This evening, 1/6/11,  the Town of Ramapo planning board met in a “special meeting” to make a decision regarding a number of items related to the Patrick Farm preliminary development plans. We were very pleased to see that our advocacy has had a impact on the decisions made this evening. The expectation going into the meeting was that the developer would be granted approvals on all the plans submitted. The results were quite different.

The developers submission included four main components. The planning board only approved two of the four items by a vote of 6:0 (1 abstention). The overall sketch plat – a very rough drawing of the entire layout – was in granted preliminary approval. The preliminary subdivision –  showing how the lots (from multi-family to single family) would be divided – was also granted preliminary approval contingent upon all the requirements set forth from the town planning board being met.  The actual draft resolutions were not available to the planning board until this afternoon and so we have still not seen them yet. We will get access to these details of the approvals and the conditions early next week when they are filed.

Thanks to the advocacy of ROSA and the legal teams representing various parties, the planning board did NOT approve the  preliminary site plan for the multi-family condominium development and the preliminary site plan for the emergency  worker housing. No development can take place at all until at least the preliminary site plans are approved. As it stand there will actually be at least one additional public hearing on those plans; this is a substantive victory for us as it will provide us additional time to get our experts involved.

It is our understanding that preliminary approvals the developer did get do not provide any legal authority to take any steps to start developing the property. This prohibits – for now – activities like tree cutting, land leveling, road building, or putting in any infrastructural improvements on the site.

Our legal team will make a decision on whether to take legal action regarding the approvals that were granted at this meeting after we get the filings.

We will let you know when future actions by the planning board are contemplated including the future public hearing on the site plans.

Your continued involvement and funding are vital for us to continue to hire experts and attorneys to allow us to advocate to the DEC, the EPA, the state DOT and to continue to fight at the town level. We will advocate at every level with every government or non government entity that is required to make approvals regarding this site.

It is the mission of ROSA to preserve the aquifer as well as other natural and historic resources and to ensure that all proposed development follows the strictest standards set forth at the federal, state and local levels. Our mission is to make sure that the final approved development incorporates the tenants of smart growth and is something that all members of the community can benefit from and live comfortably with. We consider this a first victory in our fight against the current proposal to develop Patrick Farm.

We are asking all of our neighbors in our affected communities(1) to join with us. Please sign up for the email updates on this site, contribute money to the expert/legal fund and please continue to join us at planning meetings to help make all of our voices and our concerns heard.

(1) The Aquifer Service Area includes the Townships of Mahwah and Wayne and the Boroughs of Ramsey, Oakland, Franklin Lakes, Allendale and Pomptom Lakes in New Jersey. In New York, the Aquifer Service Area includes the Towns of Ramapo, Haverstraw, Orangetown and Clarkstown and the Villages of Hillburn, Suffern and Spring Valley and the Township of Stony Point.