| PEPA - Purchase Environmental Protective Association

The Falcon Group Subdivision - Sherman Avenue Application

Thu, Feb 23, 2012 • Sherman Avenue

Mark your calendar to attend the Planning Board Meeting on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 7:30 PM

Sherman Avenue application is the first item on the agenda of this upcoming meeting. Please attend, your continued participation is essential in sending a message of forceful opposition against this ill-conceived application that destroys 14 acres of open space, encroaches on residential neighborhoods and could set a precedent for future steep slope development throughout Harrison.

It appears based upon language stated in the Agenda “FALCON GROUP SUBDIVISION – Sherman Avenue, Block 691, Lot 5 – SEQR Findings Statement Adoption SEQR Findings Statement Adoption” the Planning Board will determine if the application/project has avoided all environmental impacts to the extent practicable. The public hearing on the Sherman Avenue Subdivision Proposal’s FEIS was closed on November 29, 2011. As previously reported by PEPA, the next step in the process requires, in accordance with State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) the Planning Board, as the lead agency, to prepare or cause to be prepared and file a final EIS and findings. It is these findings, that will be presented at the upcoming session of the Planning Board on Tuesday, February 28, 2012. The Findings must:

consider the relevant environmental impacts, facts and conclusions disclosed in the final EIS;
weigh and balance relevant environmental impacts with social, economic and other considerations;
provide a rationale for the agency's decision;
certify that the requirements of this Part have been met;
certify that consistent with social, economic and other essential considerations from among the reasonable alternatives available, the action is one that avoids or minimizes adverse environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable, and that adverse environmental impacts will be avoided or minimized to the maximum extent practicable by incorporating as conditions to the decision those mitigative measures that were identified as practicable.
1. No state agency may make a final decision on an action that has been the subject of a final EIS and is located in the coastal area until the agency has made a written finding that the action is consistent with applicable policies set forth in 19 NYCRR 600.5.”

While it states that the SEQR Findings will be adopted, please note, it is not known to PEPA if the Planning Board intends to also vote on the fate of the application. (It is possible).The SEQR Findings - are the final step in the SEQR process that “requires that each involved agency must prepare its own written SEQR findings statement, after a final EIS has been filed and before the agency makes a final decision. The findings certify that the requirements of Part 617 have been met.

A positive findings statement means that the project or action is approvable after consideration of the final EIS, and demonstrates that the action chosen is the one that avoids or minimizes adverse environmental impacts presented in the EIS and weighs and balances them with the social, economic and other essential considerations. If the action is not approvable, a negative findings statement documenting the reasons for the denial must be prepared.” All 11 Steps in the SEQRA Process are outlined here.

The Falcon Group Subdivision - Sherman Avenue Application

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