WAWARSING – As the town planning board meeting next Tuesday draws closer, the debate over whether the Walmart's Napanoch store application should be issued a positive declaration continues. Lending his opinion to the discussion is Matthew Rudikoff of Matthew D. Rudikoff Associates, a consulting firm retained by ShopRite to monitor the application and ensure that the proposed retail store doesn't pose a threat to the grocer's business in the area.

Rudikoff, who has appeared recently at Wawarsing Town Board and Planning Board meetings, has called into question the town board's decision to 'grandfather' in Walmart's application under the old zoning code, which was recently revised in January. The new zoning ordinances would have forced revisions and changes to the application, and members of the town board said that not grandfathering in all pending applications would be unfair.

Rudikoff alleges, however, that the application's conforming to the old zoning ordinances goes against many of the guidelines set forth in the Town Comprehensive plan, which was adopted in November 2006, and on which the zoning ordinances passed in January were based.

Some of the aspects of the comprehensive plan that Rudikoff says should be followed are stipulations that businesses located on the Route 209 corridor — such as the Napanoch Valley Mall site on which the proposed store will be built — ought to be small and local, a contradiction to Walmart's type of business. He adds that the store will have an adverse visual impact on the Napanoch community, as it will feature a long, unbroken 390-foot wall that will face Plank Road.

"Facades of buildings need to do things to retain the character of the adjoining streets so that they be low-profile, that they have multiple breaks and different architectural styles, so that it isn't just one long wall," says Rudikoff. "[The comprehensive plan] specifically recommend[s] things in the new zoning ordinance which are meant not to be one long wall."

The proposed store's effects on both Napanoch and the Village of Ellenville have yet to be addressed by the application, says Rudikoff. For this reason, he is calling for the Wawarsing Planning Board to issue a positive declaration under the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR), which would require the applicants to offer a more in-depth study regarding the environmental impact the store will have on the surrounding area. He's joined in this request by the Ulster County Planning Board, Ulster County Legislature Chair David Donaldson, Sullivan County Vice Chair Ron Hiatt, and a few vocal critics of the project in the Town of Wawarsing.

However, there seems to be a fundamental disagreement about whether a positive declaration would necessitate an economic impact study: Rudikoff says it does, while Walmart's lawyers say it doesn't, each group citing court cases as precedent to support their claims.

Another issue Rudikoff brings up is the fact that the Napanoch Valley Mall was constructed before SEQR laws were instituted in New York in the late 1970s, and because the proposed application would alter the mall-site's 'footprint,' a positive declaration should be issued to assess what environmental effects the project would have.

While they have no authority in terms of enforcing SEQR or punishing violations, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) does establish the guidelines and regulations of the SEQR process — and Lori Severino of the DEC said that because "it's essentially a redevelopment project," the application will most likely "not fall under SEQR review process." She also points out that "DEC has no involvement on this project, in that the DEC isn't reviewing the application specifically.

"SEQR reviews are a supporting layer of review," writes Severino in an e-mail. "Part 617.5 C2 of the law states that …'replacement, rehabilitation or reconstruction of a structure or facility, in kind, on the same site, including upgrading buildings to meet building or fire codes'… Unless it would significantly effect [sic] the industrial use, water demand, sewage discharge, etc. it would not fall under the final SEQR review process criteria."

In the end, this particular dispute may prove moot: since they are the lead agency handling the application, it's up to the Wawarsing Planning Board as to whether or not to issue a positive declaration, with the decision possibly being made at next Tuesday's meeting.

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