Foil: Your right to Know.
“Rockland County and Orange & Rockland Utilities Inc. have kicked off discussions on the utility buying land and building a substation at Rockland Community College.
The nascent proposal remains a concept as negotiations haven’t yet hit on major details like an exact site, price, construction size, and various government approvals, county officials said on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
What’s been accomplished as of Tuesday is a signed agreement between County Executive Ed Day and Rand Commercial to broker the property sale. Paul Adler, a former Rockland Democratic Party chair, leads the Rand Commercial team and the brokerage end of any project.
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Land price of $10M just an estimate
The agreement signed on Aug. 5 sets the county’s estimated price of $10 million and could give a brokerage fee of 5% to Rand Commercial, paid by the utility. The county government released a copy of the agreement to the Journal News/lohud.com under the New York State Freedom of Information Law.
The plan details are nebulous, said John Lyon, the chief of staff for Day. The county and O&R officials have met off and on in recent months, he said. The county government, as a financial sponsor, is the property owner.
“Earlier this year, O&R approached us through Rand about a potential substation on RCC property,” Lyon said. “We don’t have firm specifics from them. There’s no agreed-upon offer. The broker agreement price is our estimate.”
Any property sale and construction would face a multi-step approval process that would include green lights from the Rockland Legislature, the RCC Board of Trustees, and the state. The targeted land would have to be declared surplus and subject to hearings and approvals, County Attorney Thomas Humbach said.
Humbach described the contract as a listing agreement, giving Rand and Adler the authority to represent the county through the complex process of selling public land. O&R would pay the broker’s fee to Rand, according to the agreement. The college, which has faced financial issues, would benefit from the sales price, officials said.
“We’re approached to buy things all the time,” Humbach said. “We have something people want. We have to work with the college. They have to vote on any plan.”
Read the complete Journal News coverage at https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2025/08/27/rockland-eyes-sale-of-rockland-community-college-property-for-orange-and-rockland-utility-substation/85783842007/.
