Cicero's supervisor says the town is open for business. Monday, town leaders broke ground on a new Byrne Dairy store. As TWC News' Iris St. Meran explains, the convenience store is just part of the town's master plan to foster more economic development.
CICERO, N.Y. -- There's a lot to celebrate with a few tosses of dirt on this empty plot of land in Cicero. The groundbreaking is making way for a second Byrne Dairy in the town.
"A lot of people live in Cicero. It's a very highly populated area," said Mark Byrne, Sonbyrne Sales president. "A lot of people grew up on Byrne Dairy products."
The 4,000 square foot convenience store will be at the intersection of South Bay Road and Circle Drive. Similar to the Mattydale store, it will sell both gas and groceries, evolving from how it debuted 80 years ago.
"Our first store only sold milk,” Byrne said. "Then we added ice cream, and then we added bread. And it's evolved; now we carry 2,500 different products."
In addition to this development, the planning board chairman says between 12 and 24 businesses have come to the area, adding roughly 250 jobs within the last two years.
"There's a new spirit in the town of Cicero," said Cicero Town Supervisor Mark Venesky. "We are now, and I'd like to say we were always, open for business."
Venesky said the town is paving the way for even more business to come.
"We are going to proactively rezone the town of Cicero in areas that are good for business that are not going to infringe on the quality of life of our neighborhoods,” Venesky said. "We are going to look at the Route 11 Corridor, Circle Drive all the way to Brewerton, to take advantage of that good economic engine that's being built in Oswego County."
He's talking about the CNY Raceway Park that's under construction in Hastings. Venesky believes Cicero is attractive because of its neighborhoods, proximity to the airport and what he calls a pro-business climate.
The new Byrne Dairy is expected to be open in June.