August 27, 2006
Reverberations of a Baby Boom
By FERNANDA SANTOS
KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y., Aug. 22 — As the administrator of this village in southern Orange County, Gedalye Szegedin knows that much of his job revolves around a simple equation: the number of girls who get married is roughly equal to the number of new homes this community will need to accommodate its rapid growth.
Last year, Mr. Szegedin oversaw the construction of 200 houses and apartments, mostly on the outer-lying lots along the eastern edge of this 1.1-square-mile community, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish enclave about 60 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. By the end of this year, he said, the village will most likely have 300 new homes.
“There are three religious tenets that drive our growth: our women don’t use birth control, they get married young and after they get married, they stay in Kiryas Joel and start a family,” Mr. Szegedin said.
“Our growth comes simply from the fact that our families have a lot of babies,” he added, “and we need to build homes to respond to the needs of our community.”
But developable land is a finite resource here, and not much of it is left. And as Kiryas Joel pushes up against its borders, nearby neighbors in the towns of Blooming Grove and Woodbury are moving aggressively to prevent the community from expanding by incorporating into villages of their own.
“We still have huge tracts of open land in Woodbury, and we want to keep it that way,” said Woodbury’s supervisor, John P. Burke, who grew up in the Bronx and moved to Orange County in 1969.
“We want to make sure that no outside community is able to completely transform the character and the look of our town,” he said. “If we need a village to do that, so be it.”
Kiryas Joel’s population leaped to 18,300 last year from 13,100 in 2000 and 7,400 in 1990, making it one of the fastest growing places in the state, according to the most recent estimates by the Census Bureau. For two years, developers and local officials have been searching for private parcels in surrounding communities, hoping to expand the village through annexation for the third time since it was incorporated in 1977 as an offshoot of the Satmar Hasidic sect of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
After its incorporation, most of the growth was driven by migration from New York City. But now, new arrivals are mostly babies and grooms coming to marry one of the local women.
Worried residents in Blooming Grove, which lies northwest of here, and Woodbury, which lies east, have voted overwhelmingly in the past two months to approve the creation of two new villages. State law allows villages to be established within towns and to set their own zoning regulations, and area officials say the new villages would be able to restrict the multifamily, high-density building that predominates in Kiryas Joel.
Many of the families in those towns also fled the crowded streets of New York City, moving here for the cleaner air, the safer communities and the open spaces, where the closest neighbor may not be so close.
“We’re hard-working people who decided to move up here to pay less taxes and enjoy the quietness of country,” said Garry Dugan, a retired New York City detective and the president of the South Blooming Grove Homeowners Association, the group that began the drive to create one of the villages.
“It’s a shame that it has come to us and them, but we feel like we had to form a village for no reason other than preserving our quality of life,” said Mr. Dugan, who has lived in Blooming Grove for 26 years. “This has nothing to do with their religion.”
It is not the first time that Kiryas Joel and its neighbors have clashed.
Over the years, there have been disputes — over a water pipeline Kiryas Joel sought to build, for example, and whether the state should pay for a school system for its disabled students. There was also an argument in 1986 when 600 Kiryas Joel boys refused to board school buses driven by women. (The drivers are now all men.)
The Satmar Hasidim share what they call a deep mystical connection to Kiryas Joel. They were led here by their founder, the Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, who saw in it the ideal place for his followers to raise large families away from the influences of the outside world. Hence the name of the village, which means Town of Joel.
About 3,000 families live here, many of them in boxy wood-frame homes built close to one another, with up to a dozen apartments stacked in four floors.
The village has no parks or public playgrounds, so children play with their colorful plastic toys on small front yards.
A network of sidewalks twirl across the village, so the women, who do not drive, are able to walk to the clinic and supermarket. Baby strollers seem to be everywhere: in the lobbies of buildings, on sidewalks, outside the stores.
“This is a great place to raise our children; it’s easy to keep them away from the distractions of the city,” said Judith Greenfeld, 34, whose family moved here from Williamsburg two decades ago.
All but 3 of her 12 siblings live here.
Mrs. Greenfeld and her husband, Joseph, 35, have five children, three boys and two girls, ages 3 to 13. The median age is 15, compared with 35 for the nation, according to the 2000 census. The village has one of the lowest median ages among communities nationwide with more than 5,000 residents.
