Take a drive several hours north from Utica to the town of Brighton, and you’ll find a former prison on a sprawling 92-acre campus known as Camp Gabriels.
The minimum security facility in Franklin County was closed in 2009 because of state budget cuts and has since remained devoid of inmates.
Despite the best efforts of local leaders, Camp Gabriels will remain vacant for some time.
“No one knows what to do with it,” said John Tubbs, Franklin County Industrial Development Agency executive director. “It’s an opportunity for someone out there – we just don’t know who yet.”
Even though the property is owned by the state Office of General Service, Tubbs said the development agency can provide financial incentives to a developer by offering loans and helping with tax exemptions.
The Office of General Services has unsuccessfully tried twice to auction the property, which also acted as a tuberculosis sanitarium and satellite college campus before it housed inmates.
Prior to its closure, Camp Gabriels was the largest employer in the town and held about a third of the immediate region’s population, officials said.
Sue Mayer is the chairperson of the Town of Brighton Community Development Committee, which is promoting the property to prospective developers.
“We’ve reviewed the reuses that were suggested in the plan the state had issued,” Mayer said. “The plan didn’t have that many reuses. They want to sell it as a whole and not break it up into smaller parcels.”
Mayer and the committee also repeatedly are calling state officials to make sure Camp Gabriel remains on their agenda.
“We want them to know how concerned the town is with the property,” she said.
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