At a Tuesday, May 1, public hearing to discuss a proposal to build a large food distribution warehouse off Feuz Road, residents expressed concerns about potential noise, traffic and quality-of-life issues.
Town officials required an environmental impact statement for the project, and Tuesday’s Rotterdam Planning Commission hearing was a chance for people to comment on the draft EIS.
Marianna Lawler of Meghan Boulevard said the project would upset the visual character of her neighborhood. She said the trees, which are supposed to hide the warehouse, would take years to reach their full potential.
We need to preserve the area’s visual character and make it suitable for families, she said. `We need to make sure we have green space and we aren’t impacted by a very large warehouse.`
McLane Foodservice Inc. is seeking to build a 168,500- square-foot warehouse distribution center with a 12,800- square-foot truck maintenance and wash facility on a 27.42-acre parcel of lane located south of Route 7 off Becker Drive. About 15 acres of the development would be in the town of Rotterdam and about 12 acres would be in Princetown.
Joel Biancini, the project’s engineer, said the actual warehouse would be in Rotterdam and the maintenance facility would be in Princetown. He said water would be pumped from Rotterdam and looped around the entire project. Currently, there aren’t any sewer lines in the area, so two large septic systems would be installed.
Marcus Mastracco of County Walk Road was one of the residents concerned about sewers. He didn’t trust that it would be safe to operate using septic systems, especially if the maintenance building will include a truck washing facility.
`We’ve been hoping for 20 years for sewers in our area. I wouldn’t even break ground unless you have the sewers in place,` he said.
Supervisor Steven Tommasone said the town is negotiating with Joseph Lucarelli, who is planning to build a large condominium complex in the area, to get a sewer line down Burdeck Street. Tommasone said if the projects move forward to the site plan review stage, the town could ask McLane Foodservices to contribute monetarily to a sewer line.
Creighton Manning Engineering did a traffic study of the area. Alanna Moran, who represents the company, said the distribution center would produce about 60 to 80 trips during peak hours in the morning and evening. All traffic would move through the unsignaled intersection of Becker Drive. Moran said the intersection of Becker Drive, Route 7 and the Interstate 88 ramp, which needs improvements now, would need further improvements if the project goes forward.
Many of the residents expressed concerns about that particular intersection, saying trucks have a hard time turning left, which backs up traffic. Often cars wait through several lights.
Chairman of the Planning Commission Lawrence DiLallo said the board was well aware of the situation.
The distribution center is expected to operate 24 hours a day, six days a week. Many residents were upset about the level of noise that could come from the center, especially from the truck maintenance facility.
Mastracco said the noise may not be an issue during daylight, but he said the EIS didn’t report noise levels at 2 a.m. when loud truck sounds are more bothersome.
Paul Golding of Overlook Lane in Princetown said the positive thing about this project was the additional revenue coming into both Rotterdam and Princetown from property taxes. He predicted about $420,000 in revenue for Rotterdam and about $60,000 for Princetown.
The planning commission is accepting written comments about the draft EIS until May 25. The document is available at the library and town hall and can be downloaded from the town’s Web site at www.rotterdamny.org. “