Negative Declaration

Unfortunately, the Town of Madison Planning Board officially finished the SEQR review by giving the project a Negative Declaration. They do not feel this project will have any environmental effect that cannot be mitigated.

Very, very disappointing.

Interesting thing about these meetings is they rarely last more then 15 minutes.
There is never any discussion among Board members about the details.

None.

How can this possibly be? We are talking about a multi-million dollar project and the Board cannot discuss it for more then 15 minutes every month?!?

What is going on here?

Are they allowed to discuss this at other times, without public knowledge?

Or is this all being orchestrated by one individual who is doing all the work, making all the decisions, and everyone else is rubber stamping it?

I am afraid that due to the lack of transparency with which this Board operates, it is suspect to some very interesting notions. And we are STUCK with them for many, many years.

Same Story, Different Location

Looks like Sphere is developing over in Albany as well.

We came upon this group's website recently and have been sharing stories and news.
http://www.ns4sed.com/

Here is their mission statement:
New Scotlanders for Sound Economic Development (NS4SED) is a group of New Scotland residents working together to assure that commercial development is in accord with our Town residents' vision, benefits the local community and enhances the Town's resources, character and uniqueness.

New Articles

Madison town planners dip into water proposal

Marketplace opponents hire lawyer

Sphere Plan Update's

The new plan's are available on-line for you to download.

Response to Town of Madison Engineers

A New Plan DESERVES A New Public Hearing

A New Plan DESERVES A New Public Hearing

New plans for a completely new storm-water system have been filed for the proposed price chopper mall in Madison. More importantly, there has NOT been a public hearing with public comment on these plans, plans which, according to the developers engineer,

have been “dumbed down” from previous submissions!

Regardless of how one feels about a new supermarket, we can all agree that the location of this proposal, directly atop our community’s fragile aquifer, demands as close an inspection as possible to ensure the safety and quantity of our drinking water.

Call Madison Planning Board and Chairman Bryan Gazda today at (315) 893-7020 and demand a new public hearing with full public comment before any further action is taken on this massive development.

March 27th, Special Planning Board Meeting

Sphere Development Changes to Plan

I took these notes below.
I had a hard time understanding what was being said. They did not allow comments or questions.

In the 8 days between the English Ave meeting with Sphere, and this Planning Board meeting, the water system changed COMPLETELY

Board said their engineer would need a week or two to review this.
Board would need another 10 days after that.

Then they vote on if they will give this a Negative Declaration on SEQR, or a Positive Declaration.
We want a Positive Declaration. This means enough environmental impact has been found to do a Full Environmental review.
We don’t think this will actually happen.

Site Plan Revisions:
Tweaked parking lot plans
DOT requiring 2 lane main entrance instead of three-lane
Tractor store wanted larger parking spots since their clients drive over sized trucks
Now we have 597 spaces so they did not increase size of impervious area

Asked DOT to move the crosswalk from Airport Rd/12B intersection to English Ave/12B intersection.
Sidewalk from English Ave North to plaza was added.
Board on Board fence added on top of 4’ burm, down the length of the Southern property line

Storm Water Changes:
Talked to the DEC, site constraints said ground water table too high
Need to build pocket ponds, that will be dug below the water table
20 acre drainage area
Stilling basin to divert flow from 3 directions
Diverted to fore bays—pretreated—into final bays—for final treatment

Drainage areas will have sub-pumps and such
Baffles with traps to collect floatable SVOCs and VOCs, petroleum
This trap will be pumped out and disposed off-site
DEC regulates total suspended solids and phosphorous

Detention Basin
As water dumps into it, it has to rise 2 feet to discharge through a pipe. This will satisfy a 10-year event.

Water Storage Tank for Fire Suppression
27’ diameter, 27’ high, holds 100,000 gallons of water, NFPA determined the size.
Glass fused to steel, comes in a few colors, ours might be green

Waste Water System:
Affluent limitations
Canal is an intermittent stream, slow body of water.
Part of Chesapeake Bay watershed which has lots of regulations on nitrogen and phosphorous.

