The City of Newburgh is conducting a Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Nomination Study that will focus on the hillside land along the riverfront. Public workshops and sessions held on Saturday, January 13 helped gather ideas and suggestions from the community for the future usage of the land.

The hillside land, 144 acres in total, is vacant and undeveloped. Through this nomination study, the site would be evaluated for contamination clean-up and potential future redevelopment. The study will allow the city to understand more about the land’s conditions and potentially contaminants.

A brownfield site is classified as a property having either known or perceived contamination which could be a barrier to potential future development.

During the course of this study, comments and materials would be collected by the city and thus submitted to New York State who would then review the study and determine if the hillside site is a Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA).

The New York State Department of State Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA) Program provides communities with financial and technical expertise to develop plans for revitalization of neighborhoods or areas affected by brownfields or economic distress.

The hillside, if designated a Brownfield Opportunity Area by New York State, could be transformed into a community asset. The benefits of redevelopment could include new jobs created in the city, new potential housing, public amenities, reinvestment by the public and private sectors and increased tax revenue and property values for the city.

A steering committee of local officials and stakeholders will oversee the Newburgh BOA Nomination and the committee will be supported through this process by the City of Newburgh, a consultant team and the New York State Department of State.

Through the many challenges and hurdles that the City of Newburgh has faced over the course of its history, the sting and pain of the Urban Renewal period remains for many. That area of the city in the East End was once a thriving community for Black residents and business owners.

While conservation efforts led to the protection of some buildings along the waterfront, which are now recognized as part of the greater East End Historic District, the damage was done and families either remained in Newburgh or ultimately left.

“We do understand there is a deeply impactful history around this part of the city, and the city recognizes that, and that is part of this planning effort,” said Sam Gordon of EDR, the consulting firm that the city has retained to work on the BOA project. “As we’re developing strategies for what to do here, we’re trying to figure out how we move forward with investing in this area and use that investment to help to write wrongs that happened here.”

During the course of the event, the Newburgh Armory Unity Center, the Newburgh Farmers Market, the Newburgh Free Library, Blacc Vanilla Café and Safe Harbors Lobby at the Ritz served as locations for community discussions and question periods.

Questions and comments came up about the timeline of the overall project and about increasing the outreach of the survey and the overall study for additional input. Members of the community also had the opportunity to write down what they wanted the land to be used for on post-it notes and comment sheets that would be added to the study. During the conversations, residents told Gordon that if development were to happen, they were concerned about obstructing the view of the Hudson River that many in the city enjoy.

“We’re not asking you to respond to things that we’ve planned or proposed or someone has brought you. We really want to have a conversation about where you want to go,” said City Director of Planning and Development Alexandra Church. “If you are the person that is here that says it must all be parkland, your voice will be heard today but so will the person who says it has to be as dense as possible.”

The general public will be kept informed and engaged during the process of this study through a Community Participation Plan. The overall project was launched in January 2024 and will run through April 2025.

“I want someone to be on that steering committee that I can talk to, that will be my point person, that would be someone that our environmental groups can ask questions of because they would be representing us,” said Marianne Marichal.

“The most popular, most in demand project is residential which would be one of the more restrictive conditions. It might be eliminated because of the brownfield conditions,” said Bill Fetter.

A link to an English survey is available to the public: surveymonkey.com/r/HillsideBOA. City residents and other interested parties can learn more about the study and work of the Newburgh BOA program by visiting newburghboa.com for more information.