Milmar Food Group seeks to expand project

Milmar Food Group was before the town of Goshen Planning Board on November 21 hoping to have its special permit extended as the owners plan to add a freezer building to construction on the plant they have built. They anticipate 50 new full-time jobs as a result of the expanded work.

Milmar, which is located on 6 1/2 Station Rd. and Route 17M, has had issues with the DEC pertaining to its wastewater removal plans. The board was concerned about taking action on the project while these issues were outstanding. Milmar first gained approval to build on its site in December 2022 and that initial approval is expiring soon.

Milmar faced some critical questioning from some board members about their slow progress and coming to the board so close to the date of their expiring permit. However, the board did vote to draft a resolution for a special permit to be considered at their December 5 meeting.

Pulaski Highway project

David Dworestzky has a 6.1-acre parcel of property on Pulaski Highway that he has so far only cleared out for parking. He has yet to build any structures on the property. Board member Diana Lupinski credited Dworestzky for cleaning up the area and questioned why the building inspector has been “picking on him.”

The planning board voted to assume lead agency on the project under SEQRA and to adopt EAF Part 2. They also voted to make a negative SEQRA declaration on the project.

Industrial facility

An industrial facility on 7.62 acres at 69 Celery Avenue was up for a public hearing at the board meeting. The applicant said the facility would be “degreasing” raw materials and make 70 to 80 decibels of noise. Two residents spoke concerning truck traffic at the site, to which the applicant replied deliveries will be made once per week and one to two truckloads of material would be leaving the site each day. The public hearing was adjourned until December 19, pending more information to be submitted to the planning board by the applicant.

17M Flex Building

The public hearing remained open on the 17M Flex Building located on 8.9 acres along Route 17M and Cannon Hill Drive. The board is still waiting to hear from the DOT regarding a traffic study for the project. There is concern that that high volume of 18 wheelers accessing the site can cause traffic problems.

Resident Chris Healey was particularly concerned about the 18 wheelers, stating that the information thus far released shows them coming into the parking lot on the wrong side of the road. He also claimed the town has “bent over backwards for this applicant” and that the size of the building is too large for the parcel of land it’s on.

Engineer Sean Hoffman concurred that the analysis showed trucks coming in on the wrong side of the road but said that that was an error that should be revised. The board voted to keep the public hearing open.