Sierra Club complains about crane storage
TOWN OF KINGSTON, N.Y. » A local chapter of the Sierra Club wants an investigation into the storage of cranes and related equipment on the Route 28 property where a steel and concrete fabrication is proposed to be built.
The Mid-Hudson Group of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter has filed a complaint with the town of Kingston, which forwarded it to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, about the company 2-4 Kieffer Lane/U.S. Crane using the site at 850 Route 28 for storage.
The crane company, which is in the town of Ulster, is owned by Thomas Auringer, who is the principal of 850 Route 28 LLC. That company has proposed the construction of two 120,000-square-foot buildings at 850 Route 28 for the manufacture of steel and precast concrete bridge decking.
The Sierra Club chapter opposes the town of Kingston’s previous determination that Auringer can use the Route 28 site for storage based on a previous use of the property, and its complaint includes aerial photographs that show dozens of crane extensions, flatbed trailers and industrial trucks in a clearing adjacent to the Bluestone Wild Forest Preserve.
“There is no existing permit for the outside storage of equipment and materials,” chapter Chairwoman Lalita Malik and Vice Chairwoman Alison White wrote.
Town of Kingston Planning Board Chairman John Konior said last year that Auringer could use the site for storage because previous owner John Smith received a permit in 2009 for a maintenance and repair operation there and was allowed to store heavy equipment.
The 2009 permit shows Smith had permission to store items on a maximum of 0.2 acres and that the approval was predicated on the business being part of mining operations, which no longer exist.
Malik and White wrote that the “specious claim that prior permits issued a decade ago to a different owner of the site for a different project somehow are still valid” needs to be reviewed.
Dominic Cordisco, attorney for 850 Route 28 LLC, declined to comment about the Sierra Club complaint Monday.
The town of Kingston Planning Board is to discuss the Route 28 proposal during a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. June 15. The meeting will be available for live viewing on the WebEx platform; the Town Clerk’s Office will provide information about how to access the feed.
The proposal was to be the subject of a Planning Board meeting in March that was canceled because of the state’s coronavirus-related ban on gatherings of more than 10 people.
The board ruled in March 2019 that the project would not have an adverse impact on the environment, but it rescinded that declaration five months later. If the board ultimately rules the project would have an adverse impact on the environment, then a full review under the terms of the State Environmental Quality Review Act would be required.
The Sierra Group chapter said in its complaint that “all environmental groups who have commented about this proposal have strongly urged that a full environmental impact study is required due to the extensive construction plans, which will require several years to complete and include the blasting of more than 400,000 cubic yards of rock, construction of a plant totaling 240,000 square feet, and the removal of approximately 162,000 cubic yards of material.”
Among other things, opponents fear the project will harm the nearby Bluestone Wild Forest Preserve and Onteora Lake.
“There is no existing permit for the outside storage of equipment and materials.” — Chapter Chairwoman Lalita Malik and Vice Chairwoman Alison White