CANAJOHARIE - Village officials have approved the sale of nearly nine acres in its watershed to a San Francisco-based water bottler that plans to use village water for its proposed bottling plant in Johnstown.
The undeveloped land on Old Sweet Road in the town of Johnstown will be sold to the CG Roxane Bottling Co., which produces Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water.
The company will pay about $1,100 per acre for the land, its assessed value, Avery said.
The land will be developed by CG Roxane, which is working with the Fulton County Industrial Development Agency to build a spring-water bottling facility on the south side of Watershed Road in the town of Johnstown. The plant will employ at least 33 people, with another dozen employees possible in the future once a storage facility is built on the property.
Canajoharie Mayor Francis Avery said CG Roxane will widen Old Sweet Road and use it as an access road.
"Rather than go through eminent domain and delay everything, we just decided we would sell them 8.7 acres to help them develop this route," Avery said.
CG?Roxane recently broke ground for the plant on the Johnstown site. Canajoharie will sell some of its water to CG Roxane.
"The sale of water will help the bottom line of the water budget," Avery said. "It can only help."
The town of Johnstown will rebuild the road, after which CG?Roxane plans to deed the land over to the town for its continued upkeep.
According to IDA Executive Director James Mraz, Old Sweet Road's redevelopment is waiting on approval from environmental agencies. If approved, it would be completed by the end of the year.
The IDA is not contributing to the financing of the plant project, as all sales and construction are being done out of CG Roxane's pocket, Mraz said.
A hearing on the project is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Johnstown Town Hall.
Arthur Cleveland covers Montgomery County and can be reached at montco@leaderherald.com.