Primary treatment is septic
Secondary is recirculating tank and filter foam cubes.
NSF standards, Quanix system, gets us down to levels we need.
Ammonia removal in media filter.
Nitrate removal in recirculating tank.
Longer retention time
40,000 gallon tank now


Phosphorous removal by using constructed wetlands
This is the tertiary treatment system
Copying Village of Mineola which also has vegetative submerged beds
These are 2 ft of stone water goes into and through stone
Then UV disinfected and chlorinated
BOD removal, suspended solids removal

All this to discharge clean water into wetlands. Working with DEC to get approval.
No surface discharge to canal

Smaller septic tanks then Advantix system. This allows more BOD to help de-nitrificate water
12’ diameter recirculating tank
4 pods need to be above it
Area around it will be filled to the top of pods

Monitoring:
Before they had the Arenco System
Now want to use Vericom system, which is stand alone
It monitors flow ONLY, spikes in flow
Then they can shut down the system and pump water to one of the vegetative cells which is lined—no leeching to ground
Then they shut the cell down until water is safe or they can pump the water out and dispose off-site
They cannot monitor WHAT IS IN THE WATER. ONLY TESTING IF MORE THEN NORMAL AMOUNTS OF WATER ARE BEING USED

Delta Environmental studies:
Checked debris piles and gas station
Took ground and groundwater samples around gas station and along English Ave houses down to 5th house
Found nothing
In fact the water flows W to NW, therefore no impact to English Ave wells anyway
After demo of site, removal of lifts, take samples and test again
They did find a subgrade structure, not sure what it is

Fill piles came back clean

Water Usage Info
They estimated water usage volumes to be 200 times higher then what they will actually use
Del High Price Chopper only uses 1,900 gallons a day

Meeting closed
Board said their engineer would need a week or two to review this
Board would need another 10 days
Then they vote

And the Group Gets Bigger

Even though the poll on the right of the page shows most people are not worried about the environmental impact of this project, there are a heck of a lot of people who are.

Our citizen's group continues to grow strength and speed.

We have added many new Madison residents as well as Hamilton residents to our cause.

Not only that, we have also drawn the interest of an environmental lawyer from the Western end of the state. He will now be representing us.

As a group, we continue to write letters, make phone calls, check facts, research environmental information, and disseminate the info.

All the information we have gathered shows that there is STILL environmental issues that have not been resolved with this project.

Tell you family, tell your friends—MOVE THIS PROJECT.

Informational Meeting TONIGHT

The Madison Town Planning Board is holding an informational meeting tonight at 7:30 pm at the Village Hall located on Rt 20.

Please plan to attend and bring your questions!

New Articles

Detailing Madison Marketplace
Developers discuss proposed shopping center tonight at planning board meeting.

The Post Standard ran this article today.

Where is the Press?

Radio Free Hamilton wrote this interesting article.

Radio Free Hamilton: English Ave Concerns

Radio Free Hamilton's Discussion Group

Make Your Voice Heard

It's about the environment and we need your help.

The SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) documents have been submitted. But the process is NOT complete.

The process requires Sphere Development to submit a full environmental assessment form, and supporting documentation, so that the lead agency (Town of Madison Planning Board) can decide whether to issue a “negative declaration” or a “positive declaration.”

What this is saying is the Town of Madison Planning Board will make a decision wether the project will have enough of an environmental impact to require further study—a full environmental review.

A "negative declaration" would mean they didn't find enough information to stop the project. Therefore the project would commence without further study.

A "positive declaration" would mean they found the project would impact the environment significantly. Therefore a full environmental review would be started.

THE TOWN OF MADISON PLANNING BOARD MUST REQUIRE A FULL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW.

We cannot allow this board to rubber stamp this project without knowing exactly how it will impact the area, the neighbors, and the water.

• As we have stated before, carcinogens have been found in the soil.
• Insufficient testing of the water draw has been done
• Hamilton Fire Department does not believe there is enough water pressure to suppress a fire
• THEY WILL BUILD THIS PLAZA WITH ONLY TWO STORES IN IT. They will not wait for other nationally recognized stores to sign on before building.

COME ON PEOPLE

This project CANNOT be allowed to move forward at this time. It would be environmentally criminal, financially risky, and morally reprehensible.

Please join me in writing to the Chairman, pleading the Board to force a full environmental review.
Bryan Gazda, Chairman
Town Office
7358 Rt. 20
Madison, NY 13402
Click here

to download and print a ready-made letter. All you need to do is sign it, put it in an envelope, and mail it.

