Dear Neighbor,

Like us, you may have recently been notified about a proposal to build an 11 building 250+ unit apartment complex off Little Britain Rd (Rt. 207) between Corwin Ct and the Laborers Union.  This Thursday, Dec 15th, the town of Newburgh planning board will be hosting a scoping session at the Laborers Union at 6:00 PM to hear from the public and to discuss the potential environmental impact the apartment complex may have on the surrounding community.  We urge you to attend this meeting to voice your concern about the project.  

·       A massive build like the one being proposed will dramatically change the character of our neighborhood.

·       It will also have a significant impact on traffic in the surrounding area. 

·       It will further tax our already heavily burdened water and sewage systems, and potentially have damaging environmental impacts to the Quassaick Creek and its wildlife.

This mass build proposal was understandably alarming to us as it happens to be on the land directly in front of our historic home and whose neighbors are all historic structures.  But as we considered all the ways this might impact our family, we began to realize how it would also impact the surrounding community and wanted to share our concerns with you.  If you cannot make Thursday's planning board meeting but would like to share your concerns please feel free to write the planning board directly or sign this petition and leave a comment. 

You can find the most current draft for the environmental impact survey on the town of Newburgh's meeting information page:

There is strength in numbers.  If enough of us voice our concerns now, we can halt this mass build and hope for a more reasonable future plan that involves single family homes.  Please help us take action now!

 

This apartment complex will cause a significant increase in traffic:

With 259 more families exiting onto Little Britain Road, there will be a substantial increase in the volume of traffic. Although the proposal is for 259 apartment units (and 515 parking spots), when you consider the average family currently has 2 cars, it's safe to assume this development would add at least an additional 500 cars to the surrounding roads.  This number doesn't consider service vehicles (like amazon Prime trucks, food delivery and taxis) making deliveries to these units.  In general, the traffic congestion would not just be felt on Little Britain Rd but would likely extend to the surrounding areas, hence why the town planning board has also proposed studying the volume of traffic at the following intersections:

·       Route 207/Little Britain Road & Wisner Avenue/Route 207

·       Route 207/Little Britain Road & Secondary Site Access

·       Route 207/Little Britain Road & Corwin Court

·       Route 207/Little Britain Road & Primary Site Access

·       Route 207/Little Britain Road & Old Little Britain Road

·       Old Little Britain Road & Dalfonso Road

·       Old Little Britain Road at Williams Avenue

·       Old Little Britain Road & Unity Place

Another factor impacting traffic would be the number of cars attempting to turn left crossing oncoming traffic to enter the apartment complex. This could cause a significant traffic backup on Little Britain Rd unless the road was widened by removing property from existing road front homes to add another lane. 

Noise, blasting and other disruptions during construction:

Due to the drastic elevation changes on the 48-acre parcel, a significant amount of blasting is being proposed in order to level the land.  Blasting even with a small charge can often be felt miles away in the form of tremors and vibrations.  Besides being a noise disturbance to residents and wildlife, vibrations from blasting can also damage foundation walls of nearby buildings and cause cracks in underground plumbing.  This is especially important due to the 2 water lines that act as the sole water supply to the city of Newburgh.  Nestled alongside these 2 water lines is also a pressurized 12" sewer main.  According to the city's engineers, all three pipes "sit fairly close to the surface", and could therefore easily be damaged.  (page 23/67)  Just this past month, city residents were instructed to boil their water and public schools were closed due to the water main break on Little Britain Rd near Ellis Avenue!

    Additionally, another structure that could be damaged by blasting are the historic lime kilns dating back to the 1800's on the adjacent property.  Based on comments submitted by the engineering firm (Engineering proposals and solutions out of Montgomery on behalf of Farell Builders) on their draft scope, blasting would take place between the hours of 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Monday through Sat during construction. 

The build puts additional strain on the current water supply and added pressure to the city sewage system’s downstream capacity.

Residents in the town of Newburgh are currently nearing our maximum agreed sewage usage with the city.  Currently, the town of Newburgh residents are supplied with water from the Chadwick Lake Reservoir. For structures with sewer connections (not on septic), wastewater from showers, toilets, sinks etc. is then sent from town residents to a downstream wastewater treatment facility on Renwick Street operated by the city of Newburgh. 

     In 2004 the town updated their intermunicipal sewer agreement with the city to increase the amount of sewage the town sends to the city treatment plant at 2,000,000 gals/day with the ability to send an additional 2,000,000gals/day providing the town pay to enlarge the current city facility.  This previously cost taxpayers $1,250,000 to construct the necessary facilities.  According to the November 3 town planning board minutes, the town is currently sending 2,000,000 gals/day already and at their first allotment.  They have 2,000,000 more gallons owed to them, but much of that has already been allocated to other projects.  

    As stated in their draft scope, the proposed apartment complex would produce an estimated 28,380 gals of liquid waste per day.  And according to the 2004 intermunicipal contract "when the town’s average flow exceeds 3.4 million gallons per day as evidenced by the last 90-day average flow" a second expansion will need to be constructed by and paid for by the town residents, unless we insist the cost be passed on to the builders of these new projects. 

    Additionally is the problem of metering of the apartment’s sewage. Currently, there are two metered interconnection points where the town's sewage transmission lines meet the city's sewer system, neither of which is near the proposed apartment complex.  If the complex tapped into the existing sewer line on the property, all waste generated by this town facility would be unmetered and therefore require the creation of a separate connection point again possibly funded by town residents.  

    Finally, are the concerns regarding the strain on an already taxed system.  Documented in the November 3 town planning board minutes, "The City's engineer did elude to the fact that he had significant concerns about the capacity of that sewer line. They have existing issues with that as well as the invert siphon under Quassaick Creek downstream".

If, instead of a mass apartment complex, this acreage was developed into single-family homes on septic systems there would be no increase to the city sewage, far less impact to traffic, a reduction in the number of entrances required and thereby less disruption to the environment in the form of runoff and blasting.  Although mass developments like the one being proposed have the potential to generate significant revenue for the town (and builder), doing so would sacrifice the historic character of the surrounding neighborhood and be a considerable burden to roads and the surrounding environment.  We stand firmly against this proposal and hope that you will join us.