WE NEED YOU!!

The Planning Board of the Town of Kingston will hold a special meeting on the NEW application of 850 Route 28, LLC at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 22, 2020 in the auditorium of M. Clifford Miller Middle School, located at 65 Fording Place Road, Lake Katrine, New York 12449.

This special meeting is instead of the regularly scheduled January meeting of the Planning Board.

Please note there will be no public comment period at this meeting.

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A little background on the 850 Route 28 LLC project:

The developer (850 Route 28, LLC / Tom Auringer, Owner), had previously proposed building a 240,000 square foot steel and concrete manufacturing facility on land surrounded by the Bluestone Wild Forest and a 208-acre woodland recently conserved by the Open Space Institute (“OSI”). The application materials indicated that the plant could operate 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Concerns had been raised about multiple potential impacts the project could have on the adjacent Bluestone Wild Forest and OSI Property (now owned by NY State) during the project’s construction and operation. Major concerns included impacts to surface and groundwater quality from operations and stormwater runoff, noise and odor impacts on wildlife, recreational activities and citizens from operations, and impacts to the traffic network on Route 28.

On March 18, 2019, the Town of Kingston Planning Board adopted a ‘Negative Declaration" of Environmental Impacts under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), which is supposed to be reserved for when there is certainty that a proposed project will cause NO significant adverse environmental impacts. The Negative Declaration meant the developer, 850 Route 28 LLC, would not be required to prepare a Full Environmental Impact Statement before the Planning Board decided whether to issue Site Plan and Special Use Permit approvals.

The Woodstock Land Conservancy, the Open Space Institute, Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Catskill Center, and other groups believed the Planning Board erred in accepting the developer’s representations in the application that the project will have no adverse impacts. WLC asked you to join these groups to urge the Planning Board to RESCIND the Negative Declaration, require the developer to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement and postpone any decision on the application until this process has been completed. We asked you to join us at Planning Board meetings, to help the Bluestone Wild Forest lands owned by all of us – the residents and taxpayers of NYS – and OSI lands receive the due process and protections they warrant and deserve.

At the Town of Kingston Planning Board Meeting July 15th for the proposed 850 Route 28 LLC precast-concrete and steel fabrication facility. WLC and other partner organizations hear loud and clear how much you care about protecting Onteora Lake, Pickerel Pond and the Bluestone Wild Forest from adjacent inappropriate development.

July 15th was proof positive that citizen engagement impacted the project and process. By 7pm the meeting room had already reached capacity with over 150 concerned citizens in attendance. And because the number of the public attending exceeded the capacity of the meeting room, the Planning Board announced the postponement of the Public Hearing on the project’s Site Plan. The Planning Board’s outside attorney Richard Golden (retained specifically for this project at the applicant’s expense), advised the board that it would be a violation of the Open Meetings Law to proceed with a Public Hearing. Mr. Golden announced that they would look for a suitable venue that can accommodate all citizens wanting to attend.

On August 29th at a Special Town of Kingston Planning Board Meeting the Planning Board adopted a resolution which included rescinding the Negative Declaration (SEQRA), and additionally noted the inclusion of the Town Board as an involved agency related to a zoning issue for the site that needed to be attended to. The resolution also included an announcement that the Town of Kingston PLanning Board would continue as Lead Agency for this project.

That was wonderful news and the direct result of the efforts of so many of you.

We have been waiting since the August 29th Special Planning Board meeting for the developer to respond with new documents, those documents were submitted to the Town of Kingston in early December and are currently available on the Town of Kingston website.

If you have any questions please email [email protected]

Many thanks for your advocacy.