August 13, 2002
Public Comments on the following documents.
East Fishkill Comprehensive Master Plan May 2002 Revised July 2002,
East Fishkill Draft Environmental Impact Statement May 2001
East Fishkill Traffic Circulation Plan July 2001
East Fishkill Sewer Plan - August 2002
East Fishkill Water Plan - May 2002
East Fishkill Proposed Zoning Laws A through N - May 2002 Revised July 2002,
Issue #1: Page 18 of the DGEIS Water Resources - "Within the boundaries of East Fishkill there is an abundance of water resources".
This statement was taken directly from the 1982 Master Plan which at the time it was written did not recognize the pollution that had occurred to the aquifer under the IBM plant or the seven other hazardous waste sites within the boarders of the town. After twenty years of pumping the aquifer the water under IBM is not fit to be used for human consumption. The DGEIS & the Master Plan need to address this issue directly & with a detail plan for correcting the problem. The problem, as proven by twenty years of pumping will not go away. Where will we discover the next "Federal Superfund Site" in East Fishkill?
Issue #2: Page 5 of the DGEIS Potential Commercial and Industrial Square Feet.
The 102 acres on Shenandoah Road were not zoned industrial until 1987 hence the numbers shown from the 1982 Master Plan are incorrect.
See the 1982 Land Usage Maps in the Master Plan.
The 2002 DGEIS includes all acreage in the calculations whereas the 1982 Master Plan excluded wetlands and other environmentally sensitive lands (slopes in excess of 15% (not 25%)). The PCP zone has 19.2 that are wetlands out of the 37.4 total acres in that zone.
Issue#3: Page 4 of the DGEIS Potenital Residential Units
While the numbers for 1982 seem to be questionable, there is an absolute error in that acreage excluded from the build-out because it is environmentally sensitive has been added back to inflate the 1982 acres. Over 4400 acres, have been added to the 1982 figures (32,400 in 1982 vs 36,800 in 2002) While we are led to believe that this is a result of the "GIS" method of land calculation the true numbers come from the 1982 Master Plan where the acreage was calculated from the tax roles which report exact taxable properties.
Additionally current DGEIS & Comprehensive plans fail to report that the 1982 Master Plan denounced "build-out" which could increase the population to 60,000 + residents. On page 124 of the 1982 Master Plan it states that the ultimate population should not exceed 27,000. The 1982 Plan excludes all environmentally lands from building, not the 50% process proposed by the new plans. As a result of the 1982 plan the town needs to in-act a complete moratorium on all residential construction since the town has reached it's ideal population already.
Issue #4: Page 6 New Roadways
First and foremost the town has done a poor job in maintaining the current roadway infrastructure. Most of the secondary & connector roads have been trenched rather than having drain pipes. The soil removed has been used to fill selected properties. Curbs, broken by town plows during the past twenty years have not been replaced, except of course on certain streets.
Second the proposed by-pass roads are intended to give the residents of towns to the North & East of Hopewell direct access to I-84. There is no benefit for the taxpayers of Hopewell Junction. The North-South by-pass is an insult to those who stopped County Route 11 in the 1980's. The minimum width of the Maybrook Line Right-of-way is ninety five (95) feet hence there is plenty of room for the IBM pipeline, a Bike/walk trail, and County Route 11 to be built side by side. So why can't you come out and say this in the Master Plan. What are you hiding.
Both proposed "by-pass" highways will lead to extremely dangerous situations for the residents of the effected areas. The return of heavy truck traffic to Beekman Road, Carpenter Road, Fishkill/Palen Road can not be seen as a way of improving the quality of life in East Fishkill.
The re-classification of Miller Hill Road & Shenandoah Road as "connector" roads is a slap in the face to the residents of this area who have suffered so much as a result of the failure of town boards, zoning boards, health departments & water departments to perform their duties to the community. And where in the documents are the two federal superfund sites or the five state hazardous waste sites discussed. "East Fishkill - A Great Place to Live - Just don't drink the water or breath the air" We do not need or want the industrial park nor the associated connector roads running through our Federal Superfund Site.
Issue #5: Page 9 Laws Amending Provisions relating to residential zones.
Laws B through N were created by the town board to open up more not less land to building. The guise that properties classified as "environmentally sensitive" that is those parcels containing slopes in excess of (1982 15% vs 2002 25%) are not considered in the build-out is false. In 1982 all wetlands and their associated buffer land were excluded from the town acreage as were all properties in the southern part of the town due to slopes in excess of 15%. These properties, in 1982 accounted for over one third or 12,000 acres of the total land mass of East Fishkill.
So if I have 189 acres of land in an R-1 residential zone and 150 acres are wetlands and their associated buffer zones. The maximum build-out of this property would be 35 new homes each on 1 acre with roads accounting for the other 10 percent. Under laws B through N this same property owner will be allowed to build no less than 105 and as many as 120 homes on the same thirty acres. He gets 75 houses for his otherwise unusable 150 acres of wetlands plus 15 percent bonus if "affordable" houses (ie less than $500,000 each are constructed)
Issue #6 Not even mentioned in any of the plans
In 1982 the IBM Hudson Valley Research Park represented 52% of the tax base of East Fishkill at $132,000,000. Today it does not exist! The PILOT program has the facility rated with a tax base of $7,950,000 for the 2002. It will totally disappear in 2012 or 15 years after being created. The tax revenue from the proposed "Meadow Creek Park" will be zero until ten years after it is built so who will pay the bill for the new roads, traffic lights, police. US!
As a final comment to review the over four thousand pages of documents from the 1982 plan including the massive changes to the original 1999 plan and the new laws to include a Sewer & Water Plan would require a full time career.
I feel the town government is not being honest with the residents. Most of the content of these documents was copied directly from the 1982 Master Plan and little if any effort was made to update them to reflect the build-out that has already taken place in the past 20 years. The new laws are a sham and any effort to pass & enforce them must be construed as a plot to explode the population of East Fishkill beyond it's limits.
I fear, from reading these documents and their revisions during the past year, that the current elected town officials and their contacted assistances have an agenda not in the best interest of the citizens of this Community. We have reached the 1982 optimum built-out for East Fishkill (27,000 residents). Other than developers. engineers, & the land owners who can benefit from this scam?
Denis R. Callinan
1 Seymour Lane
Hopewell Junction NY 12533
Bernice M. Callinan
1 Seymour Lane
Hopewell Junction NY 12533