and an additional drop of 12% by 1988), the school district may gain as many as 730 new students. With this increase, an earlier elementary school consolidation recommendation has been put on hold. (See Appendix D.) LOCAL AND REGIONAL ECONOMY As noted in the STCRPDB 1998 Overall Economic Development Plan (See Appendix B), the region s economy has been fairly typical of other regions in the northeast, transition from timber and farming economies to manufacturing during the latter part of the nineteenth century. With the emergence of growing, less expensive manufacturing environments in the southeast United States and overseas, the region suffered through a period of decline beginning in the mid-twentieth century. Economic recovery was slow, but noticeable, in the mid-1980's as new businesses, primarily high technology and service-based, emerged. Typical of many northeastern regions, this recovery experienced a downturn in 1990 due to the economic recession. Since 1990, there has been a steady improvement in employment levels and the overall economy. Appendix B includes a more detailed look at trends in the region. More recently, the Intown Corning Report Card Assessment 1996," prepared for Corning Intown Futures, noted the impressive record of new development within the City of Corning totaling between $142 and $171 million since (See Appendix C) The Intown III Plan, focusing on the dramatic expansion of the Corning Glass Center opening

2 in April 2000, paints a rosy picture of local and regional impacts. The April 2000 Strategy, as it is known, summarizes the impact: The visitors to the New Corning Glass Center will have a major economic impact on the region. Based on previous tourist patterns, many of the tourists will stay overnight in hotels and motels. All the tourists will generate a demand for 150, ,000 room nights, spend $ 8-10 million on lodging, and an additional $17-25 million on food and drink, entertainment, shopping and other goods and services. The total impact of these 650,000 visitors on the region will be spending of $25-35 million. multiplied conservatively, this will generate additional indirect and induced spending. the total regional impact of the visitors to the New Corning Glass Center will be $ million. This spending is in addition to any money spent at the New Corning Glass Center itself. It is available to lodging, restaurants, attractions, shops and businesses in Corning, Intown and the rest of the region. How much is captured in Corning will depend upon the efforts of Corning to attract and provide services to the visitors. NYSEG is weighing the future of the Hickling Station, a property which accounts for 17% of the Town s taxable value ($32 million out of $187 million). Tire burning was one option considered which could have been cost effective until NYSEG was denied a tax credit which could make the venture attractive. A threatened take over by an out of state utility makes Hickling s future difficult to foresee. Commercial development has grown tremendously in the Consumer Square area generating healthy taxes for Big Flats and Horseheads. The next closest megamalls are in Lycoming, PA; Geneva; Rochester (Jefferson Road); and Syracuse (Carousel). However, according to Three Rivers Development, commercial land is over built by 25% to 30% so that business closings are anticipated in the older strip plazas and business areas of the region. Industry is locating in the Airport Corporate Park near the Elmira/Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats; the Innovative Center in Erwin; the Industrial Park on Route 15 in Erwin; and the Center in Horseheads. These sites have sewer and water facilities and good transportation access. The industrially zoned land in the Town of Corning is underdeveloped and is not served by utilities. However, the City of Corning and the Village of South Corning sewage plants have capacity. The City is undertaking a thorough review of their sewer and water facilities and would like to meet with the Town about extending service.

3 Flat land, often required by industry, is located in the floodplain. Because diking a river only pushes the flooding problem farther down stream, the Army Corps of Engineers and the NYSDEC rarely fund these structural projects now. Keeping development out of the floodplain is the more cost effective approach in the long term. Attracting large enterprises to locate in a community needs ten to twenty years of planning, infrastructure improvement and marketing. The Town of Erwin is a good example of planning for industrial development by taking advantage of government grants in the early 1970's and by aggressive marketing since then. Even if successful, the closure of a primary industry (i.e. the A&P plant) can cause economic stress. Eighty-five percent (85%) of new jobs are created within existing businesses and industry. The Town of Corning is home to such companies as Rhinehart Sand and Gravel/Steuben Contracting, Evar s Carpet, Drake Heating, the Bowling Lanes, and Hunt Engineers. However, these companies represent only 2.2% of the tax base. The Fiscal Comparisons between Towns chart in Appendix E shows clearly that the neighboring communities such as the Town of Erwin, Town of Horseheads and the Town of Big Flats benefit from their larger commercial/industrial tax base which keeps the town tax rate down.