Or you can email Mr. Gazda himself.

Previous Meeting Minutes Scanned

January 23, 2008



February 6, 2008



February 22, 2008



February 27, 2008

Hearing Focuses on Proposed Marketplace

An article written in the Mid York Weekly:

By Carolyn Godfrey

Mid-York Weekly, March 6th

The Town of Madison Planning Board held a public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at Madison Central School to hear concerns and opinions of area residents regarding the proposed Madison Marketplace, a mixed-use project planned by Sphere Development LLC of Cazenovia. The hearing was actually the reopening of a public hearing held on Jan. 9, said Bryan Gazda, chairman of the planning board, as he opened the meeting.

The proposed $20 million 130,000-square-foot project would to be built on the corner of Route 12B and Airport Road in the Town of Madison, just north of Hamilton. Price Chopper and Tractor Supply Company are among the national retailers expected to locate in the plaza. Other familiar names, which will include apparel stores, quick casual restaurants and service providers, are also being added to the list of tenants. Sphere Development officials hope to begin construction in the spring.

Before opening the floor for discussion representatives of Sphere reported on the results of several tests performed in the area. According to the findings noise increase in the area would be approximately 5 to 6 decibels above the current range and would not be “considered an impact on the environment.” Traffic studies also showed no impact in travel in the village of Hamilton as well as the proposed project area.

Project engineer Rod Ives also explained the studies on the aquifer (groundwater supply) in the area as well as the measures that would be taken to protect the water supply in the future. Officials plan to monitor the source throughout the construction through routine maintenance of equipment, sediment and erosion control, as well as not using fertilizers and/or pesticides during and after the construction. A system will also monitor both the groundwater supply and wastewater treatment once the plaza is operational.

When the floor was opened for discussion several residents of nearby English Avenue voiced their concerns of the results of the report of Clough Harbor, an independent firm hired by the planning board to review the results of the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) which found no reason to stop the project. The group requests more information and/or study on carcinogens that were found in some soil samples, the impact on the water supply in the area, long-term monitoring of the aquifer and wastewater and more.

Resident Keith Broekhuizen, an environmental chemist, voiced his concern over many of the topics and questioned if the regulations would be monitored throughout the entire construction and not just when “inspectors are on site.”
Town resident Jim Mitchell voiced his approval of the overall project saying it would be a good addition to the tax base for the township.
“Free enterprise ... competition is good,” he said as he urged the board to pass the project as soon as possible.

Bob Pils, also a resident of English Avenue, said he would welcome the project but location is the issue of concern for him and his neighbors. He also urged the board to not meet just the minimum requirements but to go above and beyond them. “We feel this is just the wrong area. It’s surrounded by neighbors that totally depend on the water system. Put yourself in our shoes,” he added.

Village of Hamilton attorney Jim Stokes shared the concerns of the village concerning many of the topics. “I urge the board to see that all the questions in the report are answered,” said Stokes.

At the close of the meeting Gazda said the board would continue to consider all the information offered and invited residents to attend future meetings of the planning board as the decision is made. The board meets at 7:30 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month in the village office, located on Route 20 in Madison. Change in meeting places are announced in area newspapers and posted in advance.

Letter's To The Editor…Keep Them Coming

From the Oneida Daily Dispatch…

Few Tax Dollars Would Stay In Madison


In their effort to justify approval of the Madison Marketplace project, Madison's Town Board and Planning Board have told us that it will increase tax revenue and so decrease our taxes.…
Full Story

Marketplace Raises Questions
…Our concerns seem to be falling on deaf ears of the Madison Town Planning Board. The board has stated several times that they do not need to address these concerns. This is the same board that turned away taxpayers from the last board meeting stating the Madison Marketplace project would not be discussed…
Full Story

A similar story can be found in the Mid York Weekly's Letter to the Editor section for the March 6th edition. I will place the whole thing here since the Mid York Weekly online paper only gives you a downloadable PDF to review.

