HURLEYVILLE-SULLIVAN FIRST
Lisa from the Town of Fallsburg Parks and Camping Department has been watering our planters, barrels and gardens this summer and they are blooming. Thank you, Lisa!
Volunteers from Hurleyville-Sullivan First worked with community volunteers and staff from the Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre on the gardens at the Hurleyville Firemen’s Park. The group will continue to care for the gardens and to preserve the historic kiosk.
Learn more about Hurleyville-Sullivan First at www.hurleyvilleny.com or on Facebook.
HURLEYVILLE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
The volunteers at the Bread of Life Food Pantry are providing pre-made boxes of food to individuals and families in need. Clothing and household items will also be available outside the church…weather permitting…on days that the food pantry is open. Dates will be announced on the church’s Facebook page and on the sign outside the church.
Church members are still working on a plan to safely reopen the church when permitted. Protocols for social distancing, disinfection and cleaning will be followed.
Pastor Jorge is delivering sermons online on Facebook at 11:00am on Sundays.
You can pray with others over the phone on the church’s prayer line on Sundays from 7:00pm – 8:00pm. All are invited to join the Bible study group on the church’s prayer line on Tuesdays at 7:00pm. The prayer line phone number is 605-472-5491 and the access code is 251678.
“MESSY CHURCH” and the women’s group meetings are cancelled for now.
Please call Katrina at 845-436-7942 for more information. You can also get updates from the church’s page on Facebook.
THE SULLIVAN COUNTY MUSEUM AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Sullivan County Museum is open for volunteer staff. They are working on the research requests that have been sent to the Sullivan County Historical Society since the museum was closed due to the pandemic.
Go to www.scnyhistory.org for more information on the Sullivan County Historical Society and the Sullivan County Museum. You can also visit the Sullivan County Historical Society and Museum on Facebook.
Please email Suzanne Cecil at scecil@hvc.rr.com if you have any questions.
COLUMBIA HILL NEIGHBORHOOD ALLIANCE (CHNA)
As reported in the September issue, the agenda of the Town of Thompson Planning Board’s meeting on July 8, 2020 included a scoping session for Gan Eden Estates…a proposed mega-development of 534 units in 89 buildings on Columbia Hill. The scoping session was an opportunity for public comments on the draft scoping document submitted by the developer of the project.
The following letter was submitted by Stuart Wizwer on behalf of the Congregation Anschei-Hurleyville Cemetery for insertion in the minutes of the session.
To the Town of Thompson Planning Board:
This response is directed to the Environmental Review for Gan Eden Estates proposed at the top of Columbia Hill, C.R. 104 & 107, Hurleyville.
I am communicating as Treasurer and Manager of Congregation Anschei – Hurleyville Cemetery located on Cemetery Road off Mongaup Road in Hurleyville.
There are two major concerns that we have for our cemetery which is over 100 years old.
First is the rain run off that will increase because of the change in the topography if Gan Eden Estates is built and because of the continued expansion of housing units beyond the stated size and scope as proposed.
There is a stream that is located behind the cemetery that the property line butts up against. With the additional water that will travel down the hill and into the watershed, that will swell the stream to the point of overflow and thereby raising the ground water level to the point of “floating” the caskets placed into the ground hampering the proper “religious” burial of our loved ones. We have had one case where the family exhumed their beloved member to be moved because of this issue. This took place in the springtime and it was not a particularly unusual winter.
We are afraid that this will occur on a much more frequent basis that will not be able to be mitigated once the project comes to fruition. The area surrounding the cemetery on some wet rainy days has very poor drainage. The additional rainwater will only multiply and exacerbate the conditions to the point of eliminating any further burials there.
Our second concern is a possible sewer run off from a potential treatment plant failure and/or abandonment of proper maintenance by the management. That has in fact happened several times in the Town of Thompson by the management of private enterprises just “walking away” from the responsibility of operating the plant. This runoff would SURELY end up in the stream behind our cemetery.
This possibility would then cause our cemetery to become a “leaching field” if you will. This is NOT ACCEPTABLE for our loved ones. WOULD IT BE FOR YOURS?
We object to the current size and scope of this project and the historic future unplanned and unapproved expansion of this project.
After it is built and these issues become a reality, what would be able to be done to correct and mediate the aforementioned concerns that we have expressed here?
Thank you.
Stuart S. Wizwer
TREASURER AND MANAGER
CONGREGATION ANSCHEI – HURLEYVILLE CEMETERY
Visit Columbia Hill Neighborhood Alliance at www.columbiahill.org or on Facebook to learn how you can help to protect your environment and your community.