Monday afternoon and evening the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a public hearing on the permit application for the proposed Patrick Farm development along Rt. 202 at Rt. 306 between Pomona and Wesley Hills. The proposed multi-family housing project involves 497 large scale homes, including 410 multi-family apartments on a 200 acre property.

The meeting takes place at the Joseph T. St. Lawrence Center on Torne Valley Road in Hillburn. There will be two sessions: 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Before signing off on the development, the DEC is soliciting public comments.

According to LoHud, DEC spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach said the agency was taking concern over the development’s environmental impact seriously. “Because of the public interest, we decided to have a hearing,” Rosenbach said.

The Patrick Farms development is a controversial issue in Ramapo as it would erect a dense multi-family community in the middle of the most rural portion of the Town of Ramapo at the Ramapo River headwaters that includes wetlands and federal waters that feed public drinking water supplies. The area also contains fresh water from Ramapo’s aquifer and multiple United Water wells.

The development plan involves clear-cutting 140 plus acres of trees in an historically wooded area to build 3-story multi-family condos. Monday’s public hearing will review many of the issues involved in the development, including charges that the developer is attempting to piece-meal through permitting in order to skirt environmental restrictions.

The Town Board of the Town of Clarkstown sold Patrick Farm to Scenic Development, LLC, its current owners, in July of 2001. The proposed development has created controversy and litigation, tracked here by the Rockland County Times.