The Town of Clinton Planning Board voted Tuesday to close the public hearing on the Medical Arts Sanitarium (doing business as Cornerstone) site plan while leaving the written comment record open through June 3 and allowing the applicant to respond by June 17. The board then adopted a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) negative declaration finding no significant adverse environmental impact for the proposal to increase residential capacity from 66 to 99 persons.

The action matters because the negative declaration clears the SEQR procedural hurdle and moves the application toward a site plan and special use permit decision. Board members and staff said remaining concerns — chiefly emergency service burden, noise, lighting and certain site plan details — will be addressed in permit conditions and the upcoming site plan/special‑use review.

During the public discussion, an applicant representative summarized landscaping changes made after neighbor conversations. Karen Lobruto of La Bella Associates said, “We replaced the tree that we had with the Norway spruce, and it's joined by silky dogwood and eastern red cedar for landscape screening along the northern property line along with the split rail fence to demarcate the property line boundary.”

Board members debated how to record impacts in the EAF Part 2. Planning staff explained the form marks items with an asterisk to denote a “small impact.” The board agreed to record small impacts for groundwater (possible additional demand on wells if population increases), noise (applicant agreed to noise mitigation measures to be included in the final resolution), and a small change in transportation patterns (an increase in vehicle traffic or changes to the movement of people to/from the site). The draft SEQR resolution also records that the hydrogeological report did not detect pharmaceutical contaminants at the laboratory’s reporting limits.

Emergency services was a recurring concern. Board members noted a letter from local emergency responders and discussed an applicant commitment that, for non‑emergency calls, Cornerstone would prioritize using Northern Duchess paramedics to reduce pressure on the West Clinton Fire District. The resolution text was edited to refer to "Northern Duchess paramedics" (removing an earlier reference to "hospital").

The board also agreed to procedural dates: public written comments due June 3; applicant to file any written response by June 17; and the 62‑day decision clock will run from June 3 if the applicant consents. A motion to close the hearing with those deadlines carried on a voice vote (ayes; no roll‑call tally recorded).

After discussion and small wording edits to the draft resolution, the planning board voted to issue a SEQR negative declaration (determination of non‑significance) for the Medical Arts Sanitarium/Cornerstone special use permit and site plan application. The board further authorized staff/consultant to prepare the EAF Part 3 (a written SEQR record consistent with the adopted resolution) and to circulate the negative declaration as required.

Board members and staff emphasized this step does not grant site plan or special use permit approval. Several participants said remaining details — site plan screening, specific noise and lighting mitigation, monitoring of emergency‑service interactions, and any maintenance work identified in the septic evaluation — will be handled in the forthcoming resolution of approval with conditions and in site plan review. The board agreed to continue the application without setting a new meeting date until staff reviews incoming written comments and applicant responses.

Votes at a glance: close public hearing and extend written comment period to June 3 (applicant response by June 17) — motion passed; SEQR negative declaration (determination of non‑significance) for increase from 66 to 99 persons — resolution adopted; authorization for consultant to prepare EAF Part 3 consistent with the resolution — approved.