The Greenfelds live on a dead-end street, in a third-floor apartment across from a girls’ school. Like most families here, they speak more Yiddish than English and have no radio, computer or television at home. Mr. Greenfeld owns a tile shop in Monroe, just outside the village borders.
His wife helps him run the business, which makes her a rare exception among Kiryas Joel’s women, who are married soon after they graduate from high school, work until they give birth to their second child and then become stay-at-home mothers. The men, meanwhile, board yellow school buses every morning and ride to New York City, to jobs in the diamond district or at B & H, the photo and video store near Herald Square.
Because of the sheer size of the families (the average household here has six people, but it is not uncommon for couples to have 8 or 10 children), and because a vast majority of households subsist on only one salary, 62 percent of the local families live below poverty level and rely heavily on public assistance, which is another sore point among those who live in neighboring communities.
“We just don’t understand why they have to keep pushing their expansionist ideas on us,” said Charles J. Bohan, who is the supervisor of the Town of Blooming Grove and a resident of the new village, named South Blooming Grove.
On Sept. 21, South Blooming Grove will hold its first election for mayor and for a four-member board of trustees. The state must still certify the results of the vote to create the village in Woodbury before elections there can be held.
Mr. Szegedin, Kiryas Joel’s administrator, said his community was not deterred.
"We have several different developers that want to sell land to Kiryas Joel, but if they can’t do it, we can build up,” he said. “We can change our zoning code to allow high-rise apartments. The creation of these villages are not going to stop the growth in the village of Kiryas Joel."
Mrs. Greenfeld agreed.
“People don’t understand the conception of our people, of our religion,” she said. “There’s no government or land or any other authority that can stop us from having babies,” she said while her husband put out a plate of cheese blintzes, strawberries and sour cream.
“If there’s not enough land, families will double up. There’s always going to be room for the new families,” Mrs. Greenfeld said. “And if I have to slice up my apartment in two, I’ll do it, without doubt or hesitation.”
Monday, August 28, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
County gives motel tax break; Woodbury gets ‘bupkis’
County gives motel tax break; Woodbury gets ‘bupkis’
By Tony Houston
Woodbury - “It’s an outrage and a disgrace that this project that was approved by the Town will be granted tax abatement by another government.”
Those are the words of Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz pertaining to the proposed financial assistance to the Hampton Inn hotel project by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA).
The three-story, 136-room, 80,000-square-foot hotel and related improvements are planned for a 16-acre parcel of land at 25 North Drive behind Kohl’s in Woodbury Centre off Route 17.
The OCIDA’s proposed financial assistance includes a sales and use tax exemption, a mortgage recording tax exemption and a partial real property tax abatement. The real property tax abatement would result in property taxes from zero percent (in the first year) to 90 percent (in the tenth year) of the otherwise full amount; there is an increase of ten percentage points each year.
This arrangement would result in the property owner paying only 45 percent of the full amount over the first ten years. Beginning with the eleventh year, the full amount would be paid annually.
“Orange County is sticking it to the Town of Woodbury again,” Aronowitz said. “It’s bad enough that we get so little from Woodbury Commons; now they are screwing us twice.”
Aronowitz is concerned that the County is not just exempting the project from county taxes, but from town and school taxes as well. Woodbury Town Supervisor John Burke and Monroe-Woodbury School District Superintendent Joe DiLorenzo have expressed the same concern.
The OCIDA is one of seven IDA’s in the County. There is a local IDA in one of the county’s villages, in two of its towns and in all three of its cities. The purpose of financial assistance from an IDA is to attract development and jobs to a location that would not be developed otherwise or would not be chosen otherwise by a specifically targeted developer.
“These tax breaks are not needed to encourage the Hampton Inn development,” said John Staiger, the assistant superintendent for Business and Management Services for the Monroe-Woodbury School District. “They would build here with or without the financial assistance being offered. The OCIDA is not acting in the best interest of the school district.”
This matter is especially galling to the school and town officials. The school district and the town both decided long ago not to participate in a statewide tax-incentive program — a program far less generous to developers that the one being offered by the OCIDA.
“The county wants more shoppers in order to get more revenue,” said Aronowitz, “A hotel goes up here to house the shoppers and we won’t get the full property taxes.
