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May 25, 2025 |
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General News: Cornwall Commons Responds to Comments
August 27, 2008
On Tuesday, September 2, Cornwall Commons will present its response to public comments submitted to the Cornwall planning board last month concerning the environmental impact of the 490-unit planned adult community.
More than a half dozen individuals and groups raised questions about traffic and pedestrian flow, tree removal, and water use in their comments. The village of Cornwall-on-Hudson submitted lengthy comments, asking, among other things, for the right to develop a water well on the property if needed in the future. It also urged the developer, Joseph Amato, to use water-saving fixtures in constructing the housing and to re-use rain water to irrigate the landscaping. (Read more of the village’s comments here.)
In written comments available now at the planning board office, the developer rejected the idea of a well on the property, noting that the village water department agreed several years ago to supply water to the project without requiring a new well. The developer did state that low-flow toilets and shower heads will be included in the housing units.
The village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, as well as the Cornwall Conservation Advisory Committee and Riverkeeper, noted that the Cornwall Commons project could have an adverse impact on the sewer treatment plant, which, they said, already overflowed during wet weather. In response, the developer noted that it had already paid $100,000 to the town to reserve sewer treatment facilities and any improvements that need to be made are the town's responsibility. It also said there is no evidence of environmental problems caused by the discharge.
Pedestrian access to the planned adult community was raised in several comments and the developer described how future residents could walk to Main Street in Cornwall via Frost Lane or along new sidewalks to be installed in the adjoining Willow Woods development that connect to Willow Avenue. Pedestrians could walk to the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson by crossing Route 9W near Academy Avenue, where, the developer explained, a traffic light will be installed.
Several people, including Bill Schuster, the executive director of the Black Rock Forest Consortium, and Kate Goodspeed, the Cornwall tree warden, urged the Cornwall Commons developer to prepare a more detailed survey of mature trees on the 197-acre property. The developer refers to a survey done of cabbage oaks and argues that it has met all requirements for preserving mature trees.
The details in the 49-page statement responding to these comments, which were prepared for the developer by the law firm of Jacobowitz & Gubits, will be reviewed by the planning board on Tuesday.
Comments:
Are there deer living on these 197 acres? Where will they go when and if this development is built?
posted by Joe Cornish on 08/28/08 at 7:36 PM
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