PLATTSBURGH — Town residents initiated a formal State Environmental Quality Review Act Challenge and moratorium for future jails in the town during the December Town Board meeting Dec. 18.
“We are open to discuss that as a potential,” Town Supervisor Chuck Kostyk said in regards to the proposed moratorium.
The challenge, a moratorium and a petition follow the planning board’s approval of the GSA Plattsburgh Site Plan on Nov. 18, which included a request to use the former warehouse on Idaho Avenue as a short-term holding and detention facility.
Town resident Patricia B. Barnett stood before the board to address the SEQRA Challenge letter she submitted following the November meeting, identifying substantial deficiencies in the environmental review and inconsistencies in the project file.
“Based on comments at the Nov. 18 meeting, I am concerned that zoning permissibility may have been treated as determinative SEQRA compliance, even though those are two distinct analyses under New York law,” she said before the board.
Barnett also filed a Freedom of Information Law request regarding the application package submitted to the Planning and Community Development Department in August to confirm the documents shared with the residents match what was submitted.
“Because public access to the project materials has been limited online, I recently submitted a FOIL request to better understand what documents and analyses the planning board relied upon when it issued the negative declaration,” she said.
Barnett supplied members of the board copies of the challenge letter. Neither the request or challenge letter were addressed by the board at last Thursday’s meeting.
“The ball is in the town’s court,” she said after the meeting, hoping the board would consider reopening the application in respect to the challenge letter.
A public petition urging the Town Planning Board to reopen the environmental review of the approved Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Investigations facility at 284 Idaho Ave. has gained traction online.
Town resident Tim McCormick requested a moratorium, banning all future jails in the town with the request for a stricter definition for jails in zoning law. Its current definition is a “wide spectrum,” he said.
“We knew if we wanted to get this reopened, we needed something to make sure it does not happen in the future,” McCormick said.
“The goal is to get this thing reopened. Hopefully they can amend something, or they continue down the same road and withdraw approval later on.”
McCormick said he was feeling very hopeful after speaking to the board last Thursday evening.
Indivisible Plattsburgh, of which Barnett and McCormick are both members, aims for the Town Board to reopen the application for another round of review. The political group aims to connect their organization with allied groups in the area to advance equitable national policies and actions through witness, education and advocacy, according to the group’s Facebook page.
Others concerned about the facility spoke as well, emphasizing consideration for the impact the facility and an enhanced HSI presence will have on local civic engagement and public participation.
Kostyk gave a brief and direct response that the board is open to a moratorium with sufficient evidence to consider unintended impacts.
“I will say this from the Town Board’s perspective: The Town Board is willing to consider zoning amendments and local laws that would include a moratoria, when deemed appropriate and necessary,” he said. “An important consideration when enacting a moratoria is the unintended impact on existing uses.”
Kostyk used jails as an example: A moratorium on jails in the current zoning definition would impact active facilities, including Clinton County Jail, New York State Troopers’ Troop B barracks, and the town hall because there is a holding facility in the court.
“As with all zoning amendments or local law creation, we must and we will be careful with circumspect and consideration of the kinds of benefits and unintended consequences,” he said.
The Plattsburgh Town Board acknowledged the strong emotions surrounding the recent approval by the Town Planning Board for the proposed federal facility. Kostyk restated the Planning Board’s role in approving the site plans as a responsibility.
“Its role is to ensure compliance with all local, state and federal laws during project development. We believe the planning board acted with due diligence on this project and concluded the site plan comply with the town zoning regulations and, therefore, approvable,” Kostyk said during the meeting before opening to public comment.
“While opinions in the community differed, the board followed the required process and we support their decision. The Town Board does consider amendments to the zoning ordinance from time to time and welcomes community input for potential updates to local zoning regulations.”
At the meeting in November, the Town Planning Board and residents learned the proposed facility near the airport will be used as a HSI office and temporary short-term holding and detention facility. HSI is a non-enforcement, investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, separate from the Enforcement and Removal Operations branch.
The application was submitted in August this year by the General Services Administration. The project’s description includes plans to convert an existing warehouse to a public building with a 1,120-square-foot addition, exterior sally port with a roof, security and perimeter fencing, and parking renovations.
During the Town Planning Board’s October meeting, it tabled the application due to a lack of information provided by the applicant then created and submitted a list of questions to be answered by the applicant.
Those questions were reviewed during the meeting in November, and the board, satisfied with the answers provided, approved the plans in a 4-1 vote for further review by the Codes and Zoning Department.