Posted by Paul Economos re 4/7/05 Meeting with Developers

At the request of Jack Darwak, Paul Hakim asked the developers to be left off the agenda for the Planning Board meeting last Monday(which they did) until some issues could be clarified. At the meeting were Paul Hakim, Jack Darwak, Gary, Al Mayone, Karl Brueckner, and Dan Shuster. Dennis Larios could not attend. Essentially the Town told the developers that they would not do any PR for them, and that if they wished to proceed, first an open public meeting would have to be held to let the public know EXACTLY what is involved in the development process here. Not just to say, for example, that a water study would be conducted, but to explain what would be involved in such a study. Who would be performing it, how are they credentialed, what the scope of it would be, along what agency guidelines, what the long and short term ramifications would be, how accurate it would be regarding site specifics, etc. That's just one thing as an example. They were also informed that some preliminary info would have to be provided before the Town would even consider reviewing the project, such things as: Do they have access to the State Road? Do they have a plan regarding the rail trail and any encroachments?, Are adjacent property wells going to be addressed as well as on site water?, etc. They were told that without first having a COMPREHENSIVE open public forum, NO REVIEW WOULD BE CONDUCTED. And, that if any of the people presenting were out of line, the project consideration would most likely be summarily rejected out of hand. I only heard about the meeting around 6:30 this morning. Also of note, the developers were told that the Planning Board, on the advice of Jack Darwak, would request that the State D.E.C. be declared as lead agency for the SEQRA review. They may or may not accept lead agency status, sometimes tending to not be involved in anything with home rule implications, but all at the meeting felt it was most appropriate to follow that path. The public presentation will also include an explanation of section 210-45 of the Zoning, which is for PRD districts. This is just a beginning, of course. They must present a step by step, well defined course of action so the residents know what is involved in the process from the developers end as well as the Town with the review process. Proposed timetables are of course part of this. Paul Economos

"Hidden Forest" Comments Welcome

Background

At the Febuary 6, 2005 meeting of the Hurley Planning Board a developer named Richard Lewis outlined a proposal to build 652 houses on 400 acres in Old Hurley, replacing the beautiful and historic Mill Creek woods between Route 209 and Lucas Avenue. The land is owned by the Gill family. The security “pavilion” to this gated development would be where the parking lot of the Rail Trail is now. Only residents and those with permission would be allowed into this luxury site where the price of houses will range up to nearly $400,000 in current prices. The plan is to restrict residents to “active seniors” 55 and over. In other words, this is not what is normally thought of as senior housing, but a development which will include two swimming pools, tennis courts, a large community center and similar recreational facilities solely for the residents. The development's lawyer in a letter to the Planning Board states: "The project is intended to be constructed in six phases of roughly equal numbers of units over approximately six years. Each phase will include a variety of unit types. The phases will be built successively and each will include sufficient roads, stormwater management structures and practices, and utilities to support the phase. Construction of active recreational facilities, including the club house, and the sewer and water plants will be commenced at the time of commencement of the first phase." Recently, there was a great deal of bulldozer activity in the area which, the developer claimed, was digging to determine if there was sufficient water. Ulster County regulations only state that the builder has to show that there is enough water for that particular site, not if it will dry up the supply to other residents. In addition, this site is extremely close to the main aquifer for Hurley and Marbletown. The area consists mostly of highly permeable soil with a limestone bedrock, meaning that any pollutants are conducted rapidly downhill. Thus, any spilled pollutants will most likely end up in the aquifer and, thus, into our drinking water. The developer plans a nearby sewage treatment plant.