Durst NND Pre-Application Update

March 19, 2010

The Town Board and Planning Board held a joint session this past Tuesday to submit comments to the Durst Corporation on their pre-application submission for a New Neighborhood Development designation under the newly adopted Zoning Regulations. The 18 different criteria for NND status were reviewed and commented on individually over the course of the meeting. Many important issues were raised so that the applicant can address them prior to submitting their final application.

Following the review of the individual criteria, the newly elected town board member Sandra David read her comments in full into the record, speaking more broadly to the issues at hand. Plainly stated, the purpose of the NND is to allow our community to negotiate with the developer and issue bonus units insofar as there are correlating community benefits. Her comments speak directly to the open question of whether or not the Durst Development will benefit our community or not. It is a must read. Please forward widely.

Sandra David’s comments on the Durst pre-application for an NND.

March 16, 2010 – My comments tonight will be to give a broad brush response to what Jennifer Van Tyle characterized as a broad brush approach to the pre-application. Although, as a group I believe we will be reviewing the 18 criteria that we must consider before approving the NND, I would like to address the issues, on balance, that need to be considered when assessing the benefits to the Town of Pine Plains. All residents want what is BEST for the Town. What that “BEST” is will be the debate during this process.

It is my understanding that the purpose of creating an NND is so the Town will achieve more environmentally and socially desirable development, as well as gain more economic benefits than a conservation subdivision can provide. Since the NND was tailored for the Durst project, indeed even changing the outline of the Pine Plains hamlet to extend to the Durst land, it is now an opportunity for the Dursts to reward us with a really creative, innovative project that will benefit the town for many years to come. I would like to see some sort of mechanism for the residents of the town to give the Durst’s their ideas and feedback for a project that citizens can really get behind.

The question for the Town is not growth vs no growth. There will be the potential for a great deal of growth whether or not we approve the NND. With an NND plus incentives, which by the way are discretionary, we are looking at the maximum of 572 new residences. With a standard conservation sub-division dictated by our new zoning law, with incentives only for affordable housing, we are looking at about 370 homes. The question is what the Town of Pine Plains will be getting in return for those extra 200 homes and how it will benefit the town environmentally, economically and socially. Indeed we have to ask if those extra 200 homes could actually hurt the town environmentally, economically and socially and how the disadvantages balance out with the proposed benefits.

I should clarify at this point that the benefits for NND approval are basically spelled out in those 18 criteria on page 42 of the zoning law. Those benefits are in return for much higher density than that found in a conservation subdivision. The benefits for “incentive units” should be different from, and in addition to, the benefits given for NND status. I would ask that the benefits for NND status be distinguished from the benefits given for incentive units. These should be large benefits, not tokens.

Another concern I have deals with the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. If and when the applicant submits a formal zone petition for an NND, (see page 45) that petition MUST be in accordance with procedures set forth in Article XVII, Amendments of this Zoning Law. On page 176-7 Article XVII REQUIRES that the applicant adhere to the Comprehensive Plan. Some of the Goals and Strategies listed in Chap. 11 of the Comprehensive Plan are farmland protection, rural character, future growth consistent with rural character, maintenance of PP Hamlet as Town center, historic preservation, etc. I would ask that your plan better adhere to the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. At this point, many, if not most of those goals are ignored.

I think a subject dear to the hearts of most people in Pine Plains are taxes and jobs. Before we are willing to give up the rural character of the town and look at houses perched on the ridge lines, there have to be big time economic benefits. To quote from p. 29 of the Comprehensive Plan “Pine Plains has continually had one of the lowest unemployment rates in New York State. In 1980, there were 43 unemployed persons in the Town (an unemployment rate of 4.5%). According to the US Census, the town’s unemployment rate was 3.7% in 1990, lower than the country’s figure of 4.2%. It was about the same in 2000(4.1%). The low unemployment rate in both the town and county (3.6% in 2000) indicate a strong employment base in the area.” Everyone is hurting more in 2010 in this poor economy, but historically jobs have not been the issue. I suspect it is the level and quality of those jobs that need improving. I would like to know not only how many jobs will be added to the town with this development, but what level and kind of jobs.

Another very important factor for the people of Pine Plains is taxes. The Cost of Community Services Studies by the American Farmland Trust in cooperation with Cornell indicates that for every dollar collected in taxes, working and open land use only 37 cents, and residential uses $1.19. The “COCS studies conducted over the last 20 years show working lands generate more public revenues than they receive back in public services. Their impact on community coffers is similar to that of other commercial and industrial land uses. On average, because residential land uses do not cover their cost, they must be subsidized by other community uses. Converting agricultural land to residential land use should not be seen as a way to balance local budgets”. In other words, residential development uses up more money than it gives back in taxes. Additionally, that fiscal deficit increases linearly with each new residence according to the fiscal impact study prepared by Phillips, Preiss, Shapiro Associates, Inc. (for PPU 2006). Thus, the more residences built, the higher the fiscal deficit for the Town.

You might say that because your houses will be marketed to high end second home owners that would not be the case. However, there is no guarantee your units will be second homes, and even if it were the case, there are pitfalls to that scenario as well. Very high end homes can result in huge state aid cuts to our schools based on the towns perceived needs. We have just witnessed this in Pine Plains. Our taxes are bound to go up.

Another potential financial cost to the town may very well be the management of the open spaces, and conservation lots. I have just started my research on conservancy stewardship, but have been told by some land trust organizations that they would never consider taking on that stewardship the way your project has been designed. If you are not able to find a conservancy group to manage the open and conservation spaces, it would be left to the town to maintain and enforce. It is my understanding that this is not cheap and could end up costing our town quite a bit of tax dollars.

Economic development is also very important to our town and the establishment of economic development can earn you some incentive units. What you have proposed in this pre-application is the establishment of a club house that will not be used by the residents of Pine Plains. The golf course and Vintage Woods are already there. So, where’s the beef? Will the tax revenues from these businesses offset the costs of maintaining the infrastructure that is needed for this project for years to come? What happens when the golf course fails? Golf courses are failing all across America and this one is in the cold North East.

We need a thorough market feasibility study to explore the viability of this project as well as a very thorough, independent fiscal impact study. It is imperative this project doesn’t end up costing Pine Plains tax dollars, either in the short term or long term.

This NND is an opportunity to do something really exciting that will benefit the town for many years. I’m open minded to a project that is innovative and stimulating and will create a magnet for recreational and agricultural tourists. I’d like to see a project that will link the NND to the Towns hamlet, both physically and socially. Do something that will enhance your reputation as a cutting edge developer who really cares about the town that has bent over backwards for you. As is, I fear the plan will do nothing but burden the town with taxes, all the while compromising its rural character.