Orangetown Board Approves Easement For Data Center Site

The Orangetown Town Board unanimously approved a resolution at Tuesday’s meeting for a $100,000 permanent easement with Russo Development to help move forward with a data center project at 155 Corporate Drive in Orangeburg.

“The whole point to this process and conversation we’re having is to work with Russo Development and the perspective data center client to make sure that that property is developed to its highest investment to the Town of Orangetown,” Orangetown Town Supervisor Andy Stewart said at Tuesday’s meeting. “We’re appreciative of the investment Russo Development is making [and] with the way that you’ve approached this through the planning board process and conversations with lawyers and engineers and everything else to get to a point where we can take another step towards what’s really going to be a great thing.”

The easement allows for three telecommunication lines — two along the road entering the facility and one that would go over the edge of nearby town property near Veteran's Park — necessary for the site. The wires required technical reviews and an evaluation of compensation to the town for allowing the use of land.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the board went into executive session twice to further discuss it before voting on it. Stewart said the executive sessions had to do with negotiating the size of the easement.

“There have been various questions and conversations regarding evaluation of the easement,” he said. “The conversation has come to a point where I think everybody has a satisfaction with the evaluation of justification.”