BEACON – The Beacon City School District Board of Education has raised several concerns about the housing project that will be built at the site of the former Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill. In a letter to Governor Hochul this week, the board expressed their concerns about the impact on enrollment and the insufficient tax revenue.
The state has tentatively approved Conifer Realty LLC to construct 1,300 housing units on the parcel where the now-closed prison is located. Details on the project can be found here.
“The board’s foremost concern is the impact on school enrollment and resources that would result from the proposed development of the Facility,” the letter says. citing several recent housing developments in the district which have already increased enrollment, and they argue that the associated tax revenue from the recent projects is “nowhere near sufficient to offset the increase in per pupil expenditures and administrative costs resulting from the potential increase in enrollment.”
The board acknowledges that the first phase of construction will result in only 375 units but says that is enough to impact enrollment, telling Hochul that “children living in this type of housing are more likely to be of elementary age, further stressing the District’s elementary schools, which are already at or near capacity.”
The board’s letter to the governor, copied to Congressman Pat Ryan (NY-18_ and Fishkill Town Supervisor Ozzy Albra says that tax revenues could potentially be further reduced because the developer will “routinely challenge the assessment as excessive in an effort to drive down taxes (thus further impacting the schools), or, seek benefits and incentives such as those from the Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency due to a claimed inability to construct the development without significant financial assistance.” The board says that any such tax exemptions will ultimately become a cost to the taxpayers in the school district.
The increase in traffic will also include additional bus routes requiring more buses on the roads during peak traffic times in an already congested Route 9D corridor.
The board is asking for Hochul to require a full School Impact Study to determine the number of school-age children expected to live in the new development and they are offering to assist in the development planning process.
