At last week’s Lloyd Planning Board meeting, Lindsay Decker spoke on behalf of her neighbors in the Hudson Hills development who are objecting to a spate of development projects that have recently been proposed on the southern side of town.

She and her fellow residents have been attending Planning Board meetings since late March, “to learn more about the projects that were happening on either side of the entrances of our community. At that point in time there were only two; now just 6 months later, there are a total of 6 big projects that will directly affect our quality of life; Auto Zone, a Stewart’s Shop, The Views, The Village in the Hudson Valley, Highland Estates and Golden View II.”

Decker said they met with the Chief of Police and discovered that he has only two officers out on patrol and that his department relies “immensely” on the NYS Police for their assistance when needed.

Decker said there are 50 residents on Mack’s Lane and 169 in Hudson Hills and another 80 individuals who have signed past petitions against the Bridgeview development, bringing the total number of concerned residents in the southern end of town to 300. She said they all, “are nervous about how fast and close together these projects are arising.”

Decker pointed out that when the Golden View II project was announced at a recent Planning Board meeting, the issues of traffic, infrastructure and the environment, “didn’t seem to be a concern,” with some members saying they liked the development proposal.

Decker said she and her neighbors understand that the Planning Board is tasked with reviewing developer’s plans to ensure they meet the provisions in the Town Code but are not there to judge what is being built.

“But we know something can be done when it affects the quality of life,” she said. “To the board this may just be 6 separate projects, but to us, the residents that currently reside around this area, it represents a big mess.”

Decker pointed out that the majority of these projects do not directly benefit the Lloyd community. She said the town should be more focused on tapping into the tourism potential off of the Walkway Over the Hudson, but instead, the emphasis recently has been to approve storage buildings, a Dollar General and an Auto Zone.
“We ask you to please consider what these projects will do to our community and, if needed, create a policy to slow down these project developments,” she said.

Decker said residents living on Mack’s and Sherwood Lanes will be significantly impacted should a proposed hotel and multi-structure/multi-purpose complex be built behind Rite Aid. They submitted 50 signatures to the town, asking them to enact a moratorium, “until a plan for the massive infrastructure that will be needed is figured out.”

Their petition goes further, asking the Planning Board to, “maintain and improve the safety and privacy of our community; ensure that property values are maintained; require that this project pay their fair share of taxes for the repair and renewal of the community’s infrastructure (roads and utilities) and if appropriate, expansion of school facilities.” They also want the board to aggressively address the added light, noise and environmental pollution issues that will result from this project; protect the peace and privacy between our homes and the development and ensure the continued, unimpeded access to and from Route 9W.” The residents asked that, “all Planing Board final decisions regarding the impact of this project on traffic, environment, utilities, property values and the quality of life of current residents are based on evaluations from entities with no direct or associated vested monetary interest in the project.”

The residents in this area also believe this project will impact the groundwater and degrade the quality of the water in their wells.

These residents asked the Planning Board to make them aware of any studies from the Departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection as well as any Water and Sewer reviews that are used to evaluate this proposed project. They also requested a timeline of the construction of this project if it is approved.