Our town laws prohibit amusement parks in all areas of our town. legoland is an amusement park with a theme. Our town board has broken our laws allowing this amusement park. THE TOWN BOARD and legoland refused to allow the tax payers a referendum on Legoland. Legoland serially has destroyed environmentally sensitive areas. In Goshen they have destroyed 100 acres of thick protected forest and killed thousands of species of animals and have polluted and silted in our water ways. The Otterkill creek is full of mud from Legoland. no respect for the forests, wildlife, ecosystems and streams, laws or our town. Legoland is the worst thing that could happen to a town who's people worked on a comprehensive plan to prevent just a thing. Legoland is getting a $40 + million dollar huge hand out to build its amusement park from NYS taxpayers money from Cuomo. Legoland will not be paying taxes for 25 years and plans on renegotiating to never pay taxes. The taxpayers of Goshen will be left carrying the tax and municipal burdens.
Shame on the town of Goshen supervisor Bloomfield and the town board, shame on the county executive and shame on Governor Cuomo for forcing the illegal amusement park on the town of Goshen. Cuomo should have put this garbage in his backyard.
Legoland has destroyed Goshen and has been served 6 violations for polluting our waterways, they are not a good neighbor. Don't support serial polluting. STOP LEGOLAND. Shut it down.
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Large theme parks like the currently developing Legoland outside of the village of Goshen are designed to keep visitors on site at the shops, restaurants, and hotels that come with the site. There will be little benefit to the surrounding area businesses in such a case. The article says that Goshen has 15,000 people (i.e., the town of Goshen, but the village of Goshen is less than 6,000 and will bear the brunt of the traffic and attendant environmental and public service costs as Legoland is just a mile or two outside the village. The state and town of Goshen provided generous tax abatements and subsidies to secure Legoland's development, including reconfiguring Route 17 exit to ease access to the park. Traffic is already challenging on this route and even more so during the late spring to early fall months when Legoland will operate. Zoning, planning, and environment issues (especially water access) were overridden in a rush to execute this development.
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Let’s put the eggs in the basket here. Goshen is a ghost town that was. It has nothing but the trotters museum. It doesn’t even have a supermarket! Legoland will benefit the area tremendously!
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@Mick so move to a town with a supermarket
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"Merlin is planning to invest $500 million in the Legoland project in Orange County and is expected to pay property taxes of about $87 million over 20 years, according to Lynn Allen Cione, president of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce."
This sort of flimflam is repeated across the country by local governments and business interests across the US when a big money operation comes to town and wants to set up shop by promising that the streets will be paved with gold. Here is message for the good, ordinary citizens of Goshen from somebody who has seen this occur first hand: The outside corporate interests, their lies and their phony promises of immense wealth will trump any desires you have to preserve your local community and way of life. They will buy your local government lock, stock and barrel, cut back-room deals and you won't have anything to show for it but headaches and a vanished way of life. Please be proactive and protect your interests - make your voices heard downtown, vote and even threaten recall of any elected officials in the tank for "LegoLand".
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Mpound, Goshen is is a shrinking little town with no industry and few economic prospects. Legoland doesn’t pollute, will hire lots of people, attract lots of visitors who will spend money there, and will pay a lot of taxes directly and indirectly. So, by your logic, corporations and economic growth are bad and Goshen should say no.
Legoland is being built on an environmentally sensitive site identified as such in the town's Comprehensive Plan. After clearcutting 98 acres in only a few days on a 300 foot hill, they have successfully polluted the endangered and threatened streams on the site and nearby. There are multiple violations against them. Traffic and water woes will continue to plague this plastic park for decades.
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@C Acosta- Agreed. Goshen and it's quiet charm is nevermore.
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