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Greene County approves EPA brownfields assessment and moves forward on redevelopment SEQRA review
Summary
County committees approved establishing capital projects to pursue a Type I SEQRA lead-agency designation for a cement/redevelopment site and to launch a $1.5 million EPA-funded Brownfield Coalition assessment across Greene and Columbia counties to inventory and characterize potentially contaminated sites.
Greene County’s economic development and board committees voted Nov. 17 to publish a notice of intent to declare lead agency for a Type I environmental review of a proposed cement/redevelopment project and to establish a Green–Columbia Brownfield Coalition capital project supported by a $1.5 million EPA grant.
County staff told the committee the EPA award will fund assessment and characterization work — including inventories and Phase I/II site-due-diligence — rather than direct cleanup. James, a county staffer who presented the items, said consultants will be hired because the county lacks the in-house qualifications to perform required environmental site assessments.
Committee members pressed staff on the geographic footprint of the proposed redevelopment, identifying parcels north of 23A and land owned by a company called Peckham and subsidiaries. Staff said they had not yet obtained written permission from some private site owners for consultant access but were confident they could reach agreements. The committee voted to publish a notice of intent to declare lead agency for capital project #163 and to establish capital project #170 (Brownfield Coalition), both motions carried.
The actions set the county on a procedural track: publishing SEQRA notice, assembling a list of involved and interested agencies, and then (as required) proceeding through public-comment windows before issuing any determination. Staff said the EPA grant will cover diligence and inventory work that could lead to later cleanup actions subject to separate approvals or funding.
The board did not set a timeline for cleanup actions and emphasized the need for consultant contracts and site-access agreements before field work could begin. The committee’s vote authorizes the county to move forward with the environmental-review and assessment phase.
The county packet and transcript contain several garbled or inconsistent property and company references; reporting here uses the names and numbers as presented in the meeting record.
