BRASHER FALLS — Thirteen parcels of land that were purchased by Northway Island Associates Inc. for a proposed race track and entertainment complex face foreclosure if the company doesn't pay back taxes from 2008.
Altogether, Northway Island owes more than $35,000 in back taxes on the parcels, which are located on Quinell, Small, Hopson and Laclair roads in the town of Brasher and on Route 420 in the town of Norfolk.
The largest single amount owed is $12,159.25 for a parcel at 121 Laclair Road, while the smallest amount is $90.50 for a parcel at Route 420, Norfolk, according to a foreclosure notice from the St. Lawrence County Treasurer's Office.
Developers closed on 928 acres of land on June 20, 2007, as part of their plan to bring a race track and entertainment complex to the Brasher Flats area. They announced in September 2007 that they were looking for more land for the project.
But now, county Treasurer Robert O. McNeil says, the company has unpaid taxes dating back to January 2008 on property they've purchased and, if they're not paid, those parcels could end up in the county's hands to sell to other buyers.
"The foreclosure will start in January," Mr. McNeil said.
Legal notices have already been published indicating that, as of Nov. 1, a petition of foreclosure had been filed with the county clerk against various parcels of real property for unpaid taxes. The Northway Island parcels were included in that notice.
After April 10, he said, the court will award the property to the county, which would in turn put it up for sale the first Saturday in October.
"We usually take title to about 100 parcels a year," Mr. McNeil said, noting the number of parcels was actually down as more people make an effort to pay their taxes.
"The former owner has right to buy it back up until the day before the auction. You can always stop the foreclosure by paying the taxes. I would doubt they (Northway Islands Associates) would let it go to foreclosure," Mr. McNeil said.
Brasher Town Supervisor M. James Dawson Jr. said he had seen the foreclosure notice and would contact Northway Island representatives.
Northway Islands Associates Chief Executive Officer Jerry M. Colachino did not return a call for comment.
The last update Mr. Dawson had given his town board members was in September, when he noted that the developers were attempting to secure $1 million that would allow them to begin moving the slightly-scaled-back project forward.
The funding would have gotten them to the "permission to build" stage to make it shovel-ready, according to the town supervisor.
In order to get that permission to build, Mr. Dawson had said the developers would need to satisfy the town's requirements for their planned unit development, as well as any concerns from groups like the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Environmental Conservation and possibly the state's Department of Health, since it will be a public venue.
Mr. Dawson had also noted in September that officials were scaling plans back slightly. But the projected complex still called for a number of amenities including a 3/4-mile racing facility, a 1/4-mile sanctioned drag strip and a harness racing track with the possibility of paramutual betting and video slot machines onsite.
Mr. Dawson said they're also planning an 18-hole championship golf course with a skeet and trap shooting range, four or five upscale hotels and some "high-end retail shopping facilities."
One hotel could contain a water fun park that will be open 12 months a year, and they were also talking about an 8,500-seat hockey arena that could double as a convention center.
He had told board members the total cost of the project had been scaled back from $1.2 billion to $900 million, and rather than building in three phases, developers had extended that to four phases to allow them to generate some revenue from the initial phase to use for the remainder of the project.
