Lance Ashworth and Domenic Broccoli stand on opposite sides of a heated yearslong fight but have something in common: They both love Fishkill History. They have different views, however, on how to preserve it.

In 2015, Ashworth assembled a community group to oppose Broccoli's planned development, Continental Commons, at the southeast corner of Route 9 and Snook Road. The two men and their respective supporters have been battling ever since.

Members of Ashworth's group, Friends Of Fishkill Supply Depot, believe there could be significant historical artifacts and bodies of continental soldiers deep in the ground on which Broccoli plans to build.

The group's members include historians, social studies teachers, and neighbors. They have been lobbying the Fishkill Town Board and Planning Board to reject various parts of Broccoli's plan and suspend construction in the area until the land is further examined for historical artifacts that might better help clarify local history.

The 10 acres on which Broccoli wants to build are part of what used to be the Fishkill Supply Depot — an encampment used by George Washington's army for the length of the Revolutionary War.

Broccoli told Spectrum News, he is planning to build a visitor center, a hotel, a museum, an amphitheater and some stores including an International House of Pancakes (IHOP).

To honor the rich history of the area, the development would have a colonial theme, plaques recognizing the historical significance of nearby communities, a historic trail weaving through the property, and events to educate about the American Revolution, according to Broccoli.

"What I'd like to do is get different historical groups involved," Broccoli said last month during an interview at the site. "This way, they could have a plaque of their own and they could talk about the history that took place."

Members of Ashworth's group have increased their campaign to kill the project even as it has passed several steps in the town's approval process. They maintain that ten archaeological studies on the land between 1971 and 2013 did not go deep enough.

"It's never been done to the depth or scale this site deserves," Ashworth said during an interview Thursday at Spectrum News' Middletown bureau.

Ashworth believes the artifacts found during those studies are just a preview of what would be found during a longer-term study. He compares his group's vision to the Jamestown Rediscovery Project — which has been ongoing since 1994. There, experts invite students and other non-experts to join in digging and discovery.

Ashworth asserts past studies were done over a period of just several weeks and were commissioned solely to get other projects within the depot boundaries approved for construction by the town over the past several decades. 

He said a public-private partnership to create a project similar to Jamestown's should last "as long as it takes" to unearth all artifacts and bodies.

"The Jamestown Project's been going on for 20 years and it's still producing rich information about the first settlement," Ashworth said.

Broccoli thinks the area has been dug up enough. He does agree, though, with Ashworth that a half-acre plot — which experts believe may have been a burial ground — should be preserved.

He wants to put the museum next to the burial ground, along with the historic trail and plaques.

"It's honored for what took place in Fishkill," Broccoli said. "It's honored for the troops that gave their lives for our independence."

After an environmental impact study, members of the Fishkill Planning Board announced, at their April meeting, they found Continental Commons would not create any environmental or archaeological harm. The project still needs a sewer extension request approved by the town board and a final site plan approval from the planning board.

Clearing those hurdles could be a harder task in 2020 than it would have been in 2019.

On December 18, as the town board was about to hold a public hearing and possible vote on the sewer extension, a Republican board member who supports the project was absent due to a family emergency and another Democratic member — who has opposed the project — notified administrators 10 minutes before the meeting her car's flat tire would keep her from attending.

The absences left the board without a quorum needed to proceed.

Then-Town Supervisor Bob LaColla, on the advice of the town's attorneys, scheduled a meeting on December 30 — the last possible date a hearing could have been held before LaColla and another board member would be replaced by others who won seats in the November 2019 elections.

Hours before the December 30 meeting was supposed to take place, incoming Town Supervisor Azem Albra filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order to cancel the hearing two hours before it was supposed to start.

Albra contended only the board, not the town supervisor, could reschedule a public hearing and proper notice of the rescheduled hearing was not issued to the community. Albra's request for the TRO was granted and LaColla was forced to cancel the meeting.

All remaining hearings or votes on Continental Commons will now be handled by a town board that is welcoming a new supervisor — Albra — who the community group expects to be more sympathetic to their efforts to kill the project.

After the December 18 meeting was canceled, LaColla told a room, full of mostly project opponents, he wanted to have the meeting on December 30 to avoid politicizing the project.

"There are matters important to this town that have to move forward," LaColla said. "I don't want to see this fall to politics and that's what's happening right now."