VERONA, N.Y. — A proposal to build a 400,000-square-foot indoor sports and recreation facility at Griffiss International Airport is just one of the goals outlined by Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. during his 2025 State of the County Address, which he gave on Tuesday May 20 at the Shenendoah Club House at Turning Stone Resort Casino.
Other issues highlighted during the address include initiatives to tackle job training, housing, and childcare issues, as well as the development of a food hub in Utica.
“Oneida County is a very different place than when I first gave this speech,” Picente contended during his address. “We live in a much stronger community. Think back to 2007 or even before that. Would anyone have imagined Nexus and the Aud hosting world championship tournaments? Would anyone have thought we would have a state-of-the-art hospital? Did people really believe a semiconductor industry would exist here? A permanent agreement with the Oneida Indian Nation that is the best county-tribal partnership in the United States? I don’t know how many believed it then, but they can see it now.”
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New plan for Griffiss
Picente’s vision for vacant hangar space at Griffiss International Airport in Rome is taking a new direction. In the past, he focused on finding an aviation use for the space but found little success.
“With the announcement of Chobani and the ever-changing face of the entire Griffiss Business and Technology Park, there has never been a better time to think differently and think big,” he said.
His new proposal is a multi-purpose indoor sports and recreation facility called The Runway for youth tournament-based play for sports including lacrosse, soccer, baseball, softball, flag football, basketball, volleyball, pickleball, tennis, wrestling, and gymnastics.
“The vision doesn’t end there,” he added. “On top of the recreation component, we will plan for many other amenities like lodging, cafes, restaurants, maybe even a distillery and brewery.”
The facility would build on the success of the business park, including tenants like Air City Lofts. Chobani recently announced plans to build a food-processing facility on the nearby Triangle Parcel. The Runway, Picente said, would cement the park as a multi-use work, live, and play neighborhood.
With Chobani’s new $1.2 billion facility creating more than 1,000 jobs and Turning Stone Enterprise’s $700 million expansion and renovation project at Turning Stone Resort Casino, the area is going to need workers to fill all the jobs, Picente said. The county will launch a multimedia campaign and work with Mohawk Valley Community College, the Workforce Investment Board, and others to create the needed training programs.
“We are going to make sure everyone who wants one of these jobs knows about them, can be properly trained for them, and will be hired to fill them,” he said. “We will go door-to-door if we have to. Perhaps most importantly, we have to remove barriers to employment. Two of those barriers remain housing and childcare.”
To tackle the housing issue, the county created a new housing tax-exemption policy through the Oneida County Industrial Development Agency focused on developing new housing and a countywide infrastructure-development program called “Build Ready Oneida County” that will make housing sites shovel ready.
“We need 6,000 new housing options of varying kinds,” Picente said. “It doesn’t happen overnight. We must prepare, plan, invest and collaborate to get there.”
New programs to increase access to childcare are already being put into action. This summer, the county will launch the “Every Child, Every Family, Every Day” campaign that features a collaboration with Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) to generate more childcare workers through a micro credential program, a public-relations campaign to help promote the use of the county’s childcare subsidy available to families of four making up to $96,000, and promote the county’s family daycare grant and MVCC’s childcare programs. Oneida County’s Daycare Startup Grant Program has already created nearly 100 new daycare spots over the past six months.
Picente also announced plans to transform the REA Wing of Union Station in Utica into a food-hub destination that would include a food incubator and event space.
He also announced the Oneida County Community Price and Place initiative that will allow local municipalities to apply for funding to address blight in areas where municipalities have ownership or are responsible.
“My father used to say the cheapest thing you can do to make something better is clean it and paint it,” Picente said. “Now, this is going to be a little bit more involved than what my father had in mind, but the premise is the same.”
Municipalities must provide matching funding for any application to be considered. The program can be utilized in a number of ways including cleaning up spaces; improving curbing, crosswalks, and landscaping; or stabilizing vacant properties to prevent further decay.
“We should not let neighborhoods fall into disarray and disrepair while their residents lose their price of place and the dignity and self-respect that come with it,” Picente said.
