SUNY Orange has received $4 million in funding from the Orange County Legislature to complete the environmental review process for its proposed campus on Newburgh”™s lower Broadway.
“There are two more pieces of the process left,” said Dr. Bill Richards, SUNY Orange president. “The county must purchase the property on the site, which they are close to completing. Secondly, they must vote to fund the construction of the new buildings ”¦ by law, they are not allowed to approve construction funds until all the environmental reviews are completed and reviewed.”
He said he is hopeful the SEQRA process will be completed within six months.
Richards said Leyland Alliance, the firm selected to develop the Newburgh waterfront, was “very complimentary about our campus plans. We are about one-and-a-half years ahead of them in the process.”
The campus, he said, will be pedestrian friendly. Taking a cue from the success Leyland had in its public meeting process, SUNY plans to hold a charrette of its own, inviting its architect JMZ of Glens Falls to interact with residents and business owners to get an idea of what they”™d like to see at the new campus.
Both Leyland”™s lead architect, Andres Duany, and SUNY”™s president “are on the same fairway ”¦ I”™m sure whatever they (Leyland) end up with as a final design, the campus will be an anchor for the waterfront,” Richards said. “We are committed to working with Leyland and having several interactions with them ”¦ it”™s better to do this together than separately.”
SUNY Orange plans to break ground on the school by spring 2008.
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