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The first gave a small portion of city-owned 1-7 State St. to State/Dill Street, LLC, which owns neighboring property at 9-15 State St. The deal's  includes State/Dill Street getting the 15-by-70.50 parcel for free, but the company will need to pay for any improvements, upkeep and all title and closing costs. The contract includes the company agreeing to provide improvements and upgrades to the parcel on or before April 30, 2022.

These include improvements to the south wall of 9-15 State St. and installing landscaping on that parcel "that complement the improvements being made by the City as more particularly set forth in the State Street Event Plaza Site Plan." The contract also said the design and construction connected to all improvements wouldn't be made without the city's consent and approval at least 90 days days before construction, "which shall not be unreasonably withheld." The company will also provide the city "all necessary easements for the purpose of utilities including, water, sewer and electric," the contract said.

The for the other parcel agreement entails JBJ Real Property, LLC getting a parcel around 16.20-by-54.97 from the city. Like the other deal, the city will transfer that section for free. The resolution added that JBJ, which owns the property at 117-119 Genesee St., immediately south of 1-7 State St., proposes upgrade and improve that slice of land, including making a brick paver patio in a way that fits with the city's project. The JBJ will also need to maintain that area, pay all title and closing costs related to the transaction and provide all easements requested by the city for its undertaking.

City Manager Jeff Dygert said after the meeting that a construction meeting for the plaza project will be held next week, and that the plaza is scheduled to be completed in November.

"I think everybody's excited," Dygert said. "I think the property owners in that area and the business owners are excited to get that ugly fence down and see something useful in that area and clean that neighborhood up."

The 1-7 State St. site is where Kalet's Department Store used to be, but the city took over that spot due to tax foreclosure in 1995. Over the years there were a myriad of attempts to redevelop that location, including with a theater at one point, but Auburn officials eventually decided to transform it into a public park.

The council approved bids for the project's construction and construction inspection services last month. The city previously made land agreements similar to the deals approved Thursday with other adjacent landowners.

In other news

The council voted to  for the closure of the city landfill to Marcy Excavation Services of Herkimer.

The project approved this week involves closing around 14.4 acres of landfill, which requires a final cover system, installing six new vertical gas extraction wells, gas piping, modifying the leachate sump infrastructure and replacing the pumping station and outlet valve pit.

Superintendent of Public Works Mike Talbot told council in 2019 that the landfill had about two years of life left before it would be full and that garbage drop-off needed to be reduced by half. Design efforts for a transfer station — where trash is taken before it's sent to another landfill — started in winter 2018. The landfill stopped accepting garbage in late 2020, and that transfer station opened in November.

Before the bond ordinance was voted on, Dygert noted city staff are looking into state and federal funding to help with the closure. 

"If we get that, then we won't be potentially bonding for that full amount," he said. "So there is work still being done to try to reduce the local impact of this, but it's not guaranteed at this point."

"This has been a process that council's been working toward," Councilor Terry Cuddy said. "It is economically the right thing to do and we did, over the years, exhaust all possibilities of keeping it open."