Stonehedge is Back!

IMPORTANT ZBA MEETING WEDNESDAY:

Wednesday August 22 at 7:00 PM at Spring Valley Village Hall (enter st the Police door)

Please make every effort to attend this meeting!

This Wednesday, August 22, the public hearing for a use variance for the school at Stonehedge Plaza (across the street from village hall) will continue. This parcel was never zoned for a school, and yet the previous Building Inspector gave them permission (accidentally?). At the first meeting where this was discussed (February 27) concerns were raised about having so many schools right on Main St, especially on the section between Ewing and Hickory which there is nowhere for the traffic to go. Also the suitability of the site for a school was questioned as it is just office space and a parking lot.

Report from Ramapo Town Board meeting:

Several members of Spring Valley CUPON attended a Ramapo Town board meeting about the Pascack Ridge proposal. Here is a report from CUPON founder Micheal Miller:

This meeting was held last night with a standing room only audience. CUPON members, and other Hillcrest and Spring Valley residents came out in numbers. Residents from Clarkstown, Orangetown, and Stony Point came out in support of us also. Several noteworthy elected officials were there and spoke in our behalf including Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, Rockland County legislator Cris Carey, and Councilman’s Pete Bradley and Pat Carroll from Clarkstown.

The developers presented a very skillful slide show where they depicted 293 units, 3 stories tall, as a harmonious improvement for the town and neighborhood. Their main theme was “more housing is needed” and this is the ideal spot for it. Our basic rebuttal message was: piecemeal Comprehensive Plan changes (down-zoning); housing segregation; overdevelopment; inadequate infrastructure; wildlife; traffic; and community character concerns, all of which this plan is ignoring. There were a couple of speakers that made anti-Semitic remarks, which only serves divisiveness and does not represent the views of CUPON or the community as a whole.

There was no vote or decision at this meeting. Written Public comments will be accepted until Monday, August 27th, 2018. After that the builder will prepare responses to all of the relevant questions and concerns raised. I believe this will be followed with another Town Council meeting where they will decide the next steps.

Thanks,
Micheal