The environmental review for a proposed industrial plant on former quarry lands now surrounded by state forest and a growing network of popular hiking trails is set to resume with a virtual audio meeting by phone this coming Monday evening, June 15.
Last year, a proposed concrete and steel fabrication facility was given a “negative declaration” by the Town of Kingston Planning Board, meaning it would not have a significant environmental impact and could proceed with less scrutiny. That decision was later reversed following public comments. Developers are hoping to have it reinstated.
With the next big meeting set for Jan. 22, planners are working their way through a 592-page document filed by the developer.
The Town of Kingston Planning Board has set a Wednesday, January 22 date to continue review of the 850 Route 28 Project that’s been roiling the Town of Kingston, as well as users of the Onteora Lake trails and Forever Wild lands that surround it.
The site has been used as a quarry before, but opponents are concerned the new use could have a negative impact on the surrounding Bluestone Wild Forest.
In a move that prompted applause from a large crowd of opponents in attendance, the Town of Kingston Planning Board decided to rescind its earlier “negative declaration” of environmental impact for the project.
“Should this project happen — with the resulting non-stop noise of construction and manufacture, as well as the permanent increase in truck traffic on Route 28 — it will end our peaceful time around Onteora Lake,” writes a reader. “And in our busy lives such natural outlet is a necessity.”
A previous meeting on the contentious proposal had to be cancelled due to overcapacity. The new location is a middle school. Anyone looking to speak will be disappointed though: It’s not a public hearing.
The Town of Kingston planning board crossed several thresholds at its long-anticipated July 15 continuation of a recessed public hearing on Thomas Auringer’s proposal to build a half-million square foot manufacturing facility off Route 28 on property surrounded by the Bluestone Wild Forest and associated conservation lands recently purchased by the Open Space Institute.
Tom Auringer writes to clarify what he says were inaccuracies in our article and in some of the comments at a recent meeting concerning a proposed manufacturing facility on Rt. 28 in the town of Kingston. In a separate letter, Maxanne Resnick, executive director of the Woodstock Land Conservancy, writes that the proposal should receive the highest level of scrutiny.