During a special meeting on Friday, the Montgomery Town Board approved a Storm Water and Site Improvement Inspection Escrow Agreement with Bluewater Industrial Partners LLC, the developers of the Amazon warehouse that is planned to be built at the intersection of routes 17K and 747.

The agreement calls for the developer to deposit $250,000 into an escrow account, an account used to safely hold funds temporarily. $45,000 is currently in the possession of the town board and an additional $205,000 would need to be deposited within 10 days of the date the agreement was signed. This money would be used to cover inspection fees for storm water and site improvements during the course of construction.

If at any time the balance in the escrow account for the inspection fees drops to $100,000 or less, the town board has the right to request that Bluewater Industrial Partners LLC replenish that account. If they fail to replenish the account, building permits would be suspended and inspections would stop until the money was deposited.

“Essentially this protects the town,” said William Frank, attorney for the Town of Montgomery. “Makes sure we have money on hand to pay the engineers and everyone else necessary to do those inspections.”

Councilwoman Kristen Brown sent Frank four letters provided to the Planning Board. The letters were from the Village of Walden, Town of Montgomery Conservation Advisory Council, Wallkill River Watershed Alliance and John Brown, a member of the Historic Brown Family Farm, asking if money from the escrow account could be used to conduct water quality monitoring in the Tin Brook. Frank noted that this agreement does not cover the Tin Brook. Town Supervisor Brian Maher underscored the importance of testing the quality of the water in the Tin Brook.

“Well let’s keep it on our radar,” he said. “We want to make sure that gets done.”

Frank noted that the water quality of the Tin Brook is of the utmost importance.

“If there are any issues of any runoff coming from this project that are going to affect the Tin Brook, DEC is gonna step in and deal with that and put everybody on notice,” he said.