Clinton planning board adopts final scoping document for 6 Senses project after agreeing on studies, consultants and wastewater analysis

The Town of Clinton Planning Board voted unanimously July 7 to adopt an amended final scoping document for the proposed 6 Senses project, setting the parameters the applicant must meet when preparing a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS).

The board’s resolution directs the applicant to provide previously completed water-quality results and, where necessary, testing “done or to be done in accordance with DOH regulations or as required by the planning board on the recommendation of the town’s hydrologist,” language read into the record by the board’s scrivener Rich (speaker 3). The board also agreed that the town’s independently retained hydrogeologist will review existing analyses and may recommend any additional testing the board should require.

Why it matters: The scoping document determines which studies the DEIS must include. By adding the town hydrogeologist’s oversight and preserving the option for supplemental testing, the board kept the door open for independent review of groundwater and surface-water concerns that proponents and some residents raised.

Key technical requirements the board adopted include:
- Water quality: provide results of applicable testing (including PFAS) and any additional tests recommended by the town’s hydrogeologist.
- Hydrogeologist review: the town will retain a hydrogeologist to review the applicant’s studies and recommend further work if deemed necessary.
- Waste assimilative capacity (WACC): the DEIS must include any preliminary DEC WACC analysis available for this project; if no DEC analysis is available, the DEIS must describe and quantify Crum Elbow Creek’s capacity to assimilate treated effluent during low-flow periods (the town’s hydrogeologist will review and judge sufficiency).
- Biological surveys: the town’s independent ecologist will perform up to two additional full field days (beyond prior visits) to identify and document plant and wildlife species; the applicant will incorporate the ecologist’s summary into the DEIS.
- Forest/trees: rather than a tree-by-tree inventory, the board required a narrative survey of forest-edge habitat for a 75-foot band around the limits of disturbance and a description of potential impacts to that habitat.

Board members and consultants debated the right balance between specific mandates and flexibility. Applicant consultant Victoria Polidoro (speaker 9) told the board that most applicant edits were technical and that the team expected to work through the scoping table item by item; the board’s chair emphasized the meeting’s legal timing, saying the town had a prescribed clock that required adopting the scoping document that night.

On wastewater concerns, the board asked that the applicant provide any preliminary WACC analysis prepared by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for this project. If a DEC analysis is not available, the DEIS should still analyze the stream’s assimilative capacity during low-flow conditions and provide available data to the town’s hydrogeologist for review. The board also requested publicly available SPDES/permit compliance records (including violations, if any) for comparable treatment systems to inform operational and maintenance expectations.

The board's final resolution also directs the planning board clerk to circulate the adopted scoping document to involved and interested agencies, post it on the town website, and submit notice to the NYS DEC Environmental Notice Bulletin.

What’s next: The applicant estimated it would aim to prepare and submit a DEIS within about four weeks, while acknowledging that timing will depend on the hydrogeologist’s and the town ecologist’s work. The clerk is responsible for formal circulation and public-notice steps before the public comment period on any DEIS submission.

Quote: Chair (speaker 1) told the meeting that because of a legally mandated time clock, "we have to adopt this tonight," framing the need to finalize the scoping document at the July 7 meeting.

The board recorded a roll-call vote on the resolution and carried it unanimously.