Dutchess will review environmental impact of jail project

It’s up to Dutchess County’s 25 legislators to determine whether a new, bigger jail and more modern and efficient sheriff's office proposed by the county Executive Office last week will impact the environment.

The county Legislature voted, 24-1, Monday evening to make the county the lead agency in the environmental review process of the $192 million proposed project. Legislator Joel Tyner, D-Rhinebeck/Clinton was the sole “no” vote.

With this designation, the county will coordinate the State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQR, process, and it will be responsible for making key SEQR determinations during the review process, like changes in the intensity of land use and impacts on flood plains and traffic patterns, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Prior to the resolution vote, the legislature unanimously voted to amend it to include clarification that the county will be responsible for determining the environmental significance of the project.

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In August 2015, Chazen Companies completed an Expanded Full Environmental Assessment Form on the proposed Dutchess County Justice & Transition Center – the jail and sheriff’s office. That document was made available and presented to legislators on Feb. 4. Considerations noted in the assessment include the possible exposure to hazardous materials generated by the former manufacturing facility, asbestos within buildings set to be demolished and part of the project being located in a 100-year floodplain, among others.

Legislators must now review the almost 300 pages, and make a determination on whether the information outlined in the assessment would have an impact on the environment. If there is no significant adverse impacts, the SEQR process ends, according to a state environment department step-by-step map of the process. If there is a positive declaration, more documentation and review may be necessary.

“An environmental impact statement is a huge liability that a county takes on,” county Legislator Kari Rieser, D-City of Poughkeepsie, said. “We need to make sure that every piece of it is looked at.”

Tyner expressed concern on whether the county could be impartial as lead agency.

“I have no faith whatsoever that Dutchess County will be honest,” he said after the meeting Monday.

The proposal for a new jail and sheriff’s office comes after decades of debate about an overcrowded jail that required housing Dutchess inmates around the state at a cost of millions of dollars each year. The plan also includes increases to alternatives to incarceration and examines programs for youths and special populations. Once open in 2021, it would begin saving the county $5.3 million per year, even with the cost of repaying the debt for the project, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro has said. Much of the savings would come from projected improved operations, especially in cutting the cost of housing inmates in jails in other counties, some hours away.

Legislator John Forman, R-Town of Fishkill/City of Beacon, who chairs the county Legislature’s environment committee, said in the coming weeks, legislators will have to go through the environmental assessment form and determine questions they want answered by the administration.

“Everyone is going to have questions,” Forman said. “I think it’s up to the administration to make sure that every single one of the questions that have been asked by any of the 25 legislators have been answered.”

Tyner expressed concern over the former Hamilton Reproduction site, which was remediated in June 2010 by the state and issued an environmental easement for the restricted commercial and/or industrial use. It would need to be reclassified as a restricted-residential site use, according to the environmental assessment completed by Chazen. Onsite contaminants noted in the assessment are chlorinated volatile organic compounds in the shallow groundwater and associated saturated soil.

"It may have been cleaned up for industrial use, (but) people are going to be living there," Tyner said.

Forman said it was too early to say what concerns he may have about any environmental impacts. County legislators will meet Feb. 29 in order to discuss the assessment as well as the $192 million bond for construction. They won't vote on either until March 21.

In the meantime, the public can learn more about the proposal and ask questions during upcoming forums at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 17 at the LaGrange Town Hall and at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Amenia Town Hall. The project's External Advisory Group will meet at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Catharine Street Community Center in the City of Poughkeepsie, and members of the public will be able to comment.

“It’s the single largest public works project in the history of the county,” Forman said. “So we better be asking the right questions, and I’m hoping that we are going to get the right answers.”

Amanda Fries: afries@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4824; Twitter: @mandy_fries