There are several serious flaws in the Public Hearing process based on what transpired on Monday, December 11, 2023, at the Coeymans Town Hall in Ravena regarding Carver Companies’ proposal to build wind blade manufacturing on residential land.
- The Public Hearing should not be held until a full environmental impact assessment has been completed. However, there was no EIS or SEQR presented to the public.
- Carver Companies workers were allowed to take seats by 6 pm, so no one else could get it. They filled the capacity of the hall. The general public was not told to be there an hour ahead of time so the public was kept out of the meeting.
- Police were at the door, controlling who was allowed into the meeting and who was not. Carver speakers were allowed in, others were not.
- There was great confusion about sign-in lists for people attending and wanting to speak. Some sheets were titled “Carver”, and others were titled “Public”, but it was not clear why they were different.
- After Chairman Nolan opened the Public Comment Period he gave the floor to Carver Companies who gave a 143-minute presentation from Carver Companies contractors, advisors, employees, and authors of various studies (e.g. traffic). It was less a presentation than a propaganda exercise. Chairman Nolan then said he was opening up the public comment period, having already opened it earlier.
- There were no time limits on Carver Company presentations and some Carver Company speakers went back multiple times to address various sections of their lengthy slide show.
- 18 speakers from the public were eventually admitted and spoke but were not allowed to speak longer than 3 minutes each.
- At least 10 people, residents, and neighbors who would be affected by this proposal were not admitted and wrote to me about it.
- It should be noted that Chairman Rob Nolan is the owner of Nolan Propane and does a lot of business with Carver Companies. Mr Nolan, as chair, never asked the Carver employees to make room for others or arranged for a larger venue despite knowing this was an important public hearing that would attract a lot of people. Mr. Nolan has a history of not recusing himself in cases where his businesses are affected by the Planning/Zoning Board’s decisions. (See the Marebo/Long Energy decision.)
QUESTIONS ~ Why is this application being rushed through? ~ Is GE still interested in Coeymans now that other ports in the Capital region are opening up? ~ What does Holcim think of this proposal? They were not present at the public hearing.
