Another business center plan incites traffic, environmental concerns

If an enormous office and retail building is going up on Nininger Road, does Monroe need another one on Route 208? That’s the question the Monroe Village Planning Board now faces. At the November 28 planning board meeting, representatives from 208 Business Center LLC appeared to discuss the progress of their project with the board. The proposed 208 Business Center is a 72,500 square foot building that, like the project on Nininger Road, has a first floor with retail space, and a second floor featuring 25,000 square feet of office space. And like the Monroe Commons project on Nininger, which is being handled by the town, there doesn’t seem to be a workable plan in place to manage the amount of traffic such a project would create. Among the problems faced by commuters using Route 208 is the already long delays at the traffic light next to the Mobil station — to say nothing about the awkward placement of the Mobil station itself. Barring substantial changes to Route 208, North Main Street, and Schunnemunk Street, this congestion will only get worse.

But that’s not the only problem for the project planners and village. Ross Miceli, executive director of the South Orange County YMCA, reeled off a litany of challenges and issues the YMCA and its tenants would face if the 208 Business Center project moves forward as planned. The YMCA in Monroe is located on the Gilbert Street Extension, which intersects with Route 208. The proposed 208 Business Center would be located next door to YMCA. Among the list of concerns Miceli shared is what he alleges was a traffic study done using smaller trucks than the larger kind that would actually frequent the new business center once it opens.

Further complicating matters is that the Monroe YMCA is home to Inspire Kids Preschool, whose entrance would be right next to where the trucks would load and unload at the 208 Business Center. Miceli pointed out that the playground is only 60 feet from where the trucks would load. He added that while trucks are not supposed to idle, there would be no mechanism in place to stop them from doing so. That would mean the students attending Inspire, many of whom are special needs students with sensory issues, would be breathing in the fumes from the idling trucks while they make use of the playground. There is no plan in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) document presented to the village board that details any plans for mitigation of the noise, nor are there any plans to create barriers to keep the children from entering and exiting the truck loading area.

As pointed out by the American Lung Association, “Living near a busy roadway exposes residents to a complex mixture of harmful pollutants that includes nitrogen oxides, particle pollution and VOCs coming from the tailpipes of cars, trucks and buses, as well as from the wear of brakes and tires, the resuspension of roadside dust and the abrasion of the road surface itself. Although traffic pollution has an impact on air quality over a large area, people who live closest to highways and other busy roads are most likely to be affected. Long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution is associated with asthma onset in children and adults, lower respiratory infection in children, and premature death.”

Like the village board, Miceli is insisting that traffic improvements be made before any sort of construction can begin, and that plans are put into place to better protect the children attending Inspire Kids Preschool.

The public comment period will remain open until January 16, 2024 for area residents who wish to speak with the village board to share their concerns about this project.