WURTSBORO – Approximately fifty people, half from Bloomingburg, came out to a Mamakating planning board public hearing on a proposal to build a mikvah, or ritual Jewish bath, across from the controversial Chestnut Ridge development on Winterton Road. With a stenographer present, attorney Terresa Bakner of the Albany law firm of Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna and engineer Tom Olley from Walden outlined their plans, spoke about the site's previous use as a day spa before being turned back into a private residence, and introduced Rabbi Kalman Klein, an expert on mikvahs.

The public spoke for nearly an hour, following detailed questions from planning board members, including local firebrand Richard Morris, who as an alternate for recused planner Edna Fedun read a long missive in which he raised legal definition issues regarding ritual baths and whether they should be seen as places used for religious purposes or just bathhouses, and later raised safety issues by referencing mikvah deaths around the world.

Planning board questions focused on the site's septic system, which Olley said had not been checked because of snow cover and freezing conditions since November, and the heaviness of the baths' use.

Under the proposal, the former home at 51 Winterton Road would house two 8 foot by 12 foot by 4 foot deep pools holding approximately 1,500 gallons each, plus seven private changing rooms and two external holding tanks of 200 gallons each, one to be filled over time by rain water according to mikvah traditions passed down over the millennia. The baths would be used by orthodox Jewish women on an appointment basis, with no more than 22 visits in a day, and an average between 12 and 15. Parking would be for 11 cars. Instead of using chemicals to keep the baths clean between monthly refills, the mikvah would use an ozonator and bleach between water fillings. Total modifications would be less than 400 square feet including handicap-accessible features.

The public's questions and comments centered around health issues regarding such bathing procedures. People asked whether such things were safe, whether children would be allowed on the property, effects on local water supplies, and whether the Department of Health could oversee the site on a regular basis. Several people asked why Bloomingburg needed such a thing.

Planning board chairman Mort Starobin directed speakers, on several occasions, that comments regarding the Chestnut Ridge development and developer Shalom Lamm could not be entertained; planners were only dealing with the proposal as it related to the property in question. When several asked about the specifics of a stop work order against the mikvah, building inspector Mary Grass explained that some concrete had been poured, while board attorney John Cappello noted that should the building inspector need removal of already-built items to do her job, "so be it."

After Lesleigh Weinstein and others again raised the question of need, the religious nature of mikvahs, their healthiness, and whether the town could require developers to pay all taxes before granting site plan approvals, Cappello noted how planners "have to give deference to religious uses" and a mikvah "is an accepted use around the world whether you like it or not."

He pointed out that under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, known as RLUIPA, religious institutions and facilities are protected from exclusionary and discriminatory zoning and land-use policies.

The planning board voted unanimously to close the hearing but allow further written comments on the mikvah issue through April 4.

In other business they looked at design changes for a proposed Dollar General on Route 209 and closed out the longstanding application from Panoramic Estates Subdivision, which has pulled back from its plans to build along the same roadway.