SOUTH BLOOMING GROVE – After a series of stop work orders issued by the State Department of Environmental Conservation to Simon Gelb and Keen Equities, developers of a massive development known as Clovewood/Lake Ann in the Village of South Blooming Grove, work has continued.
The project would include 600 homes on over 700 acres at the foothills of Schunnemunk Mountain.
The work has apparently continued against the order from DEC Environmental Land Specialist Natalie Brown.
She has now issued five stop work orders including for road building without a permit.
Neighbors have also complained of impacts on their wells when the onsite wells were tested, the clearcutting of a vast area of woods, and impacts to the threatened Timberlake rattlesnake, which had been prevalent on the property. Required buffering of potential impacts on the scenic views from New York State Parkland on the ridge has also not been clarified.
Residents of this small village, which would increase by up to 96 percent and on sensitive environmental land, are left wondering about the fines that the DEC warned could be issued if the remediation was not done were ever collected. They could amount to as much as $37,500 per incident, during the first of the five inspections last May.
Residents want to know if fines have been levied and if so, how much and if not, why?
