The Town Board set a public hearing which will be held on Wednesday, June 26th at 7:30pm in the Town Hall Auditorium related to the environmental review process for Elmwood Preserve, which is the name of the residential proposal for the former Elmwood Country Club, which is no longer in operation.
The applicant submitted a concept plan for redevelopment of the golf course use consisting of two zoning map amendments (a Zone Map change from R-30 to R-20 & a Planned Unit Development - PUD Overlay District) which would allow for a 175 unit townhouse condominium development that would consist of age restricted (55+) housing. Another concept submitted by the Applicant utilizes the existing zoning districts (R-20/R-30) of the site which appear to yield a maximum 119 units, and constitutes a conventional single family subdivision plan.
The public hearing, which you are invited to attend and speak at is referred to as a scoping session and is an opportunity for public comment on a draft scoping document (attached). A scoping document functions as a table of contents and as such, outlines the areas of environmental review that will be studied and documented in an Environmental Impact Statement (or EIS). The draft scoping document was prepared by Chazen Companies, an independent planning/engineering firm assisting the Town in the review of this process. Written comments (by email or by letter) can be sent in to the Town Board for up to 30 days following the close of the scoping session – townboard@greenburghny.com Comments are recommended to be in the form of suggested edits, additions, corrections etc., to the draft scoping document.
This environmental review process is designed to ensure that the residential development proposed for the site is of an appropriate scale and includes appropriate environmental mitigations. A major function of the scoping document is to identify an appropriate range of alternative proposals for review in the subsequent EIS process. In addition to the two development proposal concepts above, the draft scope also preliminarily identifies that a Zoning Compliant Single-Family Residential Subdivision in a cluster/conservation layout and a Multifamily PUD Development under Existing Zoning will also be studied.
A general overview of the Environmental Review process/steps is outlined below.
SEQRA
- Scoping
- Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
- Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)
- Findings Statement
Application Review (following completion of SEQRA)
- Various Land-use board reviews (Town Board and Planning Board)
Review Process (SEQRA): In its review of the Application, the Town Board will follow the New York State “SEQRA” process, or environmental review process, prior to rendering a decision on the application. For the SEQRA process, the project will be the subject of an environmental impact statement (EIS). The EIS is used as a formal process to understand potential environmental impacts (which can be potential impacts related to traffic, ecological, neighborhood character, etc.). The EIS process provides various points of public involvement from the beginning to the conclusion of the environmental review.
The scoping session (current SEQRA process step) outlines the relevant potential environmental impacts of an action that will be addressed in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. As part of the scoping process, alternatives and mitigation measures are identified. The public would have an opportunity to review and comment on a ‘draft scope,’ which, again, is a document containing the relevant areas of environmental concern to be studied.
The final scope must include:
- a brief description of the proposed action;
- the potentially significant adverse impacts identified both in the positive declaration and as a result of consultation with the other involved agencies and the public, including an identification of those particular aspect(s) of the environmental setting that may be impacted;
- the extent and quality of information needed for the preparer to adequately address each impact, including an identification of relevant existing information, and required new information, including the required methodology(ies) for obtaining new information;
- an initial identification of mitigation measures;
- the reasonable alternatives to be considered;
- an identification of the information/data that should be included in an appendix rather than the body of the draft EIS; and
- those prominent issues that were raised during scoping and determined to be not relevant or not environmentally significant or that have been adequately addressed in a prior environmental review.
Based on the scope, the Applicant will prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The DEIS includes a public review and comment period. The DEIS contains the relevant documentation and material facts on each subject matter determined as part of the scoping session; analyzes the significant adverse impacts and evaluates all reasonable alternatives.
The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) consists of the draft EIS, any corrections or revisions made, copies of all substantive comments received, and the lead agency’s responses to substantive comments.
The SEQRA Findings are prepared following the acceptance of a FEIS, which declare that all SEQR requirements for making decisions on an action have been met. The document identifies the social, economic, and environmental considerations that have been weighed in making a decision to approve or disapprove an action. The Findings are the final Environmental Impact Statement document and establish whether or not a project is approvable, or approvable when utilizing mitigations deemed necessary and appropriate.
PAUL FEINER
