The Patrick Farm development project has been resubmitted by a new owner with the exact same plan for reapproval. The Court overturned the January 2010 decision to adopt findings for the environmental study done ostensibly done for an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, the Rezoning of portions of the site, the proposed subdivision and proposed site plans.
There were many arguments made regarding the reasoning for overturning the decisions made including a lack of wetland delineation – which led to over 6 acres of additional wetlands being revealed – and the lack of consideration of the high pressure 24″ gas pipeline through the site in the 2009 DEIS and FEIS documents. There were additional problems raised regarding the failure of hard look at that time as well.
The Town Board held a Special Meeting on September 20, 2023 for the purpose of declaring that the Harriman Meadows project (which is identical to the Patrick Farm project) will have environmental impacts and that an environmental impact statement must be prepared. See Town Board Minutes of 9/20/23.
THE ORIGINAL NOTICE FOR THE COMMENT PERIOD IS HERE
THE NOTICE FOR THE EXTENSION FOR COMMENTS IS HERE
The Town Board resolution is not specific as to whether a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“DEIS”) or a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (“SEIS”) will be prepared however the applicant is submitting documents related to a Supplemental Environment Impact Statement. ROSA opposes this course of action. ROSA advocates for the creation of a DEIS and not an FEIS. The Applicant can readily copy and paste the descriptions of the existing site and the descriptions of the proposed plan. The key opportunity is for the public to advocate for alternatives that reduce the environmental impacts of the project.
A proposed scoping outline was distributed and a deadline of 10/27/23 for comments on scoping was announced. However, the posted web page included barely any of the relevant documents. So the Town added many more files to their web page and the time for comments on the scoping outline was moved to 11/13/23.
TO COMMENT ON SCOPING SUBMIT COMMENTS BY EMAIL BY 11/13 4PM
The key to commenting on the scoping is to focus on your specific concerns and to request specific analysis that you wish done, any reasonable alternatives to compare and be specific as to what comparison should be included.
For example, as proposed there will be a visual impact to the scenic road district caused by the removal of all trees in front of the main entrance making the view into the multi family portion of site viewable from Rt 202. An alternative that should be considered is asking for the lot between Rt 202 and old Rt 202 to be overlain by a conservation easement to more fully screen this visual impact.
For those concerns about water quality protection, you might want to consider stating that concern and asking for alternatives to improve water quality protection. Despite NY State passing expanded wetland protection, the timeframe for the new requirements to be implemented will not be until 2025 and 2028. A reasonable alternative to be considered would be to protect the network of wetlands along the stream leading to Rt 202 with a 100 foot buffer to protect the wetlands and the downstream public water wells.
If you have a specific concern and would like help expressing your concern, please contact us as soon as possible and we will try to assist you.
The Town Board page supporting the Harriman Meadows project is at https://www.ramapo.org/page/harriman-meadows-seqra-documents-168.html
Please check back for additional information on this project in the future.