To date this Town has had a dismal record of meeting its obligations to its citizens by failing to honor its obligations in reviewing the effects of its approvals for various projects has on our environment as required by the State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”). It is completely unfathomable that this Town has not had before it a single project that did not present potential adverse environmental effects that would require a positive declaration and a full environmental review since at least 1979.

We will now see how the current administration takes its responsibilities to our environment. There is currently a project before the Town to add baseball diamonds to the Canisius Athletic Fields. This is clearly a Type 1 action under SEQRA. When a proposed action is classified as Type I, the threshold for requiring an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) is relatively low, for this classification carries with it a presumption that the action is apt to have a significant effect on the environment, and consequently that the detailed evaluation provided by an EIS is required prior to decision-making.

When this project appeared before the Planning Board on April 8, 2021 the members of the Planning Board appropriately recognized that this project poses potential issues and tabled the consideration of this project.

I am calling on our Town officials to issue a positive declaration relating to this project so that all the environmental effects can be studied, reviewed and mitigated prior to approving this project. I am also asking the Planning Board to reopen the public hearing after the SEQRA forms and studies are provided to the public for the public to have their say on this project after having a full opportunity to review the materials and hear the other issues related to this project. A copy of my request is available here: https://www.scribd.com/document/5045...oard-SPR2021-5

Let us see how seriously the current administration takes these issues and their obligation to our environment and our community.