“Woodbury puts up with all the headaches like traffic and policing — and we get bupkis,” Aronowitz added.
The OCIDA will hold a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 28, on the matter of financial assistance for the Hampton Inn development at 1 p.m. in the Woodbury Town Hall at 511 Route 32 in Highland Mills.
OCIDA Administrative Director William Trimble will preside and OCIDA Attorney Philip Crotty will be present.
By Tony Houston
Woodbury - “It’s an outrage and a disgrace that this project that was approved by the Town will be granted tax abatement by another government.”
Those are the words of Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz pertaining to the proposed financial assistance to the Hampton Inn hotel project by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA).
The three-story, 136-room, 80,000-square-foot hotel and related improvements are planned for a 16-acre parcel of land at 25 North Drive behind Kohl’s in Woodbury Centre off Route 17.
The OCIDA’s proposed financial assistance includes a sales and use tax exemption, a mortgage recording tax exemption and a partial real property tax abatement. The real property tax abatement would result in property taxes from zero percent (in the first year) to 90 percent (in the tenth year) of the otherwise full amount; there is an increase of ten percentage points each year.
This arrangement would result in the property owner paying only 45 percent of the full amount over the first ten years. Beginning with the eleventh year, the full amount would be paid annually.
“Orange County is sticking it to the Town of Woodbury again,” Aronowitz said. “It’s bad enough that we get so little from Woodbury Commons; now they are screwing us twice.”
Aronowitz is concerned that the County is not just exempting the project from county taxes, but from town and school taxes as well. Woodbury Town Supervisor John Burke and Monroe-Woodbury School District Superintendent Joe DiLorenzo have expressed the same concern.
The OCIDA is one of seven IDA’s in the County. There is a local IDA in one of the county’s villages, in two of its towns and in all three of its cities. The purpose of financial assistance from an IDA is to attract development and jobs to a location that would not be developed otherwise or would not be chosen otherwise by a specifically targeted developer.
“These tax breaks are not needed to encourage the Hampton Inn development,” said John Staiger, the assistant superintendent for Business and Management Services for the Monroe-Woodbury School District. “They would build here with or without the financial assistance being offered. The OCIDA is not acting in the best interest of the school district.”
This matter is especially galling to the school and town officials. The school district and the town both decided long ago not to participate in a statewide tax-incentive program — a program far less generous to developers that the one being offered by the OCIDA.
“The county wants more shoppers in order to get more revenue,” said Aronowitz, “A hotel goes up here to house the shoppers and we won’t get the full property taxes.
“Woodbury puts up with all the headaches like traffic and policing — and we get bupkis,” Aronowitz added.
The OCIDA will hold a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 28, on the matter of financial assistance for the Hampton Inn development at 1 p.m. in the Woodbury Town Hall at 511 Route 32 in Highland Mills.
OCIDA Administrative Director William Trimble will preside and OCIDA Attorney Philip Crotty will be present.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Woodbury hotel up for $1.5M tax break
News
Woodbury hotel up for $1.5M tax break
By Chris McKenna
August 25, 2006
Times Herald-Record
The developer planning a Hampton Inn hotel near Woodbury Common would save at least $1.5 million in property taxes over 10 years under a generous new tax abatement Orange County is dangling to attract high-paying employers.
With days to go before a public hearing on the proposed tax break, no one has released an official estimate of how much the Monroe-Woodbury School District, Woodbury and the county would lose in taxes, because no one knows how much the assessor will decide the proposed 136-room hotel is worth.
But you can calculate the bare minimum by taking the assessment of the 127-room Hampton Inn in Wallkill, translating it into Woodbury property values and plugging in current Woodbury tax rates.
By that yardstick, the discount totals $1.5 million — if tax rates remain where they are now until the abatement runs out.
The estimate is highly conservative because the Woodbury Hampton Inn will be larger than Wallkill's and because taxes will undoubtedly rise, even before the hotel opens.
Developer Martin Milano's Hampton Inn is one of the first projects in line for a juiced-up tax break for new businesses that the county adopted in May. The county's Industrial Development Agency — its economic development arm — created the incentive to compete with neighboring counties and states for big employers with high-paying jobs.
According to the agency, four or five businesses have already applied for the abatement, which waives property taxes for one year and then phases them in at 10 percent increments. The total savings over 10 years is 55 percent.
