Schoharie’s Planning Board will hold the first of its hearings on the proposed Highbridge project Tuesday at 7pm.
The $54 million 540,000 square-foot warehouse could create as many as 540 jobs; the project, at Route 30A and I-88, would also include a convenience store, fast food restaurant, and 12 gas pumps.
The 48-acre site is zoned commercial, meaning Highbridge Development’s plans are allowed—but it’s still up to the Planning Board whether or not to approve the project.
Planning Board members began reviewing the proposal in October and in a separate piece, the Zoning Board of Appeals is considering a request for a height variance.
That public hearing remains open pending more information from developers.
Planning Board chair Kathryn Saddlemire said Wednesday that they’re still gathering the pieces needed for an environmental assessment; Tuesday’s public hearing will likely remain open while that continues.
Ms. Saddlemire said the hearing will also include a presentation on the project’s economic impact and job numbers.
Neighbors have expressed concern over traffic, noise, and lighting, but by far, their biggest fear is that the demands for water at the site—and a separate travel plaza proposed across I-88 along Route 7—will drain their already bad wells.
Together, the two projects could require an estimated 19,000 gallons of water a day.
Kelly Shultes, who lives on Route 7, said not only do they struggle with an adequate supply, but “ever changing water quality” that includes sulphur, salt, and bacteria…Many of us…need water trucked in to meet demands at times,” she said.
Neighbors Shirley and Otis Lawyer said they’ve already spent $35,000 on drilling and fracking to end up with a 500-foot well that only produces a half gallon a minute.
“…the water issue is a very serious problem and hopefully, will be looked at” before either project moves ahead, the Lawyers said in a letter Ms. Shultes read to the Town Board.
“If we run out of water in five years, what will we do?” asked Town Clerk Pam Foland, who also lives on Route 7.
“We won’t be able to sell our homes. It’s a very big concern.”
Closer to the project, Corrie Schrader, who lives on Route 30 across from the Schoharie Business Park, said her well has already been impacted by it.
Even before the Highbridge project was proposed last June, the site was included in a water district the town is creating for the Business Park where, Supervisor Alan Tavenner said, they’ll be using ARPA funds to hire a hydrogeologist to look at putting in a second well.
The additional well is needed whether or not Highbridge is approved, he said.
There’s a possibility, he said, that Highbridge could find and tap into a shallow gravel well along the Schoharie Creek—something that would mean there’d be no need for developers to turn to the Business Park wells.
Mr. Tavenner said the town needs a comprehensive list of who’s already having well problems; Ms. Shultes said they’re on it.