Neighbors raised environmental concerns
A mining company won approval on Sept. 11 to build a cement plant on Route 9 just north of Philipstown, overcoming concerns from residents about noise, traffic and potential risks to Clove Creek and the aquifer beneath it, a source of drinking water to several municipalities.
After a nearly yearlong review, the Town of Fishkill Planning Board approved a plan by Century Aggregates to build an 8,050-square-foot plant at its 310-acre property at 107 Route 9, on a portion of the property once occupied by the Snow Valley Campground. The operation will draw 10,000 gallons of water daily from a new well, and require a new septic system, 12 parking spaces and six propane tanks.
Century Aggregates plans to operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, the firm said. Mixer trucks would enter the site through an entrance opposite Carol Lane and cross an existing bridge over Clove Creek, a protected waterway and tributary to Fishkill Creek that snakes through the property.
To address concerns about the environmental impact, Century Aggregates agreed to leave trees and vegetation in an 8.2-acre greenway that is at least 200 feet wide, includes Clove Creek and its shoreline and extends 500 feet north and 700 feet south of the bridge that crosses the waterway. Trees in the zone that "show signs of a material deterioration or tree cover thinning" will have to be replaced, according to Planning Board documents.
Ted Warren, public policy manager with the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, joined residents in expressing reservations to the Planning Board during a May 8 public hearing. Along with concerns about truck traffic, noise and dust, and endangered and threatened wildlife such as the timber rattlesnake, Warren said newly paved surfaces risk sending contaminated runoff into the creek, to the detriment of water quality and fish.
"Given the increase in extreme precipitation events that we are facing these days, and the fact that the proposed plan is located at the base of steep slopes, the potential for storms to overwhelm the proposed containment and drainage systems during heavy precipitation events should be closely examined," Warren said.
Century Aggregate's daily withdrawal of 10,000 gallons of water, which a lawyer for the company called "de minimis" compared to the amount used by homes and businesses, could also affect the creek and its underlying aquifer, said Warren.
The aquifer parallels Route 9 from East Mountain Road South to the town border with Fishkill. Its groundwater feeds private wells that supply residents and businesses along Route 9, the towns of Fishkill and Wappinger, the Village of Fishkill and Beacon.
"The dust and the pollution that's going to come from the operating of that plant is going to definitely have an impact on the environment, the creek and the living conditions of businesses and houses," Carlos Salcedo, a Philipstown resident whose property on Old Albany Post Road borders the creek, told the Planning Board in May.
According to a study based on readings taken at a concrete plant in Hudson, the loudest sounds will come from the blowers on the trucks used to transfer cement to the project's three storage silos, mixer trucks and the loading of the bins that hold the aggregate used in concrete manufacture.
The study estimated that "no excessive or unusually loud" sounds will impact neighbors or wildlife, and Century Aggregates agreed to measure noise levels when the plant is operating.
