Syracuse, N.Y. – Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said Wednesday the county has made a “comprehensive” offer to a 91-year-old widow it is trying to evict from a home on the land where Micron Technology plans to build a massive semiconductor plant.
“We put forward a comprehensive solution to the family, which they are now considering,” McMahon said during a press conference. “We believe this comprehensive solution is the best to address all the issues with Mrs. King and is fair to the taxpayer.”
The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency issued Azalia King an eviction notice on Sept. 4, giving her 90 days to leave the home she is living in at 8700 Caughdenoy Road.
OCIDA bought the home and an adjacent 21 acres of land from King and her husband, Glenn, in 2005 for $330,750 but agreed to allow the couple to live in the home until the last of them died. Glenn died in 2015.
The county now wants King out of the home because Micron is expected to begin site work in December on what the company says will be a $100 billion semiconductor fabrication plant employing up to 9,000 people. The home sits on a 3-acre portion of the 1,400-acre county-owned site where Micron plans to build its factory.
The development agency has also started an eminent domain proceeding to take away any rights she had to live in the home under her 2005 agreement with the agency.
King filed a lawsuit against the agency this week to stop it from evicting her. The lawsuit says the eviction notice violates the terms of her 2005 agreement with the agency.
At the same time, McMahon said today, the King family and county officials have been negotiating for months on possible financial compensation for King if she agrees to move out of the home. McMahon said he has more recently taken a personal role in the negotiations and that the discussions have gotten more serious in the past couple of weeks.
McMahon said he feels bad that a 91-year-old widow is being forced from the home where she has lived for many years.
However, he said the home cannot remain where it is while Micron builds its massive factory. And he said he will not allow the presence of the house to stop what would be the largest development project in state history.
A large portion of King’s property is on land that will be turned into a water retention pond, he said.
“In the short term, could we work some things?” he said. “Yes...but under no circumstances can we have this megacampus and have a house there.”
McMahon declined to provide details of the county’s offer to King. But he said he would make the offer public if King and her family reject it.
Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard has reached out to King’s family for comment.
Micron has not set a date to begin site work, but McMahon said he anticipates it will be around the third week of December. Micron estimates the plant will begin producing its first memory chips in late 2030.
