GOSHEN—Concerned Citizens for the Hudson Valley, Inc. delivered petitions on Aug. 23 to the Goshen Town Board to require a supermajority vote to approve any zoning change for the proposed Legoland New York project.
The 37 signatories of the petition are residents whose properties adjoin the proposed site of the park.
Attorney Michael Sussman, who represents Concerned Citizens, said at a press conference on Aug. 24 that the petitions are based on the state’s Town Law 265, which requires a supermajority, or approval by four board members, to approve any zoning change.
“That is significant,” Sussman said, “because we believe there are sufficient votes on that town board to defeat this zoning change.”
The owners of Legoland are asking for a commercial overlay district on the proposed 523-acre site off Route 17, which is currently zoned for rural and residential uses. Of that site, 153 acres is slated for development. The zoning change would require the Town Board to change its Comprehensive Plan and pass a local law that would allow that overlay district to be made.
SEQR Review
The Town of Goshen Planning Board is the lead agency for SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review). Sussman said the town board, not the planning board, must do the SEQR review for the project and cannot delegate it to a separate board or agency.
“If they [the planning board] are doing it, they are doing it illegally,” Sussman said.
Richard Golden, attorney for the Town of Goshen, said in an interview after Sussman’s press conference, “That is 100 percent incorrect.”
He said it would actually be inappropriate for the town board to be lead agency because the project affects other government agencies and municipalities.
