Southern Ulster Times Apr. 24 2019 | Page 3

3 Southern Ulster Times, Wednesday, April 24, 2019 Lloyd councilman receives stewardship award By MARK REYNOLDS [email protected] Last week Neil Curri, Chairman of the Lloyd Environmental Conservation Council [ECC], named Town Councilman Leonard Auchmoody as the recipient of their Environmental Stewardship Award for 2018. Curri said each year the ECC recognizes an individual in the community for their work in preserving and protecting the environment in Lloyd. He said when they began discussions on who they would honor, Auchmoody’s name was at the top of the list. Curri recalled that several years ago he heard many people speak highly of the work Auchmoody has done at the park over the years. ECC member Nancy Hammond said Lloyd Councilman Leonard Auchmoody (L) received the Environmental Conservation Council’s Stewardship Award for 2018. Pictured L-R Auchmoody, Chairman Neil Curri, Nancy Hammond and Leonard Hossenlopp. Auchmoody is the current Manager of the Bob Shepard Highland Landing Park. “Lenny has donated time, machinery and construction material for the development and completion of the park,” she said. “Some of his many accomplishments are the kayak launch, a handicap ramp for the educational building, outdoor lighting, the River Walk, the parking lot and park benches. Lenny gives meaning to the Bob Shepard Park being called the People’s Park because of people like Lenny who make sure we have a park. Thank you, Lenny.” Lenny said there were many who helped at the park. “There are a lot of other people who have a lot to do with getting this done. You can’t mention them all but again, it’s a labor of love and thank you all very, very much,” he said. Developers offer update on Highland senior living complex By MARK REYNOLDS [email protected] Surveyor Patti Brooks represents a senior retirement project known as ‘The Villages of the Hudson Valley’ that has been proposed for ages 62 and up on the western side of Route 9W, opposite the Bridgeview Shopping Plaza in the Town of Lloyd. Last week Brooks returned for a second time to the Planning Board, along with Ronald J. DeVito, President and CEO of Concordia Senior Communities of Melville, NY. “We took all the comments from the board and the audience and we are working right now on making a full submission and addressing all of the board’s concerns for the June [planning board] meeting,” said Brooks. DeVito said his company has been involved at all levels of senior care for the past 30 years, from construction and management to providing a full spectrum of services. He said the Villages project is a combination of 205 per- engineered, independent living units and about 127 units in the Assisted Living. “We might want to bump that up a little bit to help our bottom line,” he said. DeVito said the Assisted Living is for adult homes, which the NYS Department of Health says are for, “seniors who are unable to live independently. They need assistance with their daily living activities and that involves a lot of services.” He pointed out that the goal, “is to help seniors age successfully, to helping them do what they want to do, helping them work things out for themselves and all sorts of things like intellectual curiosity.” Building Department Director Dave Barton informed the Planning Board that he met with DeVito and Brooks several weeks ago in Brooks’ Highland office. Barton asked if there will be a doctor’s office onsite for the A rendering of ‘The Villages of the Hudson Valley,’ shows the multi-story Assisted Living and Urgent Care facilities at the bottom of the map, bordering Route 9W, the main entrance off of Mayer Drive and the 205 single family housing units. housing component that is separate from the institutional building, “or will that doctor be associated with both pieces of the puzzle?” DeVito said it will be separate from both facilities, be free standing, “but it will be accessed by both the independent living seniors and the Assisted Living.” He said the doctor’s office will be manned 24/7 Continued on page 5