Orange County, 7th District Candidates Talk Of Growth

Candidate McLaughlinSaid: The unrelenting growth of the Village of Kiryas Yoel is the single greatest growth and development issue facing District 7 today. While not a part of District 7, the village's expansion and city-density development threatens the environmental sustainability of the communities around it, particularly in the areas of air quality, water resources and wastewater pollution. The village's plan to tap into the New York City Aqueduct with a miles-long pipeline would topple the precarious environmental resources balance we are attempting to maintain in our region. Neighboring communities must be able to rely upon the resources of the county Planning Department to maintain the integrity of their respective master plans and zoning laws. The county Health Department must take a hard look at any applications from the village for sewage or water infrastructure expansion. Orange County Sewer District No. 1 must ensure that what little remaining capacity we have left is fairly distributed among all its member communities. And, finally, the county must be ready and willing to go into court - as we have done on the pipeline - to exercise the control over rampant development that the Village of Kiryas Yoel is unwilling to do.