Hotels are explicitly excluded under the tax break, but Milano — the owner of a Hampton Inn in Newburgh and a Hilton Garden Inn that will soon open in the same town — is seeking to qualify as "tourism-related," one of many industries the policy targets.
Local officials are on the warpath because both the town and the school district eliminated a smaller, state-imposed tax break years ago but have no say over this new one.
Whether Milano gets it will be up to the Industrial Development Agency. Its seven-member board will hold a hearing on the proposal at 1 p.m. Monday at Woodbury Town Hall. The board is expected to make a final decision in September.
Woodbury hotel up for $1.5M tax break
By Chris McKenna
August 25, 2006
Times Herald-Record
The developer planning a Hampton Inn hotel near Woodbury Common would save at least $1.5 million in property taxes over 10 years under a generous new tax abatement Orange County is dangling to attract high-paying employers.
With days to go before a public hearing on the proposed tax break, no one has released an official estimate of how much the Monroe-Woodbury School District, Woodbury and the county would lose in taxes, because no one knows how much the assessor will decide the proposed 136-room hotel is worth.
But you can calculate the bare minimum by taking the assessment of the 127-room Hampton Inn in Wallkill, translating it into Woodbury property values and plugging in current Woodbury tax rates.
By that yardstick, the discount totals $1.5 million — if tax rates remain where they are now until the abatement runs out.
The estimate is highly conservative because the Woodbury Hampton Inn will be larger than Wallkill's and because taxes will undoubtedly rise, even before the hotel opens.
Developer Martin Milano's Hampton Inn is one of the first projects in line for a juiced-up tax break for new businesses that the county adopted in May. The county's Industrial Development Agency — its economic development arm — created the incentive to compete with neighboring counties and states for big employers with high-paying jobs.
According to the agency, four or five businesses have already applied for the abatement, which waives property taxes for one year and then phases them in at 10 percent increments. The total savings over 10 years is 55 percent.
Hotels are explicitly excluded under the tax break, but Milano — the owner of a Hampton Inn in Newburgh and a Hilton Garden Inn that will soon open in the same town — is seeking to qualify as "tourism-related," one of many industries the policy targets.
Local officials are on the warpath because both the town and the school district eliminated a smaller, state-imposed tax break years ago but have no say over this new one.
Whether Milano gets it will be up to the Industrial Development Agency. Its seven-member board will hold a hearing on the proposal at 1 p.m. Monday at Woodbury Town Hall. The board is expected to make a final decision in September.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Volunteers Needed!
There is a dramatic change in Woodbury these days and we need experienced leadership. We have a chance to make a tremendous difference. But it cannot happen without you. This is your campaign. Together, we're going to make the new Woodbury Village a better place to live, work, and play.
The success of any campaign relies not only on the candidate getting their message out to the community, but the volunteers who step up to help ensure the success of their candidate. We can not make this vision a reality without volunteers such as yourself. If you would like to be a part of our team and can spare a few moments of your time, please send me an email to maronowitz@gmail.com , so you too can make a difference. Thank you!
The success of any campaign relies not only on the candidate getting their message out to the community, but the volunteers who step up to help ensure the success of their candidate. We can not make this vision a reality without volunteers such as yourself. If you would like to be a part of our team and can spare a few moments of your time, please send me an email to maronowitz@gmail.com , so you too can make a difference. Thank you!
Volunteers Needed!
There is a dramatic change in Woodbury these days and we need experienced leadership. We have a chance to make a tremendous difference. But it cannot happen without you. This is your campaign. Together, we're going to make the new Woodbury Village a better place to live, work, and play.
The success of any campaign relies not only on the candidate getting their message out to the community, but the volunteers who step up to help ensure the success of their candidate. We can not make this vision a reality without volunteers such as yourself. If you would like to be a part of our team and can spare a few moments of your time, please send me an email to maronowitz@gmail.com , so you too can make a difference. Thank you!
The success of any campaign relies not only on the candidate getting their message out to the community, but the volunteers who step up to help ensure the success of their candidate. We can not make this vision a reality without volunteers such as yourself. If you would like to be a part of our team and can spare a few moments of your time, please send me an email to maronowitz@gmail.com , so you too can make a difference. Thank you!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Why Woodbury needs one village now
Why Woodbury needs one village now
By Colleen Campbell
I believe that by voting for the Village of Woodbury, you are providing the best defense against the inevitable changes that will occur.
