Town planning board accepts Final Environmental Impact Statement for Medline

By Connor Linskey
Posted 3/11/20

The Town of Montgomery Planning Board accepted the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed Medline Industries Inc. warehouse at Monday night’s meeting.

Located on the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Town planning board accepts Final Environmental Impact Statement for Medline

Posted

The Town of Montgomery Planning Board accepted the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed Medline Industries Inc. warehouse at Monday night’s meeting.

Located on the east side of NYS Route 416 and north of Interstate 84, the 1.3-million-square-foot warehouse is proposed in the Town of Montgomery, just outside the Village of Montgomery limits. The building would replace the outgrown 500,000-square-foot facility in Wawayanda. According to Thomas Fallon, director of operations at Medline Industries Inc. in Wawayanda, the new facility would bring 350 new jobs, which would increase to 700 jobs within five years.

Since the last meeting on Feb. 24, Planning Board member Ryan McGuire made changes to the visual section of the FEIS to make the part easier to comprehend.
“I worked a lot with the lighting consultant…” McGuire said. “I’m comfortable enough with the language in the FEIS as shown here. It meets the intent of what we’re looking for. If we can make some changes moving forward with the site plan, we can and should do that. The text I believe matches what the Planning Board’s intent is.”

As with previous Planning Board meetings, residents expressed concerns about the impact the project would have on the Town.

“It is declared by the New York State Office of Historic Preservation and Parks that as it is proposed as the current site plan, it will diminish the historical value of the Town,” said Cheri Zahakos, a resident of the Town of Montgomery. “I would like to make sure and ask what have we done and what is the mitigation for this type of impact.”

Residents are also concerned that the project would be excluded from a possible moratorium. The current proposed moratorium would not affect projects whose Draft Environmental Impact Statements have been accepted.

“I’m really discouraged about the time frame that these gigantic projects have been pushed forward…,” Jeff VanZandt said. “You’re supposed to be here representing us. Not these big gigantic companies, not R.J. Smith. You’re supposed to be representing the people that live in this area. It’s absolutely disgusting.”

A draft of the FEIS will be accessible to the public by Friday on the town’s website and in hard copy available at the town’s three libraries and at the government center. The public hearing on the project’s site plan will resume on Monday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m., Montgomery Town Hall.