To the editor:
We are writing as concerned residents who live adjacent to Sphere Development’s Madison Marketplace (shopping mall) project. Our concerns seem to be falling on deaf ears of the Madison Town Planning Board who has stated several times that they do not need to address them.
Clough Harbor is the independent engineering firm hired by the Madison Town Board, to review official documents submitted by Sphere Development. They sent a letter to the Town Planning Board with their comments. Some of our shared comments include:
• Carcinogen has been discovered in moderate concentrations in some site soil samples.
• This project will use well water shared by area residents. The well testing was insufficient to ensure that the needed water flow rates can be sustained for long periods of time. In addition, the Hamilton Fire Department thinks there is insufficient water flow for fire suppression.
• How can we ensure that parking lot runoff, fertilizer and pesticide use and storage, and snow removal will not impact the quality of the residents’ ground water?
We are appalled by the actions of the town planning board. They have done substandard testing and reporting. Regardless of our stand on the project, it should be essential that the planning board exercise due diligence in protecting the taxpayers and residents.

Hillary Tisdale For the Concerned Residents of English Avenue

Mid York Weekly

Town Planning Board Mtg Tues Mar 5th: 7:30 p

This meeting will be held at the Village office next to the Fire Station like normal.

It is open to the public.

I am not sure if the public is allowed to speak. But if you have a concern, I suggest you come anyway to hear whatever updates are given.

Newspaper Coverage

As it stands, several newspapers might be interested in our thoughts on the project.

Please be on the lookout for Letters to the Editor in the coming weeks in local papers.

It is also possible that a TV news team might also be interested.

Let's Hear from You

I think it would be great to hear people's comments about the project.

Please do not use profanity, do not personally attack anyone, and use care.

Notes from the Feb 27th Public Hearing

"the information you are reading are not the “official
minutes” of the Planning Board, but transcribed
minutes posted by members of this web site. If you
would like copies of the official minutes, please call
the Town Clerk at 893-7020. Thank you. Bryan Gazda"

Here are some VERY preliminary notes from the public hearing last night.
If these notes differ from what you heard, please comment and I can change the info. Again, I am trying to only publish factual information.

Several members of the project were asked to update the group about annexation, aquifers, traffic, and noise.

Annexation
Sphere is aware that in order to annex into Hamilton, they would need a continuous land line that reached into Hamilton. There is still land to the South of the project in the Town of Madison. In order for the project to annex, a majority of the land owners to the south would also have to annex. Sphere didn't think that would happen. It was also mentioned that Village of Hamilton taxes would be too high for the project to sustain.

Sphere submitted applications to Hamilton to obtain water and sewer, while not actually annexing, thereby paying for the services at a premium and paying for the expenses to bring the services up the road.
Hamilton said they could annex to get the services, but they could not get the services as a separate entity outside the Village due to the Village's protocols.

Traffic
Traffic studies were conducted of several intersections around the project. They found that the intersections are working well and after projections including new traffic to the plaza, they expect traffic intersections to continue to work well. 12B is being widened to include a north bound lane, a south bound lane, and a middle turning lane.

Noise
Noise studies were done to collect current data. The study took noise levels at an off-peak hour to see what the lowest level of noise was for the area. 50 decibels, which is similar to someone speaking. After they collected the overall additional noise that would be expected after the project was built, it was found that 5–6 more decibels would be added. At a 55 or 56 decibel range, that is still below damaging levels.

Aquifers
A quick explanation of what an aquifer is was given and the types of aquifers found in this area. An aquifer is a layer of water-bearing permeable rock, sand, or gravel capable of providing significant amounts of water.
Then they explained what recharge is; Aquifer recharge in its broadest sense refers to the replenishment or recharge of a groundwater aquifer with additional water percolating underground from surface water sources.
In other words, when it rains water will soak into permeable ground down to the aquifer, thus replenishing it.
We were told that all measures were being looked at and taken into consideration to maintain the aquifer because it's in their best interest to do so. Concrete runoff, storm water runoff, above ground tanks were talked about.

After these updates, they opened the floor to comments.

