MONTICELLO, NY — Monticello Manor, a local hospital that first opened in 1923 and operated as an assisted living facility until 2008, is owned by the Sullivan County Land Bank, which plans to develop the site into affordable housing. The site is currently in the public comment period of a Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) investigation for contamination. 

The DEC has invited public comment about a draft work plan to investigate contamination in soils, surface water, groundwater and any other parts of the environment that may be affected at the Monticello Manor site. Previous investigations have detected semi-volatile organic compounds and metals in soil. 

The site is 1.943 acres and contains vacant, dilapidated structures, including a three-story former hospital and assisted living facility, staff living quarters and several small outbuildings formerly used for storage. The assisted living facility closed in 2008 and the site is currently unoccupied. The planned redevelopment of the site includes the construction of affordable, mixed-income housing. The redevelopment is planned to include 27 one-bedroom units and 11 two-bedroom units.

In the fall of 2024, Jill Weyer, chair of the land bank, presented plans to turn the site into affordable housing. Weyer told the legislature that the site development would be accomplished through a collaboration with Manor Lost Joint Venture, LLC. 

The land bank acquired the property in 2019. The abandoned buildings have been reportedly used by houseless people for shelter. 

Sullivan County has a well-documented housing crisis. It has an anemic rental market rising rental prices and consisitently high eviction rates; homeownership is increasingly out of reach. Sullivan families are staying for longer periods of time in hotels and motels than in past years. 

On October 24, 2024, the legislature passed a motion to establish housing as a “county purpose,” inching the county forward toward creating an initiative to address housing. The vote gave the legislature the legal ability to develop a program where financial resources can be allocated to address affordable housing through what’s called a “housing trust.” 

The county’s 2025 budget earmarked $2 million for a Housing Trust Fund to address the housing crisis. Establishing a trust was recommended by Pattern for Progress, which has been working under contract with the county to advise on addressing the county’s housing crisis.

The DEC cleanup is part of New York’s Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP), intended to encourage the voluntary cleanup of contaminated properties known as “brownfields,” so the properties can be reused and redeveloped. These uses may include recreation, housing, business and more. 

According to the DEC, a brownfield site is any real property where a contaminant is present at levels exceeding soil cleanup objectives or other health-based or environmental standards, criteria or guidance adopted by the DEC that is applicable based on the reasonably anticipated use of the property, in accordance with applicable regulations.

The DEC is accepting public comments about the draft work plan through April 18. A fact sheet about the draft plan and how to comment is available here.