More Objections Raised On Warehouse Project In Southeast

SOUTHEAST, NY — Patterson's town supervisor joined New York watershed officials recently in sending warning letters to Southeast town officials about the massive warehouse development proposed off Route 312. Town officials are considering the final environmental impact statementon the project, Commercial Campus at Fields Corner, once known as Northeast Interstate Logistics.

On July 17, Patterson Town Supervisor Richard Williams wrote to Thomas LaPerch, chairman of the Southeast Planning Board, about a study Patterson officials had commissioned to look at the effects on their residents because they felt their concerns had not been addressed.

Patterson's traffic consultant predicted a significant number of customers and employees would avoid Route 312 entirely, certainly the intersection of 312 with Route 6, and would likely use Pugsley Road and Fields Corner Road to access Fair Street.

"The traffic consultant's report confirms what the town of Patterson has maintained, that the EIS is deficient as it does not fully evaluate or acknowledge the impact on roads in the town of Patterson," Williams wrote.

He said it was "absurd" to propose putting in a height barrier to prevent trucks from using Fields Corner Road, because it would not solve the problem of customers, employees and commuters using Fields Corner Road to avoid all the current traffic congestion on Route 312 (not taking other pending 312 developments into consideration).

Meanwhile, the New York City's Department of Environmental Protection has an even bigger list of objections.

On July 3, Cynthia Garcia, supervisor of the SEQRA review section of the DEP, wrote a 4-page letter to the site consultants who prepared the draft of the Final Environmental Impact Statement. The DEP found many little problems before summing up:

"DEP believes that the project, as proposed, is overdeveloped, and in its current state the action will result in significant and substantive impacts to receiving streams, Middle Branch Reservoir and the city's water supply," she wrote. "A scaled-back, lower-impact version must be considered."

The issues at this site have long been documented, the city officials said in their July 3 letter. Because of its slopes and high groundwater the site was even once part of a pollution pilot project, they pointed out.

The objections were raised despite big changes to the plan including reducing the footprint and eliminating the original plan for a traffic circle at Route 3012 and Pugsley. Instead, Route 312 would be made a four-lane road between Pugsley and I-84. The developers pointed out that this project would bring less traffic than the residential/retail mixed use for which the property is zoned (plus no school children).

Not only would 80 percent of the property remain 'open space' but also all the lighting would be "dark sky compliant" (far different from the glaring lights of the shopping center a block away).

The next Planning Board meeting is Aug. 26. All Planning Board meetings are held at Town Hall, 1360 Route 22, Brewster, New York and start at 7:30 p.m. The last time Commercial Campus at Fields Corner was on its agenda was April 8, when the developers presented the draft FEIS. Comm Campus at Fields Corner Presentation_2019-04-08