• Several people from the floor spoke of their concerns that included:
• The Planning Board turning away people from their last meeting saying the project wasn't going to be brought up. Some people stayed and found the project was the ONLY discussion point.
• The 650-space parking lot was only that large to entice new tenets to the project, even though the Planning Board knew only 10–15% of the spots would be used.
• The Clough Harbor report stated it found carcinogens in some soil samples. What was being done about clean up?
• Regardless of decibels, young children from English Ave would still be woken up in the night due to tractor-trailers using the service road located at the southern-most line of the project—some 100 ft or less from homes.
• It's great that quality and control measures at being taken into consideration during development to protect the aquifers, but what happens when a young employee spills a bag of fertilizer? Do we really believe they will think of the environmental effect and dispose of the spill correctly? No. They will just grab the hose and spray it down the drain.
• They implored the Planning Board to proceed with this project as if THEY lived right next to it. What kind of concerns would they have if they walked in the English Ave residents shoes?
• They asked the Planning Board to take a careful look at the Clough Harbor report and proceed carefully and with due diligence to exceed project standards.
• One person in favor of the project spoke of commerce and free trade. Madison, without an industry is without jobs for their young adults. This project would create jobs for these young people, enticing them to stay in the area. Creating competition with other local businesses creates better prices for the community.

Madison Public Hearing TONIGHT

Please attend this public hearing tonight and tell the Planning Board your concerns!
The more concerns you have, the more they (maybe) will start addressing them.

We Need Your Help

Several residents living near the proposed Madison Marketplace project have increasing concerns about the development.

We wish to remain informed citizens to ensure our properties and our lives are not affected by this development. Some wish the project would stop entirely.

This blog was set up as a central place people can go to get updated information about the project. All information updated here is by residents.
PLEASE make sure when commenting that your information is factual and not just hearsay.

Please comment on this post with your name if you are interested in our cause.
Thank you for your time.

Great Articles Online

I found two articles on Radio Free Hamilton
about this subject.

Great Reads:
http://www.radiofreehamilton.com/totary_jan_31_2008.html

http://www.radiofreehamilton.com/madison_marketplace_1.html

Jan 9th Public Hearing Minutes

"the minutes you are reading are not the “official
minutes” of the Planning Board, but transcribed
minutes posted by members of this web site. If you
would like copies of the official minutes, please call
the Town Clerk at 893-7020. Thank you. Bryan Gazda"

Public Hearing Minutes
Present: Bryan Gazda, Planning Board Chairman, Bob Benson, Roger Williams, Jim Morris, Bruce Tanner, Ted Modrzejewski, David Livermore, Planning Board Members, Paul Crovella, Ad Hock Board Member, Ron Bono, George Turner, Patty Bikowsky, Jim Lundrigan and Brad Dixon Madison Town Attorney, Sally Maine, Planning Board Clerk, Greg Widrick & Kurt Wendler Managing Partners of Sphere Development Group, Kathleen Bennett, Attourney for Sphere Development, Rod Ives, Engineer for Napierala Consulting for Sphere Development, Laura Cassalia, Senior Project Engineer for Town of Madison and 100+ guests.

Chairman Gazda welcomed everyone and invited them to step to the podium, state their name and address and a short comment. At 7:05 PM Bob Benson made the motion the Public Hearing be opened. Roger Williams 2nd it. All in favor, so moved. Chairman Gazda then introduced Greg Widrick who explained some of the estimated benefits of constructing the Shopping Plaza. To mention a few, 150 jobs, sales tax increase, real estate taxes increased, population growth. The rest may be heard on the tape of the hearing. Rod Ives was then introduced. He explained how they are dealing with all of the studies that are in progress. Wetland issues, storm water regulations, public water supply, lighting, landscaping, widening of roads, waiting for reports from DEC, DOT, Dept of Health, and the rest may be heard on the tape. Seventeen people stated their comments.
Barb Kershaw
Chris Amman
Tim O'Keefe
Ross Hoham
Jerry Fuller
George Turner
Stanley Roe
Janice Frutiger
Suzanne Farrington
Harvey Kliman
Jim Bona
Sean Graham
Paul Lehman
Sheri Thompson
Mark Upton
Bill Todd
Elizabeth Joeger
Comments may be heard on tape

Vince Giacalone, Real Estate Rep for Price Chopper told why they chose this area. Tieste Savona, Director of Design for Price Chopper explained some of the lay out and updated refrigeration etc for the store. James Stokes, Attorney for the Village of Hamilton spoke briefly on their concerns.
At 8:40 OM Roger Williams made the motion the hearing be closed. Bob Benson 2nd it. All in Favor, so moved.

Sally Maine, Planning Board Clerk