Planning Board closes public hearing on Rockledge project but agrees extension as DEC review continues

The Town of Rhinebeck Planning Board closed the public hearing on the Rockledge application from Hudson Valley Rhinebeck LLC on April 21, but the board said it would reopen the hearing if new information is submitted and the applicant agreed to extend the board's decision deadline to its July 21 meeting.

The applicant's representative, Seth Stifel, told the board the project team had submitted a detailed jurisdictional-determination package to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on April 13 and asked the board to consider preliminary decisions on subdivision matters as agency reviews continue. "We would like to request just consideration for preliminary approval, at least for maybe the minor subdivision," Stifel said at the hearing.

The proposal has prompted extended technical review by multiple state and federal reviewers. The project team said they had obtained sign-offs from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the National Park Service on the project's historic-preservation aspects and that they submitted a 91-page wetlands jurisdictional report to DEC in mid-April. Planner and project representatives said DEC has flagged several on-site and nearby wetlands (identified in project materials as wetlands C, E and F) for further review and possible inclusion under the stateregulatory program.

Council members and residents focused much of the public discussion on wastewater treatment and discharge standards. Project consultants described a treatment approach with primary, secondary and tertiary stages and said they are working with the Dutchess County Water & Wastewater Authority and the Dutchess County Department of Health on final designs and permit submissions. Project counsel said the wastewater system design is being revised in response to agency comments; the wastewater consultant indicated the county authority had asked for upgraded equipment and more redundancy in the proposed treatment train.

Several residents asked the board to set strict local expectations for effluent quality. Resident Patty (last name on file) said the detailed wastewater engineering plans were not yet publicly available and urged the board to keep the record open until those plans could be circulated to the public: "Because they're not available to the public yet, I feel like we have not had opportunity to review them and comment on them." The board and applicants agreed the public record could be reopened if DEC or the applicant supplied materially new documents.

Board Chair Jim (last name on file) explained the DEC jurisdictional-determination process to the public: a DEC review has a 90-day clock; if DEC does not issue a formal determination within 90 days and the applicant follows the DEC's certified-mail procedural step, the parcel can be deemed non-jurisdictional for five years. The applicant agreed to allow the board time to draft a resolution and to an extension of the statutory automatic-approval clock to the July 21 meeting.

Before closing the hearing, the board recorded that it will prepare draft resolutions and continue its process while DEC completes its review. The board voted to close the public hearing with the express understanding that it will reopen the hearing if new, substantive information is submitted by DEC or the applicant. The applicant and several board members also committed to provide the board with updated engineering reports, tertiary-treatment details and the DEC determination when available.

The board set a procedural schedule: the Rockledge application will remain on the board's calendar, the applicant granted the board an extension to July 21 for a final board action if needed, and the board will accept and review further submittals from DEC and other agencies as they arrive.

The Planning Board did not take a final approval of the site plan, subdivision or permits at the April 21 meeting; the public hearing was closed but may be reopened if new materials are submitted.