Southeast Town Board Urges Movement on Crossroads Project
By Neal Rentz
The Southeast Town Board is urging the developer of the proposed Crossroads 312 project to work with town consultants and move the process forward.
The project, proposed to cover nearly six acres on Route 312 by Crossroads 312 LLC and JPH Development Corp., calls for a four-story, 100 room hotel and a total of 143,000 square feet for four “small box” retail stores, Supervisor Tony Hay said following the town board meeting.
Hay said the town board, not the planning board, is responsible for approving or rejecting the proposal. The project requires a special permit, wetlands and site plan approvals from the town board, he said.
For the project to proceed, Hay said the town board needs to change the zoning from the current RC (rural commercial) to HC (highway commercial).
Hay and his town board colleagues said at the meeting that the approval process for the project, which was originally submitted by the developers in August 2009, needed to be advanced. “We need to move this thing forward,” Hay said.
Hay said the developer submitted the draft final environmental impact statement to the town on July 25. Town consultants have provided written comments on the draft FEIS and they need to be addressed by the applicants, he said. “It’s in the applicants’ court,” he said.
Hay said the project was much improved from the original concept. For example, the original plan called for a 150 room hotel, which would have been too large for the area, Hay said. “It’s getting a lot better,” he said.
Hay also said he had questions about the project. “I still have a problem with traffic” that would be generated on the two-lane Route 312, he said.
Councilwoman Lynne Eckardt said she called for the Crossroad 312 project be placed on the meeting agenda for discussion. Eckardt said representatives of the developer should meet with the town consultants to address their comments. “There’s a lot to clean up in the document,” she said.
“I do think the project’s improved,” Eckardt said.
Judson Siebert, an attorney representing the developers, told the town board his clients “we’re gong to respond” to the town consultants and meet with them, he said. The developers want to “keep the process moving,” Siebert said.
