A large and somewhat vocal crowd turned out for last week's special public hearing of the Town of Mamakating Planning Board, which was held in order to discuss residents' concerns about construction of the proposed Yukiguni Maitake (YM) Mushroom Plant. Representatives of the Basha Kill Area Association, which included a geologist and an engineer hired by the group, as well as a number of local residents, laid out details regarding what they feel are problems with the scaled-back plans for the building. The planning board had given YM conditional approval for a much larger facility more than two years ago.

Geologist Katherine J. Beinkafner, PhD., of Mid-Hudson Geosciences, outlined a list of problems, which include YM's plans to discharge more than 335,000 gallons of water per day, leftover from the plant's heating and cooling system. In Beinkafner's expert opinion, discharging such a large volume of water, without having done the appropriate permeability tests, could pose a number of unforeseen problems, such as impacting the level of the local water table. If YM has conducted such tests, they have either not been made available to the public, or they have been produced so recently that there has not been adequate time for public scrutiny.

Andrew Willingham, PE, of David Clouser & Associates, an engineering firm located in New Paltz, New York, echoed much of what Beinkafner had to say. It was his contention that it appears that the Mamakating Planning Board acted prematurely in granting, in 2006, its conditional approval for the project. According to a lengthy report prepared by Willingham, there are a number of areas about which the board failed to ask YM to provide detailed studies, a number of which could impact the quality of life in the area surrounding the proposed facility. These include such things as a water conservation plan, noise mitigation, and odor management. Willingham seemed genuinely surprised that the Planning Board appeared not to be considering what he felt were important details.

There was further confusion as to why the public hearing was being held at this point in time, considering the fact that YM's plans had been drastically altered. In the company's defense, however, YM spokesmen pointed out that the new design should impose a much smaller footprint upon the community — the building height has been reduced from four stories to only two; the amount of square footage has been halved, from 914,000 sq. ft. down to 473,000 — and that YM need not seek additional approval from the board in order to proceed with construction. YM also points out that the amount of water being consumed daily will drop from approximately 425,000 gallons down to only 95,000. It should be noted, however, that the entire Village of Wurtsboro, with a population of 1,200, uses approximately 125,000 gallons of water per day. In light of this fact, YM's daily usage will not be insignificant.

Planning Board Chairman John Piazza was adamant that the board did its homework, however.

"The Board has complied with the law," he said, referring to the work it did back in 2006. Yet, it appeared that a majority of residents remain opposed to the project, and that, at the time in question, the Planning Board might have been more responsive to the desires of those in the community. Still, the board's hands are now tied; if there were a moment at which it would have been possible to stop these plans, the board, under the previous administration, appears to have missed it. The fact that the board has complied with the law seemed to have done nothing to assuage the anger many expressed during the meeting. Area resident, James Macintyre, summed up the feeling:

"When officials start invoking the law, they have lost the public trust."

The public hearing has been extended to the next meeting, which will take place at its regular time, 7 p.m. on September 23.

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