Patrick Farm plan is abhorrent

Jan. 9, 2012 |

Re "Patrick Farm plan untenable," Jan. 6 editorial:

The above editorial is an excellent summary of the problems that will be caused by building 500 homes in Pomona. The county Planning Department and fire and emergency services have expressed their concerns, and I agree with those views. Until last week I was a Rockland County legislator and chair of the Environmental Committee, and even though jurisdiction issues limit what the Legislature can do about town and village planning and zoning, some of us were active in the Legislature in passing measures to protect the air and water in our county.

As a private citizen and midwife, I will continue the work of environmental advocacy. The proposed housing of thousands of people on top of an aquifer, increasing the risks of flooding, and other threats to our health and safety are so abhorrent to me that I will continue to work with ROSA (Ramapo Organized for Sustainability and a Safe Aquifer), the Water Coalition and other environmental advocates in the struggle against environmental degradation in our county and environs.

The writer, a Democrat who did not seek re-election, represented South Nyack in the Rockland County Legislature.

Patrick Farm downzoning: Ramapo’s assault on the rest of Rockland

January 4, 2012 letter in the newspaper Our Town

On December 27, the Ramapo Zoning board approved further down zoning of the rural property of "Patrick’s Farm: to allow for high density housing of nearly 500 housing units on the rural Patrick Farm site outside the Village of Pomona by Monsey-based developer Yechiel Lebovits of the ironically named "Scenic Development LLC." By this decision Ramapo once again acts as though it is a sovereign country and not part of Rockland, and once again the county’s "other newspaper" seem complicit by their silence.

In recent news articles valid concerns have been raised regarding the potential shortage of drinking water in our communities.

In the Patrick’s Farm environment impact plan, the developer claims that United Water has sufficient "excess capacity" to meet the need of this high density project.

This is the same United Water that is running ads saying that Rockland is facing an imminent water shortage and is proposing the extraordinary measure of a costly desalination facility.

Why is this most obvious and glaring inconsistency not being questioned?

To further add insult to injury, the proposed development will actually endanger an existing aquifer, thereby endangering a fresh water supply source while increasing demand.

The last I checked Ramapo does not have an independent water or air supply from that of other areas of Rockland County. Is it not the responsibility of the County Executive and the County Legislature to ensure that Rockland’s natural resources are responsibly managed for all of Rockland and not squandered irresponsibly by one township, or more precisely, one township’s administration and special interests, to the detriment of all the other residents of Rockland?

In a county in the midst of a financial crisis, can Rockland afford to back the check that Ramapo is writing in approving this high density development?

Already every penny collected in county property tax is being used to defray the costs of state mandated social services, social services that Ramapo already draws upon disproportionately compared to the rest of the County.

Given that the Patrick Farm property is part of Christopher St. Lawrence’s "Adult Student Housing" zoning scheme to aid tax exempt religious communities (with some of the proposed units stated to have six bedrooms), can Rockland absorb the cost of the increased services that can reasonably be expected to be used by this community created through Ramapo’s down zoning?

The prospect of a county already in fiscal crisis now caught between "the rock" of a 2% tax cap and "the hard place" of a dramatic increase in paying for an increasing state mandated services consuming community should be an issue of County concern, yet there is silence from the County Executive and Legislature on this matter.

We keep hearing quotes from the County Exec and Legislature that Rockland is at a crossroads, we keep hearing of the need for planning, wise management and the need for shared sacrifice, Rockland can no longer subsidize Ramapo being a sovereign nation when making decisions that favor interests friendly to the Ramapo administration and then be "part of Rockland" when it comes to paying the bill.

It is time for the rest of Rockland, and most importantly its legislators, to send a message, starting with Patrick Farm, that Rockland’s resources, both environmental and fiscal, are to be administered to the benefit of all Rockland residents and not to the exclusive benefit of Ramapo.

Letter appeared in the Jan. 4 edition of the Our Town newspaper.