WALLKILL VALLEY
TIMES
Vol . 35 , No 1 3 WEDNESDAY , JANUARY 4 , 2017 3 ONE DOLLAR
www . WallkillValleyTimes . net
Emerging artists
Page 12
No cell tower in
West Coast produce
Proposed processing plant enrages neighboring farmers
Crawford
Verizon tables plan for site along scenic corridor
By JESSICA COHEN jcohen @ tcnewspapers . com
In the wake of controversy , a Verizon attorney recently sent Crawford planning board a letter asking that their cell tower application be tabled , Linda Zwart , planning board chair , said last week .
In September , Verizon attorney Scott Olson tried to answer planning board questions about why Verizon wanted to put a cell tower in a scenic corridor in an area that had cell service , though other nearby areas had none . Olson also faced the opposition of neighbors of the proposed cell tower site .
Olson explained Verizon ’ s intent as part of their strategy to “ build on existing service .” But when the board asked for the required five-year strategic plan , Olson had no concrete answer beyond 2017 .
Zwart had also expressed concern about visual impact on the view shed , which she said was the “ critical issue .” A balloon test to see what the tower ’ s visual impact would be had been conducted
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The owner of the adjacent Windfall Farm in Hamptonburg ( pictured ) said he was dismayed to discover that the prime farmland was withheld from public auction and sold directy by the county .
By JESSICA COHEN jcohen @ tcnewspapers . com
As Orange County prepares to sell prime land , the distance between farm and table threatens to widen in the New York metropolitan area , says Morse Pitts , owner of Windfall Farm , in Hamptonburgh . He and neighboring farmers were dismayed to discover that the county legislature had voted to withhold a 70-acre foreclosed farm with “ prime soil ” from public auction last January and then supported selling it to a West Coast company , Pitts said .
The farm , adjacent to Windfall Farms , was appraised at $ 800,000 , he said . David
Nemeth had inherited the farm , but was “ too embarrassed ” to tell neighbors about his financial difficulties , said Pitts .
“ Neighbors would have paid the back taxes and worked to get an easement from a land trust ,” said Kevin Caplicki , a farmer on Windfall Farms . “ The county can take property in tax default in the ‘ county ’ s interest .’ Is it in the ‘ county ’ s interest ’ to bulldoze a farm with prime agricultural soil to use for a warehouse ? We ’ re talking to a lawyer .”
By the time he and other neighboring farmers found out the farm was in financial trouble , the county was in contract to sell the farm to a West
Coast produce company for produce processing , Coplicki says . Produce would come to Hamptonburgh by freight train from California to be washed and packaged and sold regionally . Water would likely come from Maybrook , which gets water from Hamptonburgh wells , said Pitts . Twenty to 30 trucks would drive through Maybrook daily , carrying produce away . The rich soil would likely be bulldozed , he said , noting that the plan will be discussed on Thursday at a Hamptonburgh Planning Board meeting .
“ This neighboring farm has the
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SERVING CRAWFORD , GARDINER , MAYBROOK , MONTGOMERY , PINE BUSH , SHAWANGUNK , WALDEN AND WALLKILL