DEAL COULD CLEAR PATH FOR NEW PRICE CHOPPER

Mike McCagg

ccSCOOP News

06-16-10 - 12:05 p.m. - A deal is in the works that would finally see the new Price Chopper store built in Ghent.

Town officials told ccSCOOP that discussions are underway between the store’s developers, The Schuyler Company, and Camphill, an not-for-profit organization planning to construct a multimillion dollar residential facility further south on Route 66, that would solve a problem for Price Chopper: What to do with its waste water? If the deal is reached, the new store would discharge its wastewater to a treatment facility planned for the Camphill Ghent location, town officials said.

Although the 45,000-square-foot store being proposed would be constructed just south of the village border, Price Chopper developers had sought permission from Chatham Village officials to hook into the village wastewater system, but village officials have said that no new additions can be made to the wastewater system until the village addresses the problem of infiltration. The Village of Chatham has been cited by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation for exceeding permitted levels on several occasions in recent years. Chatham officials did agree, however, to allow the store to tap into its water system, which already supplies businesses outside the village, including Agway, explained Village Clerk Carroll Simmons.

Ghent Planning Board Chairman Jonathan Walters said that, with discussions between Schuyler and Camphill Ghent underway, Schuyler officials have told the Planning Board they are ready to resume the review process for the proposed supermarket. That process had been put on hold several months ago, when discussions over a wastewater system tie-in between the developer and village reached an impasse.

The $20 million Camphill Ghent project will see the construction in phases of three “frail care" houses, twenty-four co-housing apartments, and twelve independent living cottages. In addition, a retail facility, a community center, and medical offices that will be accessible to residents of the town and larger community are also planned for the site.

The Camphill proposal is still being reviewed by the Planning Board, but the Planning Board is moving quickly to accommodate a fall deadline for breaking ground so that the Camphill does not forfeit the $10 million in state grants it has received for the project.

Meanwhile, members of the Planning Board have already demanded that the new Price Chopper store not be a “cookie cutter” retail outlet. The design, which has not been revealed yet, is to be more reflective of the local area. Schuyler Corporation had already agreed to include a delineation of the Harlem Valley Trail as it passes across the store’s parking area—a measure that Walters said would ensure the ability of hikers to use the trail should it ever be extended from its current northern terminus in Copake to Chatham. The store’s developers must also develop a plan to deal satisfactorily with the wetlands in the area and runoff—a problem that has plagued that stretch of Route 66, Walters said.