OLIVE, N.Y. — The Town Board is expected to vote Feb. 9 on adopting a natural resources inventory that will provide guidance for land-use applications.
The board meeting, to be held by videoconference, is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be viewed on the Zoom platform at .
“It will help the Planning Board, Town Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals in their decisions,” Supervisor James Sofranko said of the “Town of Olive Natural Resources Inventory.”
The inventory was carried out at no cost to the town and is expected to have benefits that extend beyond Olive because it identifies threats to the Ashokan Reservoir, from which water is released into the 32-mile Lower Esopus Creek.
Among other things, the 139-page inventory report identifies locations where groundwater could be threatened by new development, including “the small area from the north end of the Ashokan Reservoir following the [Upper] Esopus Creek north to and beyond the town border.”
“Two water supply sources are located near the northern Esopus Creek aquifer area,” the report states. “… Recharge of this aquifer depends on local and upstream runoff, and would be affected by development … such as gas stations or manufacturers, which may contribute leachate containing chemical contaminants.”
The report also identifies streams that pose flood risks to nearby properties and roads.
Noting the popularity of fishing in Olive, among both residents and visitors, the report says the high quality of streams in the town is directly related to land being undeveloped.
“Many classified and unclassified streams flow from small catchments formed within the steep and irregularly sloped sides of the Catskill Mountains in and surrounding the town of Olive,” it states. “Extensive tracts of forests, undisturbed wetlands, low percent of impervious land cover and other factors associated with the rural nature of the town support excellent water quality in Olive’s surface waters.”
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