Town board seeks more info on Rt. 28 plants

Town Board members want to ensure that the impact from the proposed 850 Route 28 steel and concrete fabrication plant doesn’t lead to disruptions in the area.

The concerns were raised during a meeting Monday, with Councilman Michael Boms noting that work is expected to be disruptive for people who live in the town.

Among the concerns involves the amount of rock that has to be removed from the site to accommodate construction of two 120,000-square-foot buildings.

“They are talking about doing explosions 24 hours a day, seven days a week... for months,” Boms said. The entrance to the project site is about 1,000 feet east of the Hurley town line and two residential properties. Boms added that the project is adjacent to Onteora Lake, which is a popular hiking location that attracts people to a section of state Route 28 where there will be continual truck traffic entering and exiting the proposed facility.

“If the town of Kingston goes ahead with this I think the county should step in then and say this is environmentally unsound,” he said. “I think we literally have to educate the town of Kingston on this type of thing,” he added.

Boms said if the work is done poorly it could threaten Onteora Lake by creating fissures or breaks in the surrounding geology.

“Onteora Lake ain’t going to be there anymore if you fracture that ground,”

he said.

Opponents contend the applicant

has minimized the impacts from plans to clear 21 acres of trees, blast 405,000 cubic yards of rock, and construction activity that is expected to involve nearly 12,500 trucks over a five-year period.

Developers, who want the facilities to produce steel and precast concrete bridge decking sections that are taken to project around the state, contend that revisions have been made to address the concerns.

Kingston town Planning Board members had expected to discuss revisions on Monday but called off the meeting due to the coronavirus pandemic. Officials have not set a new date for the session.