Sunday, February 05, 2006
Hidden Forest Scoping Document Deficient in Areas
The Hidden Forest "Draft Final" EIS Scoping Document appears to be
deficient in several areas.
While SEQR permits considerable flexibility in the format of the
Draft and Final EIS; the organization of the Hidden Forest "Draft
Final" scoping document is such that essential components of an EIS
are missing or obscured.
For example, rather than present project alternatives early in the
document, as would be done for a Federal (NEPA) EIS, the project
alternatives are located at the back of the document, and are not the
focus of the study. Mitigation and monitoring for each proposed
alternative (which seem to focus on traffic design and the number of
housing units, rather than the overall project spatial footprint) are
not specified. A summary of impacts by alternative is not included.
The scoping document does not indicate that an alternatives matrix
(an important EIS component) will be developed for the draft EIS.
According to NYSDEC, one of the purposes of the SEQR scoping process
is to provide an initial identification of mitigation measures for
antipated project impacts. This is not provided in the scoping
document, and normally would be a component of the alternatives
analysis, had the document been organized such that the project
alternatives were highlighted.
Finally, the emphasis of the scoping document is heavily weighted
towards traffic and socio-economic impacts. These two categories of
impacts are presented in considerable detail, relative to impacts to
natural resources (wetlands, wildlife, soils, hydrology, etc.).If
this is because information on these study components is lacking and
requires further data collection/environmental studies, it should
have been stated in the scoping document, as identification of the
extent and quality of information required to complete the EIS is
also specified by NYSDEC as a primary objective of the SEQR scoping
process.
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1 comment:
Having read the article posted on Sunday, February 5, I totally concur with the author. The development known as Hidden Forest should be thoroughly evaluated for all of the impacts that will effect the Town of Hurley and the surrounding communities. Hurley, at the current time, does not have the manpower to deal with a project of this size and scope. Therefore, it is important that we have all the necessary studies to prevent the project from becoming an environmental problem in the future.
There are definately more considerations than the traffic and socio-economic effects. How about the water? Is there enough? Who monitors the waste treatment facility? Town officials, paid professionals, county officials or do we just accept reports from the facility administrators? Do we have plan or require plans to deal with a failure at the facility? It will fail or go offline periodically. What other impacts will there be?
This is a serious undertaking. Hurley needs to make critical and knowledgable decisions regarding this development. No stone should be left unturned. If this project is unsuitable for the site, then find one that is. The town needs to demand as many studies they deem necessary and appropriate. The project will be here for eternity, waiting a few months for studies is just a small fractional component in the timeline for the development. If we do it, let's do it right. The town and county governments have the moral, ethical and fiduciary responsibility to protect its current and future residents.
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