As a result of the Town of East Fishkill denying their proposal to build 68 units of Workforce Housing at Joe Mother's Road and Rt. 82, and a subsequent lawsuit by Kearney Realty & Development Group, Hopewell Village Green and Abilities First, the Town has now agreed to sell the Kearney Group et al a 22 acre parcel on rt 376 (Cannon Property) as an alternative site for this proposed development.

This newly proposed 88 unit project represents an increase of 20 units over what was first requested, with a similar number of limited units to be allocated to Abilities First and Hopewell Village Green (less than 20%). This property is located across from the East Fishkill Town Hall, East Fishkill Recreation Park and close to Gayhead Elementary School.

During the Public Hearing on Oct 23, there was some alarming information presented as to what Workforce Housing actually is in practice, and the impacts it has had in other communities.

Workforce Housing is marketed as housing for police, firemen, nurses, etc. but since housing is distributed on a state-wide lottery system, public employees working outside of our area rarely will commute from East Fishkill to benefit from this offering. As a result in order to fill the development, lower income applicants and eventually Section 8 applicants get awarded the units. One resident presented statistics on increased crime levels & police calls in the Town of Fishkill, where a similar 88 unit Workforce Housing project several years ago.

Petitions will be presented to the Town Board at the Public Hearing on January 22nd with the sole purpose of stopping this project in its proposed form. While we support Abilities First and Assisted Living housing, we vehemently oppose any form of Workforce Housing in our community. Granted there are many questions to be answered in terms of occupancy rules, infrastructure enhancements & school impacts, etc., but this project as it stands now is NOT in the best interest of a town that is already under intense infrastructure pressure.