At its March 14th meeting, the Lancaster Industrial Development Agency (LIDA) held a public hearing on an IDA application presented by Lucas James.

Lucas James purchased the former Desiderio’s Restaurant at the intersection of Broadway and Bowen in the Town of Lancaster. The restaurant suffered significant fire damage in 2017. Mr. James received rezone and site plan approval from the town to develop the site into a mixed use eight apartment / retail complex. A project worthy of rezone and development and bringing tax dollars to the town.

When the Lancaster Industrial Development Agency membership took office in 2022, its focus appeared to be in taking the agency in another direction, ensuring Lancaster IDA’s met the criteria for IDA approval and were in town / resident best interests over that of the developer / builder best interest – and job creation was paramount. Hopefully that mission is still alive. The Broadway-Bowen Lucas James mixed use project appears to fall short of meeting IDA criteria for receiving tax incentives.

LIDA tabled the vote until their April meeting allowing residents unable to attend the 4 pm meeting the opportunity to view the livestreamed meeting recording and submit written comments. It would also allow LIDA to ‘take a hard look’ at the public hearing comments already presented before rendering its decision.

Individuals who intend to submit written comments to LIDA should visit the livestreamed recording as the hearing became quite contentious as to whether the apartment / retail development meets industrial / commercial guidelines, or whether it takes LIDA to a new, relaxed ‘economic development’ operation as suggested by Mayor Ruda – and where job creation is welcomed, but no longer of primary concern.

Economic development is vital for town revenue and should be encouraged. Not all development is in the best interest of the community and deserving of public subsiding through taxpayer funded tax abatements.