OCIDA advises people to stay off White Pine land after hunters’ gunfire pauses Micron prep work

TOWN OF CLAY, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The owner of the White Pine Commerce Park is asking people not to trespass on the property that will eventually be sold to Micron.

“We’ve had a couple people say… they think it’s county parkland.” said Robert Petrovich, the director of economic development for Onondaga County. “It’s not county parkland. It’s IDA-owned.”

The property, reserved for the the $100 billion Micron “megafab” campus, will eventually be sold from the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) to the company.

On at least two occasions over the past few weeks, the sound of gunfire from hunters forced the pause of pre-construction work happening on the land.

In addition to county workers, Petrovich explained, “Micron has their consulting team out there. We have folks from the DEC and US Fish and Wildlife doing assessments… they’re not expecting hunters.”

As the county waited decades for someone to see the land’s worth as a mega industrial site, the wooded and field-like property was vacant. For years, the private property restrictions weren’t enforced.

“I think these are just people that live in the vicinity and, for years, availed them of the opportunity to walk on this land and hunt, or people just walking through the woods or bird watching,” said Petrovich.

“We can’t continue to keep stopping work,” Petrovich warned. “If we encounter somebody on the property, we don’t want to, but we would get law enforcement involved if we have to.”

“Posted” signs have been installed around the property’s perimeter, including along Burnet Road where most homeowners have sold their land for the project.

Pre-construction work, like the environmental review and soil sampling, is expected the rest of this year. Micron leaders have informed people living in the area to expect equipment in and out for many months.

Construction is scheduled for next year.

Over the next 20 years, Micron and local leaders have promised four chip-making factories on the campus, resulting in 9,000 Micron-paid jobs and 40,000 spin-off jobs.

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