The Town of Ballston will be requiring the developer of a proposed asphalt plant to undergo a draft environmental impact statement, amove that could affect the time and cost of the approval process.
The majority of the town’s Planning Board voted in favor of theDEIS at their meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 29. The development team gave a presentation to the board at the meeting that outlined how the 10-acre site atthe Curtis Industrial Park would be able to accommodate asphalt production by Callahan Industries Inc., which is a sister company of Dolomite Products Inc.
The meeting followed a Dec. 14, 2011 Planning Board meeting in which experts and officials from Dolomite Products Inc. presented their plans for the site for a third time.
No other uses for the site had been considered, as far as Planning Board Chairman Richard Doyle is aware.
The Planning Board’s decision is part of the state’s environmental review process. If the town had issued a negative declaration it would been the end of the review process under SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review Act). Instead, Callahan will have to provide a much more detailed analysis of potential environmental impacts in the draft environmental impact statement.
Stephanie Farradino, a lawyer with Jones Farradino said, “We got a positive declaration back which led to a DEIS. This will push out the process several months,”
Farradino said the factory, if built, would produce 30,000 tons of asphalt per year.
“The site would be in operation for 150 days a year from mid April through mid November,” she said.
She also said wetlands on the site would have buffers built to protect them and that the entire site would not be developed. The plant would occupy roughly two acres of the 10.
The purpose of SEQR is to incorporate the consideration of environmental factors into an agency’s decision-making process at the earliest possible time. Environmental factors may include land, air, water, noise flora/fauna, features of historic or aesthetic significance, population patterns and community character. Agencies, such as local planning boards, may not act before complying with SEQRA.
As part of the SEQR, all components of the proposal must be examined. This includes, – and most importantly relevant to the site in question – sequenced new construction plus conversion of old facilities. That, along with the rural and agricultural aesthetic of the town, will most have to be taken into account.
Once the DEIS is accepted by the town, it will be made available for public review and public comment. There may or may not be a SEQR hearing (that step is optional given circumstances of the process). The final EIS willthen be drafted.
The largest concerns identified with the proposed use of the Curtis Industries site include traffic, air quality and noise. To address the traffic concerns of the site, Wendy Holsberger of The Chazen Companies will be devloping a traffic plan.
“We’re providing apublic improvement by adding a left-hand turn. We also collected real time dateand historical data, looked at the site and did a thorough analysis. It’s quite an extensive process,” said Holsberger.
There is one entrance/exit on the site, with no more proposed. Holsberger said the site would likely see 28 truck trips in one hour during high-volume traffic times in the morning and late afternoon, which are typically commuter times.
“Two components (that would be built) will exceed the height allowance in the town, and wouldbe 70 feet tall. Right now the maximum height allowed in the town is 40 feet,” Doyle said.
Ferradino pointed to a 300-foot cell tower adjacent to the site for comparison.
Callahan will assume the cost of drafting the DEIS.
