Garys
NES Member
LenS said:- I know of some industrial park developers who were forced to give the town a new fire station or new fire engines as part of the deal.
Ikea in Stoughton did a lot of work on the roads in the area, is buying the town at least one fire engine, and is paying $1Million a year in property taxes.
LenS said:- There were some serious concessions made to keep the Patriots in Foxboro. Lots of highway improvements were made. Don't recall if the gov't paid for them but I suspect as much.
Some of it was paid by the state, but I think a lot of it was paid for by Kraft. Not to mention the paid details! <G>
LenS said:- I've sat thru Zoning Board of Appeals meetings where the ZBA demanded items/concessions from the developers that had absolutely nothing to do with their development. It was an "either do it or get denied your permits" issue! I call it extortion!
During the Ray Flynn years, this was known as linkage. Builders had to provide some public benefit in order to get their projects approved. The people who built International place had to build a new fire station, other companies had to build parks or community centers. Some may consider it extortion, but in fact it helps to offset the additional costs that the municipalities generally end up bearing.
Gary