Hurley Planning Board Fiasco - Anyone interested in our county’s economic health should be concerned about this.
Dear Ulster Strong Followers,
Like many Ulster County residents, we have been paying close attention to what is happening in the Town of Hurley. We had previously expressed our concerns over Hurley's Comprehensive Plan being anti-business. And we are now expressing our concerns about the extrajudicial requirements of the Town being placed on a proposed Dunkin' Donuts at the intersection of state routes 28 and 375. Anyone interested in our county’s economic health should be concerned about this.
Recently, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled against the Town's appeal of the proposed Dunkin Donuts development. It clearly stated the Town cannot introduce new concerns as it finishes its review and presumed approval of this project. The New York State Courts have further ruled that New York State Department of Transportation has approved and permitted this project and has final authority on the roads Route 28 and 375.
In defiance of the New York State Court of Appeals, the Town of Hurley has just submitted a new seven-page memo dated July 26, 2023, raising new concerns about the proposed development, many of them already addressed during the application process. These new criteria outlined in a memo sent less than 24 hours in advance of the meeting, is a tactic employed by the town to put another roadblock on this project and confuse the public, and now the Town's third attempt to stop this project, at a cost of extraordinary sums of taxpayers money. This latest attempt by the town to hold back the project is not only insulting to taxpayers but the New York State judiciary system.
Town of Hurley residents should question the decisions of their elected and appointed officials on this topic, if not already outraged by the wasted tax payer-money used to wage this fight. As an organization that encourages reasonable, smart, sustainable economic development in Ulster County, we are especially concerned about the way it projects a business-hostile environment to an important part of our County.
Tonight (July 27 at 6 pm at Hurley Town Hall), at the Hurley Town Planning Board meeting, residents will be given a chance to speak. We ask you to consider attending to voice your frustration over this misguided approach to local business development as this debacle over a Dunkin Donuts is directly impacting taxpaying citizens and staining our County’s business reputation. If the Town continues to invite a new lawsuit, it will be at the taxpayer's expense and the outcome will change nothing. Hurley is currently not just ambivalent to business interests, but showing hostility and antagonism, and a willful repudiation of judicial rulings of local and New York State courts.
Contact Hurley Planning Board Chair Peter McKnight
Contact Hurley Town Supervisor Melinda McKnight