A plan to clear 41 wooded acres in Congers for three warehouses and a fast food restaurant drew more than 200 opposed residents to a public hearing in Clarkstown, New York, according to the Rockland County Business Journal.
What happened?
Brooklyn-based Vanta Developers is seeking approval for its Cedar Corners project, which would combine 16 lots into three parcels and build nearly 600,000 square feet of warehouse space, the Business Journal reported.
At a hearing last Wednesday, residents asked the Clarkstown Planning Board to deny the application.
The property sits on Route 303 and contains more than five acres of wetlands as well as state-designated ecologically important land, including an oak and tulip forest and wildlife habitat.
Opponents said the project would bring additional truck traffic to a corridor they already consider overloaded and would cut down more than 1,600 trees. They said the warehouses would add noise and air pollution to the surrounding area.
"Warehouses are not going to provide any material benefit for the people of Clarkstown, much less for the residents of Congers who will have to deal with the mess of noise, light, and traffic on a daily basis," said Peter Grafstein, a 21-year-old Clarkstown resident, at the meeting, per the Business Journal.
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Why is this project concerning?
Mary Araneo, who lives on Route 303, attested to how thoroughly the warehouse development would disrupt locals' day-to-day lives.
"This project is expected to add 342 trucks a day, 24 hours a day. That's 14 more trucks per hour. No one living on the route will have a quality of life," Araneo commented.
Barbara Pfingst, a Congers resident, said the proposal would pave over "an area of roughly ten football fields," removing tree canopy that helps store carbon and cool neighborhoods. Those actions can keep air cleaner and keep people from getting overheated, respectively.
"When land is developed, the animals don't just disappear into thin air. They end up in my hands and the hands of my colleagues," Meghan Raquet, a Rockland County wildlife rehabilitator, told the board.
What's being done?
For now, the proposal remains in New York State's Environmental Quality Review process.
Vanta has submitted a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and the public hearing is one of the required steps before the planning board moves on to a Final Environmental Impact Statement.
According to the Business Journal, the planning board must weigh the project's environmental effects alongside its social and economic tradeoffs before issuing findings.
Speakers also urged the board to take a closer look at related concerns like proposed lot mergers and which companies would occupy the warehouses and restaurant.
"Allowing this project to proceed would undo all the work the government has put in to make Clarkstown a better place to live, work, and raise a family," Grafstein warned.
"You haven't watched an animal suffer because of overdevelopment. I have," Raquet added.
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