4
Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, November 7, 2018
City residents fear Union Shoppes project
will further pollute Newburgh’s watershed
Continued from page 1
downgrade the stream on site, Patton Brook, from a Class
A stream (drinking water) to Class C (non-contact use).
They argued that the stream is clearly part of the City
of Newburgh’s watershed, feeding into the Washington
Lake reservoir via Murphy’s Ditch diversion structure.
“The Planning Board must ensure that its review
of the amended site plan is based on the correct stream
classifications,” stated Rebecca Martin, a representative
of environmental group Riverkeeper, Inc. “The Shoppes
at Union Square development proposal would put Patton
Brook and Washington Lake at risk of further storm
water pollution due to an increase of impervious surface
area.”
In fact, city resident Ophra Wolf listed more than a
dozen contaminants already present at medium to high
levels in the Patton Brook watershed.
However, Jerame Secaras, senior project engineer
with Langan Engineering, emphasized that they had
already made adjustments to the plans in order to reduce
its impact on the stream. He repeatedly emphasized
that the site’s storm water system was designed to
exceed the state and town’s standards for water quality
requirements by 10%.
Planning board consultant Patrick Hines added that
throughout the years-long planning process, the stream
had been considered a Class A stream, and it was only
recently that the DEC changed it. Therefore, much of
the storm water management systems already in place
considered Patton Brook as a tributary stream.
“The board has reviewed the project since its inception
as a Class A stream,” stated Hines. “All previous
environmental review documents and reviews by this
board was based on that Class A drinking water standard
designation.”
For many city residents, the concern over Washington
Lake’s water quality is personal. In 2016, it was discovered
Town of Newburgh
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Marcel Barrick addresses the Town of Newburgh Planning
Board at last week’s public hearing.
that Washington Lake was contaminated with high levels
of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), among other toxic
chemicals. As a result, many city inhabitants exhibited
high levels of toxins in their blood, and have since
experienced sickness and other negative effects from the
poisoned water.
“This is about a general degradation [of our
watershed],” said Tamsin Hollo, city of Newburgh
resident. “Many of us in this room have friends who are
sick… [or] who are wondering when they are going to get
sick in the future.”
But as planning board attorney Michael Donnelly
explained, there’s not much the planning board can do to
prevent development on lands bordering the watershed
that are zoned for such use.
“If a property owner has undeveloped land, and
they bring a project before the planning board for a
use that is permitted, the planning board would have
to review that. And after appropriately mitigating any
environmental issue, it would have to approve,” said
Donnelly. He did add that residents have several options
they could take on their own to protect the watershed:
getting the state to impose watershed regulations outside
of the city’s boundaries to limit control of development
there, approaching the town board about zoning uses on
adjacent properties, and purchasing land bordering the
reservoir for the purpose of protection.
Councilman Grice added that the City of Newburgh
is currently in litigation with the state over the protection
of their watershed, and is open to buying adjacent
properties at a “fair market rate.”
“The City of Newburgh has not given up on
Washington Lake,” said Grice. “I think this is a great
opportunity for us to collaborate together… to say, we
are not going to build within 100 feet of Patton Brook or
anywhere on our watershed.”
I n B rief
Town of Newburgh
plans to revise budget
A special meeting of the Town Board will be
held on Thursday, November 8 at 7 p.m.
This meeting will consist of a public hearing on
the proposed Town Budget for 2019.
Two resolutions will be considered for adoption:
-A resolution to rescind the resolution
approving the proposed budget approved at the
October 24 special meeting;
- A resolution to approve the revised budget
which is under the tax cap.
The town board had previously voted to approve
a 2019 preliminary budget that would increase
property taxes, and exceed the town’s budget by
$93,185. At the previous town meeting, the board
passed a general municipal law that allowed it to
adopt the budget despite surpassing the property
tax levy limit.
The town explained that in order to stay under
the tax cap for this budget it would have had to
dip into its cash reserves in order to make up the
difference. Instead, it choose to raise homeowners’
property taxes by a few dollars, from $35 to $39 on
average, in order to preserve the town’s reserves.
“My philosophy, as well as the Town Board’s,
has been to save for a rainy day as we strive to
maintain a healthy fund balance. This philosophy
has served us well and has allowed us to maintain
a healthy financial position with strong reserve
levels, as confirmed by our Moody’s Aa2 rating,”
commented town supervisor Gil Piaquadio in a
statement. A Moody rating of Aa2 is considered a
“high grade” credit rating.
In comparison, last year’s 2018 budget raised
taxes by an average of $20, and was $44,000 beneath
the tax cap. The town of Newburgh attributed this
year’s increase in taxes, and reason for exceeding
the tax cap, to multiple factors. Piaquadio’s
statement referenced a 2.5 percent increase in
cost of living, 8 percent increase in healthcare
costs, 10% increase in general insurance, and 7%
increase in the projected retirement system as
reasons for the higher tax increase.
The budget, as presented last month, was
set to retain a total of 160 full-time and 85 part-
time employees within the town. Sixty of these
are full-time and part-time police officers, four
more than last year, and the budget funds public
safety programs such as DARE and the Junior
Police Academy as well. The budget also includes
employment of 27 full-time highway employees,
who maintain and plow approximately 190 miles
of roads within the town. The town continues to
fund over 24 bus trips for residents and seniors,
which include community activities and even an
out-of-state overnight trip in Lancaster.
The meeting will be held in the meeting room
at Town Hall (1496 Route 300) and is open to the
public.
- Lauren Berg