As a former councilwoman, I strongly supported the five local laws recently re-enacted. This was the first step toward maintaining our current style of housing. The second step is to incorporate as a single village. By voting yes for the current incorporation, you minimize the impact of future zoning and boundary changes to the territory we live in.
A perfect example is Kiryas Joel. It's own incorporation allowed its residents the ability to build as they chose without complying with Monroe's zoning. They built according to their own standards. KJ is up front about its need for high-density housing.
It needs additional lands to continue to grow, so it purchased Ace Farms. It is very likely that KJ will attempt to annex those lands into the existing village. If it can't, it could create another village in Woodbury. I believe if KJ created a village in Woodbury, you would quickly see other villages popping up throughout Woodbury.
Highland Mills, close to KJ "2," would most likely choose to create its own village to prevent further encroachment. Central Valley residents may then decide they need to create their own village to protect their interests. Not only would we now have three to four villages throughout Woodbury, but also only certain villages would contain the tax ratables. Most of the business district would be centralized in the Village of Central Valley, where most of the money would be. How would this impact the taxes of the other newly formed villages? What would they have for revenue?
The best way to prevent this dissection is to vote yes for the current village proposal Aug. 10. This village would prevent any future villages from popping up, because you cannot create a new village within an existing village. This proposal would allow all the revenue to continue to be shared equally by all. It would be the closest scenario to maintaining what we currently have.
While it is truly unfortunate that we are faced with this dilemma, faced with it we are. To sit back and do nothing is to allow forces beyond our control to control us. Working out the details of how a single village would operate within the Town of Woodbury is a heck of a lot easier than three to four villages vying for their piece of the pie.
Oh, and let's not forget that the village with the most inhabitants would control the vote. Just look at Monroe. We need to be proactive and seize our own destiny. We can do that by voting yes for the village incorporation Aug. 10.
Colleen Campbell of Central Valley is a former Woodbury councilwoman.
By Colleen Campbell
I believe that by voting for the Village of Woodbury, you are providing the best defense against the inevitable changes that will occur.
As a former councilwoman, I strongly supported the five local laws recently re-enacted. This was the first step toward maintaining our current style of housing. The second step is to incorporate as a single village. By voting yes for the current incorporation, you minimize the impact of future zoning and boundary changes to the territory we live in.
A perfect example is Kiryas Joel. It's own incorporation allowed its residents the ability to build as they chose without complying with Monroe's zoning. They built according to their own standards. KJ is up front about its need for high-density housing.
It needs additional lands to continue to grow, so it purchased Ace Farms. It is very likely that KJ will attempt to annex those lands into the existing village. If it can't, it could create another village in Woodbury. I believe if KJ created a village in Woodbury, you would quickly see other villages popping up throughout Woodbury.
Highland Mills, close to KJ "2," would most likely choose to create its own village to prevent further encroachment. Central Valley residents may then decide they need to create their own village to protect their interests. Not only would we now have three to four villages throughout Woodbury, but also only certain villages would contain the tax ratables. Most of the business district would be centralized in the Village of Central Valley, where most of the money would be. How would this impact the taxes of the other newly formed villages? What would they have for revenue?
The best way to prevent this dissection is to vote yes for the current village proposal Aug. 10. This village would prevent any future villages from popping up, because you cannot create a new village within an existing village. This proposal would allow all the revenue to continue to be shared equally by all. It would be the closest scenario to maintaining what we currently have.
While it is truly unfortunate that we are faced with this dilemma, faced with it we are. To sit back and do nothing is to allow forces beyond our control to control us. Working out the details of how a single village would operate within the Town of Woodbury is a heck of a lot easier than three to four villages vying for their piece of the pie.
Oh, and let's not forget that the village with the most inhabitants would control the vote. Just look at Monroe. We need to be proactive and seize our own destiny. We can do that by voting yes for the village incorporation Aug. 10.
Colleen Campbell of Central Valley is a former Woodbury councilwoman.
