Planning Board Will Visit Development Site

At the January 9 session of the Hurley Planning Board and at the request of the Board, the lawyer for the developer presented the town with a large, framed color copy of the site plan for the 652-house development. This is now on view for the public in Town Hall. More detailed plans are available for public viewing in the Town Clerk's office. That office has also received transcripts of December's scoping meeting. The transcript is in both hard copy and in PDF format. It is still to be determined how this can be downloaded in homes. The period has ended for public comments on the scoping document which will offer in detail exactly what areas the developer must cover in its State-mandated environmental review. The Planning Board is still reading these comments and putting them together for the Town's Planning Consultant, Shuster Associates, to place into one format. The consultant hoped to have it ready by the next Planning Board meeting on February 6. Shuster Associates has assembled a consultant review team for Hidden Forest. There was some discussion at the meeting about whether the Planning Board can approve these consultants by itself or if it also needed the approval of the Town Board. It was decided to submit the question to the new Town attorney for his opinion. The recommended consultants are: Boyden Environmental, Delmar--wetland and terrestrial/aquatic resources Eugene J. Boesch, Mahopac--archeological and historical resources Creighton Manning Engineers, Albany--transportation Brinnier & Larios, Kingston--utilities and stormwater treatment The Planning Board wants to have a site visit sometime this month. The developer will assemble a team to lead the group from the Town consisting of members of the Planning Board, the Town Board and the newly chosen consultants. Findings from this visit are expected to be in the scoping document.