WAWARSING – The town planning board convened in a special meeting on Thursday night at town hall, approving in a 5 to 1 vote a special permit allowing an Orthodox Jewish Camp for boys to begin operations on June 29. The permit was approved on the condition that several improvements and changes to the Four Seasons Bungalow Colony on Geiger Road — the property on which Camp Yeshiva Meor Hatalmud seeks to operate and lease space from property owner DSG Holdings, LLC — be completed within the 10 days between the June 18 meeting and their proposed Monday, June 29 start date. The meeting was requested and convened after Weisz's application was denied at the May 26 meeting, deemed as "not complete enough for the Planning Board." (For more detailed information regarding how the meeting was convened, please see the accompanying article.)

However, a few of the planning board members — even those who voted 'yes' on the permit — raised serious questions as to the feasibility of the camp operator's ability to make the changes within the time allotted.

"Whatever you do, do the job right. Don't let us down. You're making the town go out on a limb here," said John Constable, deputy chairman of the planning board. One such concern that received much attention that night was the occupancy discrepancies between a previous application the camp's director, Renee Weisz, submitted and the one before the board that evening; the previous documents listed the camp as having 150 occupants, while the June 18 documents numbered the camp's occupants at 249, a change apparently precipitated by information provided by the Ulster County Department of Health's assessment of the property's septic system capacity, according to Wes Illing, the engineering consultant hired by the camp to work on the site plan application. After lengthy discussion of the subject, most members of the planning board appeared satisfied that the changed numbers were simply an oversight on the part of Weisz, a first-time planning board applicant.

Another concern was the status of several buildings on-site, which were listed on planning maps as "vacant," in order to conform to DOH septic system capacity numbers, but were still going to be used as office space, with bathrooms to be locked so as to prevent their usage. It was determined, however, that the buildings in question would be labeled as "storage," and would not be used as office space so as to avoid violating building code.

However, there yet remained several other issues the camp had those 10 days to address, pointed out by the town's engineering firm, Lanc and Tully. Among such concerns were the "grossly incorrect" topography included on maps submitted by the applicants, as described in documents from Lanc and Tully dated June 17.

Furthermore, also required was the creation of proper and stable access to the property for both fire trucks and waste-disposal trucks, for which a new access-road would have to be created. Yet another requirement is the installation of fencing around a propane tank to ensure child safety. The board also required the installation and implementation of fire-safety equipment in the buildings that will be marked as storage or otherwise not in use; at the time of the meeting, no such equipment or signage was labeled on maps provided to the board. The documentation from Lanc and Tully also noted that the pipe leading to the leach field was exposed and broken at the time of their site inspection on June 15, and that the trenches with the lines of the leach field were filled with water, issues that would need to be remedied by June 29.

Neighboring residents, who were notified of the meeting by mail, spoke up with their concerns. One neighbor, James Wright, asked that six foot privacy fence be erected so as to maintain the peaceful quality of the neighborhood. Other residents offered their concerns over noise and the children's safety.

Furthermore, it was stated repeatedly by Planning Board Chairman Martin Lonstein that the documents submitted for review that night were submitted the day of the meeting, far too soon for adequate review by the board. Despite this and other misgivings by the board, only one member of the six in attendance (planning board member Renee Doyle was not present) voted against the permit.

"There were too many conditions imposed that, to me, weren't going to be satisfied prior to when they wanted to be open, and it puts too much liability on the town and their building department to make sure that they are completed," said planning board member Brian Schug — who is also the building code enforcement officer with the Village of Ellenville's building department — of his lone 'no' vote.