CONUNDRUM FOR GREENPORT HOTEL PROJECT
Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
12-27-09 - 3:10 p.m. - Greenport Planning Board attorney, Carl Whitbeck described the conundrum: the developer doesn’t want to proceed without the blessing of the Planning Board; the Planning Board doesn’t want to sanction the project without a complete environmental study.
On Tuesday, December 22, developer Harbalwant Singh appeared before the Greenport Planning Board for the fifth consecutive month. This time he came armed with a four-year-old study of the old V&O Press building, hoping to get to Board to move the project forward and schedule a public hearing. |
|
|
The Planning Board balked at issuing the conditional site plan approval, however, saying that to do so they would have to accept Singh’s application as complete and they wanted more information about contamination, possible adverse environmental impact from demolition on the site, and a better definition of the remedial action that will be taken.
Singh is seeking approval to construct a 100-room hotel with a 52,000-square-foot entertainment center and a separate retail facility on the site of the V&O Press building on Route 66 in the Town of Greenport. The project would include a restaurant and conference rooms in the hotel, which could be used for weddings, parties, and meetings, and an attached two-story entertainment center, which would include a bowling alley, an indoor play area, a climbing wall, a laser tag facility, an arcade, and a sports bar.
Pointing out that the Board and Singh have “quite a conundrum,” Whitbeck said he understood Singh's desire to get some official indication that the project can move forward, but he said it is of equal concern to the Planning Board that the nature and extent of contamination in the building and the soil be known before the developer is permitted to begin demolition.
“We have to have some more information to tell us . . . how nasty the ‘nasties’ are inside that building,” said Planning Board member Michael Bucholsky.
“We can assume that there is potentially PCBs . . . and asbestos in there,” said another board member.
Engineer Paul McCreary said that a better definition of what is on the site at various locations would help the board make its decision.
Members of the Planning Board also expressed concern that Singh and his representatives did not know if a “reportable level” of contamination noted in the four-year-old study had ever been reported to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation or if the DEC had ever reviewed and cleared the site. Singh representative Tim O’Brien did say that a different “reportable” contamination incident had been reported to DEC and DEC representatives had reviewed the site and given it an OK.
The Planning Board also felt hesitant about acting on the application before receiving official comment from the Department of Transportation, which is in the process of reviewing the application.
Singh and O’Brien said they would be at the January 26 meeting of the Planning Board with more information.
|