Hearing on cluster proposal set for Aug. 1
Hearing on cluster proposal set for Aug. 1
By Tony Houston
Highland Mills - The Woodbury Town Board, having passed five local laws this month amending zoning ordinances, is holding a public hearing Tuesday, Aug. 1, which may result in two more local laws affecting zoning.
The hearing is on the application by Legacy Ridge at Highland Mills, LLC, to build 287 single-family detached 4-bedroom homes on 749 acres. The proposed site is located on both sides of Trout Brook Road between Smith Clove Road and Route 32; the average cost of a home is expected to be $625,000.
A Draft Environmental Impact Statement, completed by the applicant and accepted by the Town Board, addresses the impact of both the proposed development and the two laws. Issues addressed in the draft environmental report include traffic, schools, water, sewers, grading the land, vistas and the impact on plants and animals.
“Legacy Ridge is not currently in front of the Planning Board,” said Planning Board Chairman George Sewitt in a telephone interview. “The project is in front of the Town Board as lead agency on a matter of conservation cluster development.”
One proposed local law would change the zoning of the Legacy Ridge site from R-3A to R-2A. The other would designate Legacy Ridge as a Conservation Cluster Development. The effect of the two laws would be an increase in the number of housing units allowed, the clustering of the 287 units on lots averaging 1.11 acres each on 319 developed acres, and the preservation of the remaining 430 acres as open space.
“The law relating to the Conservation Cluster Development deals, in part, with senior housing,” said Woodbury Supervisor John Burke, “but this project doesn’t include any senior housing.”
Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz, whose change of mind resulted in the passage of this month’s five local laws, discussed the Legacy Ridge proposal in a recent interview.
“I will examine the application and local laws and listen to the public comment before I make my decision,” he said. “We must be sure of a benefit to the citizens of Woodbury and anyone else affected.”
One entity affected is the Cornwall School District, in which the Legacy Ridge site is located. Residents of other towns in that school district have complained that this project in the Highland Mills section of Woodbury would overload the Cornwall district.
“Many homes are going up in other towns within the Cornwall Central School District,” said Councilman Aronowitz. “We are not the bad guy.”
The public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the IBEW Training Center at 67 Commerce Drive South off Route 17 North in Harriman.
By Tony Houston
Highland Mills - The Woodbury Town Board, having passed five local laws this month amending zoning ordinances, is holding a public hearing Tuesday, Aug. 1, which may result in two more local laws affecting zoning.
The hearing is on the application by Legacy Ridge at Highland Mills, LLC, to build 287 single-family detached 4-bedroom homes on 749 acres. The proposed site is located on both sides of Trout Brook Road between Smith Clove Road and Route 32; the average cost of a home is expected to be $625,000.
A Draft Environmental Impact Statement, completed by the applicant and accepted by the Town Board, addresses the impact of both the proposed development and the two laws. Issues addressed in the draft environmental report include traffic, schools, water, sewers, grading the land, vistas and the impact on plants and animals.
“Legacy Ridge is not currently in front of the Planning Board,” said Planning Board Chairman George Sewitt in a telephone interview. “The project is in front of the Town Board as lead agency on a matter of conservation cluster development.”
One proposed local law would change the zoning of the Legacy Ridge site from R-3A to R-2A. The other would designate Legacy Ridge as a Conservation Cluster Development. The effect of the two laws would be an increase in the number of housing units allowed, the clustering of the 287 units on lots averaging 1.11 acres each on 319 developed acres, and the preservation of the remaining 430 acres as open space.
“The law relating to the Conservation Cluster Development deals, in part, with senior housing,” said Woodbury Supervisor John Burke, “but this project doesn’t include any senior housing.”
Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz, whose change of mind resulted in the passage of this month’s five local laws, discussed the Legacy Ridge proposal in a recent interview.
“I will examine the application and local laws and listen to the public comment before I make my decision,” he said. “We must be sure of a benefit to the citizens of Woodbury and anyone else affected.”
One entity affected is the Cornwall School District, in which the Legacy Ridge site is located. Residents of other towns in that school district have complained that this project in the Highland Mills section of Woodbury would overload the Cornwall district.
“Many homes are going up in other towns within the Cornwall Central School District,” said Councilman Aronowitz. “We are not the bad guy.”
The public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the IBEW Training Center at 67 Commerce Drive South off Route 17 North in Harriman.
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