The public hearing for the proposed Legacy House project, a proposed 50 unit supportive housing facility on Johnston Street, owned by Newburgh Ministry, closed on Tuesday, July 25. The hearing took place at the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting that did not result in a vote that evening. The project will return again before the zoning board in August.

The housing project had appeared before the city zoning board to seek approvals for area variances for various setbacks on the property. For the two lots that the project includes in its plans, the various setback measurements did not meet the requirements of the city’s use and bulk regulations within the area, thus requiring the appearance before the zoning board.

The project had appeared before the planning board on July 18 with similar turnouts and comments made again from both supporters, critics and those interested to learn more about the project overall. Comments were given over the course of an hour and half on Tuesday night.

“I’m not for this project. I live on Johnston Street. Everyone needs housing. We know that it’s part of humanity but not right there,” said Schnekwa McNeil. McNeil serves on the Architectural Review Commission and Newburgh Housing Authority Board for the city. “We are already overcrowded. I don’t see how this will work. I think it would be overcrowded and it will be detrimental to the community as a whole.”

“I would like for the people that’s residents, that’s homeless here, can they get, like, first choice of these apartments?” asked Carla Johnson. “I’m for the project, but a lot of people that stayed in the ministry are not really from our city.”

“It’s going to degrade the quality of life in that area, because it’s so dense, and it provides no outside space for anybody to hang out. We don’t need to take care of Westchester or Goshen or whatever,” said Drew Kartiganer. “You build this, you’re gonna get everybody else’s housing coming here in the area.”

Several city elected officials also offered their comments.

“We are in a housing emergency. There are people who sleep in the streets. There are people who are homeless. There are people who are in our city that need decent, affordable housing because housing is a human right,” said Mayor Torrance Harvey. “How dare we stand in this urban city and turn our backs on those who need us the most.”

“Without these people already moving in, we’re already starting to stereotype them,” said Councilwoman Giselle Martinez. “I do agree that there is a bigger issue at the county level and fully support going to the county.”

Other comments raised also questioned the support of Orange County and how to address the housing concerns in the city. “We’re in the middle of a housing crisis, why wouldn’t you want more housing built,” said Andrei Niles. “If you’re against this project, kind of blame the county level and Steve Neuhaus. They end up sending a lot of people to, like, Newburgh and Middletown from the rest of the county. So if you have issues with homeless, check in with those people.”

“I’m speaking in support of the Ministry tonight. I fully support, in fact I wrote the grant. Just want to let everyone know that as far as people being there yes, state funded you cannot necessarily pick and choose,” said Steven Swyryt. “There’s a lot of passion, stuff like that, but variances exist for a reason and these might be extreme; but I think what’s extreme is that there’s over 300 people sleeping in the street [of the City of Newburgh].”

“Let us not waste our energy on arguing over a project that’s actually going to bring solutions to our city, but instead start tackling what the current problem is,” said Rene Mejia.

After all comments were given, Colin Jarvis, Executive Director of Newburgh Ministry, Inc. also offered a comment about the item and overall situation.

“If you want to join with us to do this, please come and do that. Tired of, you know, the rhetoric, and the misinformation and all of this stuff, everything is presented,” he said. “I’m not knocking anybody else that’s providing housing; all I’m simply saying here, if you can do better, present it. We’re solving problems.”