BJ’s Wholesale Club eyes 17K site

By Mallika Rao
Posted 9/11/19

The Town of Newburgh Planning Board held long discussions about an upcoming BJ’s Wholesale Club during its first meeting of the month in September.

BJ’s Wholesale Club is expected to …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

BJ’s Wholesale Club eyes 17K site

Posted

The Town of Newburgh Planning Board held long discussions about an upcoming BJ’s Wholesale Club during its first meeting of the month in September.

BJ’s Wholesale Club is expected to be located on the intersection between Route 17 K and Auto Park Place.

In the discussion of the project’s development, a couple of critical questions arose.

The first was the issue of placing a traffic light at the four-way intersection of Route 17 K where BJ’s Wholesale Club is set to be built.

The U.S. Department of Transportation sent out their comments on the site plan, which provided an alternative to the traffic light being built, according to Ken Wersted, the traffic consultant of the town planning board.

“Based on these comments, I would believe that the alternative of having a left turn restricted on 17 K would be their preferred plan,” he said.
One resident weighed in on the matter.

“I go into Auto Park Place every day, and you don’t realize how much traffic is there,” he said, “so I can’t imagine making a left to go westbound from BJ’s.”

Landscape architect Karen Arent brought up the lack of shrubbery outside of the area where the proposed project is set to be located, as well as the issue of how high the surrounding trees should be.

“Small ornamental trees will be placed, and they will most likely be branched low,” she said.

With regard to the shrubbery, Arent was wondering how to make the surrounding area stand out, even though town guidelines do not enforce a requirement to have shrubbery outside of town properties.

Planning board member Clifford Browne was concerned about light posts and security cameras being installed to ward off vandalism. The concerns were addressed with assurance from Maser Consulting, P.A., the engineering firm behind the project.

Further requirements for overall approval of the project include providing cost estimates for scurity for landscaping, stormwater management as well as erosion and sediment control. and permits from the New York State Department of Conservation for providing a fuel system.