Newburgh mayor criticizes Planning Board after waterfront project rejection

The Newburgh City Planning Board rejected a proposal from the Kaplan Family Foundation and the Bonura Group by one vote, killing a waterfront project that would have brought market-rate housing and a corporate headquarters to the former Newburgh-Beacon Ferry parking lot.

Mayor Torrance Harvey criticized the board after the decision, putting a spotlight on how Newburgh decides whether to welcome or block large private development along its waterfront. The rejected site is the same stretch of land that once served the now-defunct Newburgh-Beacon Ferry, a location that has been at the center of redevelopment talk for months.

That debate was already building in March, when Mid-Hudson News reported that the Kaplan Family and the Bonura Group, the landowners, were planning a large apartment-mixed-use project there. A March 17 agenda for the Newburgh Planning Board also listed a separate site plan at 2 Washington Street for a new five-building mixed-use development, naming Riverside Newburgh Realty LLC as owner and Joe Bonura Jr. as applicant. The repeated appearances of the Bonura name on waterfront and downtown plans show how closely the city’s biggest redevelopment ideas are tied together.

The Planning Board itself is a seven-member body under Chapter 76 of the City Code, with members appointed by the City Manager for seven-year terms. That structure matters in a city where development fights often turn on whether planning rules are being applied consistently or whether major projects are being decided case by case.

The stakes go beyond one parcel on the Hudson. The City of Newburgh has said it won more than $10 million in state funding for major housing, environmental and waterfront projects, a signal that city leaders want to push redevelopment forward. At the same time, housing deals in Newburgh have repeatedly raised questions about affordability and incentives. In one separate apartment proposal, a developer sought more than $7 million in tax breaks over 30 years to support rents as low as $1,000 a month.

Harvey has also publicly cast some projects as market-rate development that would pay full taxes without a PILOT, underscoring City Hall’s push for private investment that expands the tax base. The Planning Board’s vote suggests the city is still sorting out where it draws the line between protecting the waterfront and approving projects that could bring new homes, new offices and a different future for Newburgh’s riverfront.