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Navajo Fields Changes Frustrate Yorktown Officials

YORKTOWN, N.Y. – Yorktown Town Board members continued to express frustration with Navajo Fields representatives Tuesday night over what they say are unapproved changes being carried out on the site.

Navajo Fields representatives have been asked to have any changes approved by the town before carrying out construction in Yorktown.

Navajo Fields representatives have been asked to have any changes approved by the town before carrying out construction in Yorktown.

Photo Credit: File

One change was the relocation of its greenhouses, which were not being built on the site approved in the original wetlands permit.

“If you have a wetland permit, you’ve got to be compliant with the wetland permit,” said John Tegeder, the town’s director of planning. “It’s that simple.”

Board members said they did not have an issue with the changes but asked that they not be made without the town’s approval. The project is a “moving target” that is “driving my staff nuts,” Supervisor Michael Grace said.

“We really don’t want to approve something and then you change it on the fly,” he said. “We’re not here to create issue for you, but we don’t want you to create issues for us.”

The Planning Board was concerned about establishing standards that could be applied to the review of the new site plan application to construct domes over the two existing fields, Tegeder said.

Town officials need to know the site's master plan, Tegeder and Grace said. In the absence of such a plan, there is a risk of segmentation, which is typically not allowed under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, they said.

“I asked you to come in with your master plan,” Grace said. “If you’re idea is to put up two domes, come in with two domes. Don’t come in with one dome and ask for another dome later.”

Footbridges on the site are also not safe, council member Dave Paganelli said. They will be taped off and signs will be posted that they were not to be used, Navajo Fields representatives said.

The board may vote on amending the existing wetlands permit at next Tuesday’s board hearing, pending a site inspection by the town’s environmental consultant. The proposed domes would not be part of this amended wetlands permit.

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