I'm writing to you with a heavy heart. I wish I had better news, but we wanted to give you an update after the Planning Board meeting on June 22nd.

The Planning Board declared a NEGATIVE declaration under SEQRA and tentatively approved the construction of the building, which is not what we wanted. They closed the public comments on this warehouse. About 50 members of the community attended. Many letters that were sent were not read during the meeting, which was unfortunate because I know people had asked their letters to be read aloud. 

Personally, I thought that because a lot of people didn’t know about the warehouse, they would have allowed public comments to continue, however we were told that public comments do not carry the same weight as experts, such as a lawyer or expert testimony. That was very disappointing to hear because although many of us spoke out, we did not have our own lawyer. That said, we did get a restriction imposed on the applicant’s use. They cannot use the warehouse for a Fulfillment Center, meaning no parcel hub, FedEx, DHL, Amazon, Walmart, UPS, and the like. Instead, likely we will get a wholesale distribution center, such as Home Depot or Target. It is still a 24/7 operation and still 100s of trucks everyday & night polluting our air, harming our health, and ripping apart our roadways. We’ll get a new traffic light at Lake Road (5 corners), which the Planning Board knows won’t solve all the issues.

There were also many complaints that our Town does not give residents ample warning/information about these projects. The Planning Board directed our efforts to the Town to change the distance of notification when a project like this is proposed. Currently, it’s 300 feet, but for this warehouse they extended it to 500 feet, which really didn’t reach enough people, as evidenced by many not knowing about this warehouse. We must ask the Town for greater notification distances in the future. 

This is truly disappointing, but the community came together on this issue. We can be proud of our involvement. There is more for us to do, with the notifications, which can make a difference, although I know it’s not the news we wanted to hear.

We deeply appreciate deeply everyone's efforts, especially on this petition. I made a sign for us and brought it to the meeting. The Planning Board knew about all your signatures which are still counting, even today. 

We'll keep this petition open for now. 

Again, a heartfelt gratitude for all your efforts! 

Barbara