Diane Walden is reporting for The Columbia Paper the Copake Planning Board has approved site plans for Salvatore Cascino’s newest building projects. Following a review process that lasted three years, the board this month voted four to one, with two members absent, to allow Cascino’s plan for a modified expansion of the agricultural operation on his 300-acre property to move forward. However, over the years that Cascino awaited board action, he went ahead with the excavation of multiple acres, the installation of a network of stone walls as well as the construction of a 15,000-square-foot greenhouse. As a result, the town issued a stop-work-order in April. Cascino, 80, of Larchmont, Westchester County, has spent the past 22 years amassing violations of federal, state and town laws for illegal dumping, building and excavating at his property, which he calls Copake Valley Farm, along the east side of Route 22. New construction proposed by Cascino included the construction of a 24,900 square-foot barn for the care and management of cows and sheep and storage of feed and supplies; a 15,000 square-foot greenhouse for the year-round production of retail crops such as annuals, herbs, small shrubs and hydroponic plants such as tomatoes; and four overhangs which are 20- to 50-foot extensions off the top of existing exterior walls to provide moderate protection from the elements for feed and equipment. The board voted to approve Cascino’s master plan subject to the relabeling of the current storage and equipment garage to a barn; the reduction of the barn from 24,900 square feet to 12,500 square feet and removal of the large compost grinder, which is not part of the farm operation, and any other non-farm-related equipment from the property. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.