Last week, the New Paltz Village Planning Board approved the scoping document for the New Paltz Apartments project, despite concerns raised that too few members of the public weighed in during what some believe is the most important public hearing for a project of this magnitude. The scoping hearing is the only chance residents get to influence the questions that must be answered prior to this project — to build more than 600 rental rooms in cottage-style attached housing just south of the college along Route 32 — be considered for annexation into the village, much less any approval be granted. It’s from the scope that developer Michael Moriello will have to come up with a draft of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and it’s against the scope that Planning Board members and other residents will be judging that draft EIS (DEIS). When board members agree to finalize the EIS, they will explain in a findings statement how the questions raised in the scope were addressed and how the impacts listed in the scope are to be mitigated.
There will be other hearings. Members of the public will get a chance to talk about the DEIS, and again about the final EIS (FEIS). However, anything that’s not in the scope will not be studied. If there’s a significant change then board members could expand the scope, but board attorney Rick Golden advised that this rarely is necessary. Board consultants all believe that the portions covering their particular areas of expertise are thorough, but since public input was thin, there’s the possibility that something worth considering was simply never suggested.
Pulling together an EIS is a big job, and this one is likely to be an especially big job. Golden noted that there is no deadline for submitting the DEIS, and said that it’s likely to be a number of months before this project is considered by this board again. This lengthy process is only to complete the environmental review. If it passes muster, Town and Village leaders will have to vote on whether to approve of annexing the property into the Village; no matter the vote, the property will also remain in the Town. If the property is annexed, only then will the actual subdivision and site plans be reviewed.
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