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6 MAKING THE VISIONS A REALITY: DOING THE ANALYSES WATER SYSTEMS As part of the analysis for the Master Plan Update, the water district map was overlaid by vacant parcels and the slope map to see if there was vacant, gently sloping land located within or near a water district. (See page 14a.) It was reasoned that the Town may wish to encourage these landowners to develop their properties taking advantage of the increased densities which would be allowed because of the availability of public water. It was found that 33% of the land in the Gibson Water District was vacant. Of that, only 9%, or 43 acres, is developable land suggesting that there is some opportunity for new rate payers in the Gibson District. In the Pine Wood Circle Water District, only about 16% of the land is vacant land (27 acre) with 7%, or 12 acres, easily developable. All classified vacant land in the service area to the west of the Village of South Corning is on steeper slopes limiting extensive new development. Only small infill developments anticipated. However, about 100 acres of several large parcels in the valley south of the village, outside the floodplain, could be served by village water. Virtually all parcels in the Corning Manor Water District are already receiving water service. A closer look needs to be taken at this District because of its opportune location near developable land and because of the opportunity to serve the East Corning area which is experiencing increased housing development and ongoing water complaints in the established neighborhoods. With the increased availability of state/federal funding through the 1996 Clean Air/Clean Water Bond Act coupled with the State Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund, all of these communities could pursue funding for improvements or expansion. Because of lower income levels in these older communities, Gibson and Corning Manor might qualify for grant moneys from US Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Surveys documenting condition of septic systems, resident income, and landowner interest would be needed. SEWAGE DISPOSAL Extensive time was devoted by the committee to evaluating the feasibility of providing sewers to existing communities along the Route 352 / Route 17 corridor and to assessing the cost effectiveness of alternative package sewage treatment plants at locations too far from conventional sewage treatment plants in the Village of South Corning or the City.

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8 Overall it was concluded that: 1. Extending sewers to most locations in the Town was not cost effective. (See the chart describing tabled recommendations on page 24.) 2. Providing sewer system from the Village of South Corning to Corning Community College and Pinewood Acres via Bailey Creek Road and Ellison Road (to access developable land) was not recommended because of the high cost. (See the engineering analysis in Appendix H.) The conclusion was that the only cost effective approach is to replace the existing CCC plant with a package plant and tie in, perhaps, an additional dozen homes nearby. Development on Spencer Hill was not dense enough to make a community sewer system cost effective. Clean Air/Clean Water Bond Act moneys could provide some funding especially if the college were considered a state agency. 3. Alternative package sewage treatment plants could be cost effective; in fact, area firms have provided convincing ballpark cost estimates which show that Gibson, Corning Manor and East Corning could be effectively served by these systems. (See Appendix H.) However, there was the general caution that the oversight agencies, NYSDEC and NYSDOH, do not generally favor small package sewage disposal plants because the state agencies do not have staff to monitor, and have been disappointed with poor maintenance records of some small plants. Industry owners may also be wary of the technology and may not be attracted to sites served by package plants unless there were attractive incentives. In any case, there are a number of industrial sites with utilities already available in Erwin and Big Flats/Horseheads. Municipalities may also be concerned that they will become responsible for an unsuccessful system in the event that the homeowners association or other private group defaults on their maintenance agreement. On the other hand, NYSDEC Water Division staff has had experience with a Transportation Corporation formed by the Homeowners Association in Red Creek, Wayne County, NY, and reported no problems. Other working systems include an activated sludge system in Thomas Estates West, Orleans County. East View Mall near Victor had a system for fifteen years before hooking to sewer and it met standards. Locally, Colonial Estates in Campbell has a sand filter.