Greece board accused of ignoring health risks in wetlands sale

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Just four days after the Greece Town Board gave final approvals for the sale of potentially contaminated wetlands to a housing developer, two concerned neighbors are asking the courts to block the transfer and order more testing.

The board, in a 3-2 vote on Thursday, gave its blessing for developer Penn Central, LLC, move forward on construction of a four-story, 163-unit senior housing community.

But Shorecliff Drive residents Casey and Brendan Bulson say more environmental testing is necessary to ensure there is no threat to current or future residents.

Their petition, filed in state Supreme Court in Monroe County on Monday by attorney Henry S. Stewart, alleges that the board:

• Failed to supplement a nearly year-old State Environmental Quality Review Act study with new water and soil concerns;

• Made an arbitrary and capricious decision because members relied on flawed scientific testing, ignored “substantial evidence of contamination risk,” and considered information contradictory to a state Department of Environmental Conservation report.

• Ignored how the environmental concerns will impact seniors, who are at heightened risk from exposure to the volatile organic compounds left behind by previous industrial use of the property;

• Pushed through approvals before Town Supervisor Bill Reilich and three of the four board members leave office on Jan. 1. Supervisor Elect Jeff McCann and some new board candidates ran on a platform that opposed the project.

The petition asks for an immediate temporary restraining order that would halt transfer of the property, an annulment of the initial SEQRA finding and a requirement that the town prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement addressing seasonal groundwater migration patterns and testing protocols.

The wetlands site at 354 Island Cottage Rd. is located about a half-mile west of the former Odenbach Shipbuilding Corp., which later became the site of Air Force Plant No. 51. There are continuing concerns about chemical contamination of groundwater and soil.

The developer provided testing samples to the town that showed the soil was free of the carcinogen trichloroethylene and other dangerous chemicals. The study was conducted by a private laboratory.

But the petitioners say the study was unreliable because it was conducted in late August, when the soil was extremely dry due to moderate drought conditions in the area.

The petition also alleges the testing protocol was “grossly inadequate” because samples were collected just once, that they weren’t taken deep enough into the ground and because no tests were conducted during the “wet season,” when groundwater flow patterns are far different.

The petition says the public interest is best served by further testing, that ensuring there is no soil contamination outweighs any harm to the developer from a temporary delay.

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