Rosa is setting out to mitigate an impending catastrophe to our local ecosystem, to our municipal resources, to our traffic efficiency and to the ability of our emergency services to respond. It will overwhelm our hospitals and emergency rooms. It will compromise our drinking water by ruining a federally protected sole source aquifer and use up what water is left. It is a disastrously conceived use of land that will adversely impact the property values of those in Western Ramapo.
Noel Fernandez – Pomona, NY
I lend my Suffern name and support ROSA because of my concern to protect the watershed/water supply to thousands that is in great danger of being irretrievably destroyed if development plans for Patrick Farm are allowed to continue. While I do not live there, I do have interest to protect and preserve the water supply of the village that bears my name.
Carolyn Suffern – Knoxville, TN
I have chosen to support ROSA for the many reasons which any rational person would take seriously, including the effects such over-development will have on Water/Aquifer, Traffic, Environment/Ecosystem, Safety (i.e. natural gas line, congestion, emergency preparedness, etc), Taxes, Home Values, Municipal Resources and Historic Preservation. But the main reason I am so incensed is that the town is not listening to its citizens. Town rules are broken over and over again and it’s far more than “unfair.”
Lisa L. – Monsey, NY
(I’d be happy to lend my voice to this fight on the video. I truly regret that I can’t be more active; I care for my grand-daughter in NYC at least 2 days a week and also am primary caretaker of my parents in their 90’s.)
I care about overdevelopment, because I live on Route 306, which is already overcrowded, and developing Patrick Farm as proposed would make it impassable. I care about fresh, clean water because we all need it, and I have a well. I care about freedom, because I am an American. The armies of Washington and Rochambeau, who won it for us, marched by there (Patrick Farm); In memory of them, we should keep it as they saw it, if we can.
Denman Maroney – Monsey
Order of Importance
1. Clean water and Aquifer
2. Stop the damages that 5000 additional people have on our area: Traffic, Environmental, Taxes Increased, and Burden on Public Services
3. Prevent our established long time residence from losing their cherished way of life and political power.
Ian Hansinger, Wesley Hills
I am concerned that the rampant, thoughtless development of Patrick Farm will set the precedent for future inappropriate land use of our precious neighborhood. The corruption of the aquifer and the abuse of our fragile resources by over development is a reflection of who is running our town, and the total lack of respect for the residents who have voiced their objections over and over again. Keep the high-density housing where there is high-density zoning with infrastructure which can provide adequately for such use, instead of jeopardizing the rest of us who have chosen to live in a rural setting for the benefits only a rural setting can yield. The thoughtless down zoning of the area seems to be in complete opposition to the years’ worth of objections and legal action to prohibit this development.
Anonymous
I am a committed member of ROSA because my family moved to Rte.202, right below Patrick Farm, in the late 1950’s. While I have never been opposed to development, I am opposed in every way to the level of over development we have seen in the recent years, the aggressive downzoning of this residential area with the local powers in compliance, the lack of attention to the environment and the absence of a thorough, independent evaluation of the land. I vehemently oppose the developer and the proposed current designs on the Patrick Farm property, as its very scheme and proposed implementation does not serve the taxpayers/ residents concerns or needs.
Jon Pousette-Dart – Wesley Hills, NY
As an environmental engineer, I support ROSA because I agree that the Patrick Farm development is wrong for a number of reasons: environmental, legal, financial, and moral. This over development would further degrade the quality of life in Rockland and would irreparably hasten the “citification” of our beautiful area.
I have been a resident here since 1957 and have witnessed the destruction of a once extremely beautiful, bucolic County into what has now essentially become the sixth borough of NYC. I have watched the pollution of the Pascack Brook, the Nauraushuan Brook, and the Hackensack River due to unbridled overdevelopment. To even consider building on the headwaters of the Mahwah River, which feed into the Ramapo River, is insane! This wanton desecration HAS TO STOP!
Tom O’Reilly – Pearl River, NY
I have a well that is the only available water supply to my property and it is fed by the aquifer. The downzoning of this historic and environmentally sensitive parcel is a travesty that risks pollution by runoff salts, petroleum, herbicides and sewage. The proposed over-development will completely destroy this pristine property.
Lee R -Ladentown, NY
ROSA in representing us provides the necessary unity and organization, so we are not isolated voices. We become one strong voice in an effort to safeguard the Patrick Farm, protect our environment and maintain our way of life.
The various concerns cannot be separated; they impact on one another, creating disaster if the down zoning for the Patrick Farm is accepted. And that would just be the beginning.
Sandra Solomon – Suffern, NY
I am vehemently opposed to this over-development. This project will over-tax our watershed/aquifer. The immense congestion on an already busy 202 will be a traffic and safety (emergency readiness) nightmare. Please help preserve our dwindling, green spaces.
Howard P -Wesley Hills, NY
I’m ROSA because I value the open space and rural places that attracted me to Ramapo when I moved here. Now I am seeing more and more houses and apartments crammed into Ramapo which is destroying my quality of life. If I had wanted to live on Long Island, with its endless, hopeless traffic jams and shoehorned-in housing, I would have moved there. We need to keep Ramapo livable!
Joe Grossman – Airmont
My wife and I moved to Rockland, from the Bronx, in 1973. We wanted country, open spaces and to be a little closer to nature. Everything and anything that contributes to a diminishment of Rockland’s near-rural environment destroys our love of and investment in the County. The exploitation of the Patrick Farm negatively impacts the County on too many levels to be seriously considered.
Michael and Judith Scott – Spring Valley, NY
It is just plain wrong that the Patrick Farm property was down zoned at all. The property is a natural buffer, home to wildlife, natural streams, an aquifer, and countless healthy trees. It is an “open space” without having to create one. How do I know its value? I grew up across the street. I don’t think anyone on the Town of Ramapo Planning Board has sufficient credentials to condemn that property to be torn apart. Have they even set foot on it?
Leslie S., Pomona
I am very concerned about the loss/damage to wetlands as well as the larger environment with the proposed over-development of Patrick Farm. The current wetlands and forest provide numerous ecosystem services to the local and regional area, and are important for flora and fauna in the region, including humans. Paving of natural surfaces as outlined in this proposal increases runoff, destroying aquifers that hold water for our drinking supply. The developer’s suggested housing and congestion are not compatible with the best use of land and resources, and are counter to sustainable growth in the County.
Dorothy Peteet
I have been a community activist for the past 15 years, particularly fighting projects that destroy our beautiful, Rockland environment of green open spaces and clean air. Just to list a few- we fought to stop -a huge Stop-n-Shop supermarket of 65,000 square feet to be built on Rt.59 and Airmont Road, that would have destroyed hundreds of trees and caused a traffic nightmare. We stopped a proposed development of 48 townhouses on Stonegate Park here in Suffern. We also helped to stop two power plants in Torne Valley, which would have endangered our water supply. The proposed pillaging of over 200 acres of the Patrick Farm’s beautiful area is outrageous. Good Luck.
Bill Pamm, Suffern