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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Galaxy Ltd. moving closer to construction
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(EAF). The project site is on 393 acres of land owned by
Galaxy.
The project includes eight light industrial pad-ready
sites, an extension of Main Street over the railroad
tracks, a two-mile road parallel to the tracks that connects
Henry Henning Drive in the town of Montgomery with
the main street extension, a two-mile hike and bike path
with access to Stewart State Forest and pedestrian tunnel
over the tracks.
Ross Winglovitz, Principal Engineer with Engineering
and Surveying Properties, P.C, said the best-case
scenario for submitting a final EAF is this fall and Galaxy
hopes to break ground in spring 2020. Phase one of the
environmental assessment has been completed. Phase
two, which includes soil analysis, has been authorized
and is currently being completed.
Winglovitz said Galaxy continues to work through
the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA)
process and continues to complete survey work on Main
Street and on New York State 208 to evaluate connection
points.
Engineers revised the layout of the project slightly
from the original concept to accommodate buildings
which are more efficient and uniform in their design,
Winglovtiz said.
Galaxy will participate in the New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation Brownfield
Cleanup Program due to concern over possible
contamination from the old railyard, Winglovitz said.
The program provides tax credits to developers or end
users to assist them with cleaning contaminated soils.
Liloia said the project will be completed according to
the proposal.
‘The important thing for us is making sure the
infrastructure gets built as promised and that the plans
are consistent with what you thought you will see all
along,” Liloia said.
Light industrial is different from warehousing
because it allows for product assembly, Winglovitz said.
Warehouses generally exist for the storage and movement
of goods.
Galaxy will not consider automobile storage yards,
Liloia said. Recently, automobile storage yards and
similar proposed projects have sparked concerns among
residents for their environmental impacts.
Valley Central board weighs three propositions
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items that were contained in the first referendum, and
the third proposition could be centered on expanding the
capacity of the high school parking lot.
If the district presents a referendum to voters with
multiple propositions, the second and third props could
not pass unless the first prop is approved by voters. The
first prop focusing on safety could include the redesign
of the Montgomery Elementary parking lot that was
included in the August bond vote. “I think it would
certainly include Montgomery,” Xanthis said. “That’s an
issue there with the buses and we need a better parent
drop-off and things like that.”
Valley Central will work with CSArch in advance of
SEMI-ANNUAL HYDRANT FLUSHING
THE VILLAGE OF WALDEN WILL BE
DOING THE SEMI-ANNUAL FLUSHING
OF FIRE HYDRANTS DURING THE
ENTIRE MONTH OF OCTOBER
YOUR WATER MAY BE DISCOLORED,
BUT IT WILL BE SAFE TO DRINK
PLEASE CONSIDER WAITING UNTIL AFTER 6PM TO
DO LAUNDRY. TO AVOID DISCOLORED WATER IN YOUR
RESIDENCE PLEASE ATTEMPT TO USE AS LITTLE
WATER AS POSSIBLE DURING THE FLUSHING HOURS
There may be reduced pressure at times due to water flow and
closing of valves throughout the distribution system. We apologize
for any inconvenience, but this is necessary to remove
debris that naturally accumulates in the mains
Call the Village of Walden Water Department with any
questions or concerns Monday – Friday between the hours
of 7am and 3:30pm (845) 778-2177 ext. 1521
the Sept. 25 board meeting to carve up the original $22.7
million in funding and disperse it between the three new
props. “We’re going to meet with the architect and we’ll
be prepared to present something at the next meeting,”
Xanthis said. “It’s just taking what we have allocated
already. There might be some things added, like we
might look to do some things with Walden Elementary
under safety, but we want to meet with (Walden Village
Manager) John Revella and some other people there to
maybe take a look at that.”
The district has a tentative target date of Dec. 10 for
the referendum vote. The administration has stressed
that the referendum must be passed before the State
Department of Transportation begins its own work on
Route 17K, and if the safety proposition were to pass in
December, the work on the parking lot’s entranceway on
Route 17K could commence next summer, before the DOT
installs a traffic light outside the parking lot.
During last week’s board meeting, Trustee Sheila
Schwartz questioned the timing of a December vote.
“It’s the holidays, and there’s so many reasons you’re
not going to get people to come out again,” she noted. “I
think Brad (Conklin) said, if we go out with this and it
fails again, we have to wait a full year. I just feel like we’re
still trying to rush this again and it may or may not pass.
You’ve got to hope that it does. Is there not a better time
of year? Maybe January or February when you get your
taxes.” “A lot of people have different theories on that,”
Xanthis replied. “One of the theories is that December is
a good month for it actually, around the holidays.”
Xanthis said that if the board does approve a second
referendum vote in December, the district will have to
redouble their efforts to get the word out to the public
about the vote. In August, the district’s referendum
presentation (and a mailing to residents) included an
error in the calculations for the tax impact the project
would have on homeowners. “We have to do a better
job of selling it to the public,” Xanthis said. “Because
of the timing last year, we didn’t want to talk about the
referendum before the budget vote. There were a lot of
things that we could have done differently, but this will
give us the chance to sell the program. We want to make
a video and put that on the website. We’ll do a Q & A and
some other things, just so that people have a much better
idea of what they’re voting on.”
The original proposal contained an option to purchase
land near the high school that could be used for additional
parking space at the complex, and the proposed third prop
could include funding for the parking lot. “Whether we
buy that land, and I don’t know if it will be available, we
certainly need to speak about some additional parking,”
Xanthis said. “There was money in that $22.7 million to
do that. There was money to buy the house, but there
was also money to do the parking. So that money is still
in there.”
During the board meeting, the district announced that
Valley Central had earned a 94 percent graduation rate
for the 2018-2019 school year. The administration credited
the Alternative Learning Center (ALC) at Maybrook as
having a major role in boosting the district’s graduation
rate, among other factors. “They really work hard with
the freshmen so kids get assimilated,” Xanthis said of
the high school staff. “They have a freshman orientation,
because the research shows that if kids don’t have a
successful freshman year, they’re probably not going to
make it through. We’ve been talking a lot about mental
health, and I know that’s been an issue with the state, but
we’ve been doing a lot with mental health in this district
for a long time. ALC is really the biggest thing we’ve done
with mental health, because a lot of those kids were kids
that were sent out for programs that weren’t appropriate
for what their issues were. We finally figured that out,
that these kids just needed a more therapeutic setting.
It’s been tremendously successful. I don’t know what the
rest of the county has done, but I think you’ll see that the
large schools our size with the 3,000 kids, I don’t think
you’ll see graduation rates like this. I think the difference
is the kids that we get through because the ALC makes a
big difference and the mental health initiatives that we’ve
been doing for years have come to the forefront. I think
that’s all a part of getting kids through, to make them feel
a part of something. So we’re proud of that.”