Noise, traffic, and the potential contamination of Panther Creek were among the concerns voiced Monday at a Fulton Planning Board hearing on ambitious plans for the former Summit Shock.
Longtime part-time Summit residents Judith Mills and her son, Dean Hansen, are seeking a junkyard license to put a recycling center and scrap yard at the former prison after abandoning plans for a similar facility at the old Kivort site in Warnerville.
Mrs. Mills said Monday, though, that the recycling center and junkyard would be just the beginning.
Other possibilities for the 19-acre site include: a convenience store, medical clinic, senior housing, a nursing home, laundromat, office and retail space.
"It's just something we see as having tremendous possibilities and something that's needed to maybe bring some life back here like it was 15 years back for all of us," Ms. Mills, who lists a Huntington address, said.
The recycling center and junkyard would be located on 1-1 1/2 acres on the far eastern end of the property.
The crowd of about 50 at Monday's hearing was divided among Fulton and Summit residents-many of whom had worked at Summit Shock and before that, Camp Summit-and several voiced concerns over whether a pond contaminated in a spill years ago had ever truly been cleaned up.
They also worried that Ms. Mills' and Mr. Hansen's operation could contaminate the pond and Panther Creek again.
The operation would strip and recycle items-mostly cars, but also white goods like refrigerators -and re-sell the fluids salvaged from them along with used parts, Mr. Hansen said in a tour for Planning Board members Saturday.
Mr. Hansen said he won't have either a crusher or a shredder at the site, but will use a backhoe or pay-loader if needed to crush the items before they're shipped back out.
Yankee Street neighbor Katherine Hawkins lives within earshot of the facility, something that was never a "nuisance" when it was a prison, and she urged others to welcome Ms. Mills and Mr. Hansen even as she called for them to be good neighbors.
"Please don't degrade the area..." she said.
An angry Imer Rivenburgh, who lives across the road from the former prison, said he was never formally notified of plans as the law requires.
Next-door neighbors Rose and Doug Bartow said the same thing; Mrs. Bartow said they got home at 6:45pm Monday to find a letter slipped under their door and barely had time to make it to the meeting.
"I had no idea anything was going on next door," Ms. Bartow said, adding that their house is for sale and they don't want to see their property values drop.
Bill Engle Jr., who lives on Lang Road, said he was in the recycling business for 30 years and is afraid of noise, pollution, traffic, and junk dropped on the road.
Suzanne Feldman is moving to Summit from Long Island to get away from traffic and noise.
"I'm going to fight this," she promised. "Everyone says 'Not in my backyard'. Well, not in my backyard."
One speaker asked about an escrow for the site in case the owners contaminated it and then walked away and Don Clarke, Summit's code enforcement officer, reminded the crowd about what happened about 15 years ago in the Town of Broome when 150 home trailers were eventually abandoned: Schoharie County paid to clean up the site, he said.
Planning Board Chairman Peter Shulman urged everyone with concerns to put them in writing.
Planning Board members planned to meet Tuesday to work on the SEQRA and the hearing remains open till the Planning Board's September 21 meeting, 7pm at the town office on Bear Ladder Road.