Residents Unleash Frustrations Over Bus Depot in Verplanck
Frustrated residents continued to plea with the Cortlandt Planning Board not to okay plans for a bus depot in Verplanck that has been operating for more than three years in their residential neighborhood without required approvals.
During the 9th public hearing on the project on July 5, homeowners who reside in the vicinity of 301 6th Street took turns lambasting Montauk Student Transport, its employees and town officials for not looking out for their best interests by subjecting them to noise, speeding vehicles, trash and other annoyances that have disrupted their quality of life.
“This operation adversely affects our hamlet. Why is this operation allowed in a residential zone?” said Bernie Vaughey, a more than 60-year resident of Verplanck. “Residents you represent are being exposed to unacceptable noise.”
AKRF Consulting, which was hired by the town but is being paid by Montauk, reported noise levels on 6th Street were in the acceptable range but levels on Broadway already exceeded the satisfactory threshold.
“Maybe our voices are not being heard. Everyone should come and sit at our hours for five hours. I feel like you think we’re making all of this up,” Kim O’Brien remarked. “This business should not be here. It’s a free-for-all. This is becoming a stressful place to live. It is wearing us all down.”
Montauk originally submitted plans to the town in March 2015, and then resubmitted plans five months later, for approval for 92 parking spaces for full and van-size buses and 95 spaces for passenger vehicles, along with use of an existing 4,200-square-foot garage facility, on almost five acres. A stop work order was issued by the town’s Code Enforcement Office in 2014 for enlarging a parking lot, but that was resolved.
A stipulation was then apparently reached with town officials after Montauk paid a $10,000 civil penalty in June 2015 for a violation notice allowing Montauk to operate while pursuing Planning Board approval, with one of the conditions being that property taxes were paid in full.
Wayne Spector, an attorney representing more than a dozen Verplanck residents who has called on Cortlandt officials to immediately shut down a bus depot that has been operating for two years without approval, contended the “stand-still” agreement the town has with Montauk should be ripped up.
“The continued use of this site is an insult to all these people,” Spector said. “This use has changed the quality of life on their residential neighborhood. It’s hard to imagine a more inappropriate use on this property. These (buses) are traveling noise makers.”
Montauk Student Transport currently services the Putnam Valley and Peekskill school districts. A representative for Montauk said 30 buses from Putnam Valley would be on site during the summer, while 61 buses from Peekskill would be parked on the property during the school year.
Planning Board member James Creighton noted Cortlandt’s Master Plan recommended not having any parking near the Hudson River, although a bus depot is a permitted use in the town’s Zoning Code.
The Planning Board decided to adjourn the public hearing once again to its next meeting on August 1.
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