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The Developments

Update on Developments and Moratorium (March 8, 2008)

The 4 developments either already approved or currently before the planning
board are:

Carvel/Durst The Moratorium Towne Centre Village Green Parkview

Carvel/Durst
Durst is planning 951 homes on 2,000 acres in the northwest corner of Pine Plains.

1. Carvel (Durst)/Landmark:
The proposal is for 951 new units (some houses are already on the property) on 2,200 acres mostly in Pine Plains, with a small part of the property in Milan. There is also a previously approved 99 unit subdivision on ½ acre lots located within the total acreage, to the west of the small “Carvel Lake,” that isn’t part of the current project. There are 8 houses on those lots (9 have recently been demolished). So the potential exists for an additional 91 houses (99 minus 8) to be built there. The property is on both sides of 199 beginning just west of the hamlet area of town (including the first farm before you come to the wetlands) and it includes sections on Hicks Hill Rd., Stissing Mountain Rd. and Sherwood Rd. and one small section even crosses the Taconic. It includes all of the Carvel Golf Club, which they propose to upgrade and expand by an additional 9 holes. The proposal includes 563 houses and 388 attached units: 526 detached houses on 988 acres in Pine Plains and 37 houses on 142 acres in Milan; and 4 clusters of 358 attached units on 75 acres in Pine Plains and 30 units on 8 acres in Milan. The overall density of the project in Pine Plains is 2 acres per unit and 2.3 for the whole property. It is not a gated community and there is no large horse/riding facility; which were part of the original plan. The developers plan to market this development as a recreational, second home community that they say will not add substantially to the school population and will have a net positive impact on taxes. The Planning Board has required them to do in-depth analyses of it as a full time residential community, in addition to their second home scenario.

In their January 9th, 2008 meeting the Pine Plains Planning Board voted the Carvel Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) complete and ready for public comment. Environment for these purposes includes not only the physical environment, but also community character, fiscal impacts, impacts on the schools and traffic, etc. CD's of the January 08 final draft of the DEIS are available for viewing at the Pine Plains town hall, Milan town hall, the library and the Carvel Country Club clubhouse and will be on the website for Carvel which is: www.carvelpropertydevelopment.com. The Pine Plains town website (www.pineplains-ny.gov) should have a link to it (Milan's does also, their address is www.milan-ny.gov). Remaining public hearings are listed below. Written comments will be accepted until May 5th.

Saturday, April 5th at 9:30 AM at the PP school cafeteria.

2. The Moratorium

The current moratorium is a local law that suspends approvals on all "major subdivisions" (5 lots and above). It does not prevent building a house or a few houses on a piece of property. It allows rehabilitation of existing buildings or adding extensions provided they don't exceed 20% of the original building. Large new commercial buildings are included, but the new library will not be subject to the moratorium and construction is expected to begin soon. The moratorium allows the SEQRA environmental reviews on large proposals currently before the Planning Board to continue "at the developer's own risk," and overrides the SEQRA timeframes. No final vote will be taken even for the environmental review (FEIS) and the proposals will not proceed to the site plan and subdivision approval part of the planning process until the moratorium is lifted. Developers will have to comply with whatever zoning, new site plan and subdivision regulations are in place at that time. The Zoning Commission has completed its work on the draft zoning legislation and turned it over to the Town Board. The Town Board has hired a new planner (Bonnie Franson of Tim Miller and Associates) to assist in its review of the law. They extened the moratorium in their January 17, 2008 meeting for another 6 months in order to have time to complete their review, make any revisions and enact the zoning law.

Village Green
Towne Center has already been approved by the Planning Board and is currently under development.

3. Towne Centre (Stissing Farms/VA Clinic):
Towne Centre (Stissing Farms/VA Clinic): This 13.69 acre project is already approved and under construction. It is located on 199 on the north side of the street between the entrance to the high school and the BP station. The VA clinic is already constructed and is operating and the other part of that building will be occupied by a group affiliated with Sharon Hospital. Behind it 48 attached 1 story prefab condo units with frontloaded garages for buyers age 55 and above are currently being constructed on about 12 acres of the property. Six one bedroom, one den units are finished and are on the market starting at $249,000 (reduced from $279,000). The next phase of redesigned units is under construction. They are stick built two unit structures that are built into the hill at the back of the property. The remaining acreage is slated for a future commercial development project including a large (10,000 s.f.) two story building with basement and a replacement of the gas station, but that part has not officially come before the planning board yet and therefore has not been approved.

4. Village Green:

At the December 12, 2007 Planning Board meeting Erica Powers, attorney for the 85 acre Village Green property (located on Mill Hill and the field behind Stewarts), notified the board that Richard Lewis is no longer associated with the property and the current ownership (Tomer Slutsky is the main partner and Dale Mitchell and one other person are minority partners) no longer wants to proceed with the previous proposal of 267 attached housing units and major commercial buildings. The owners still want to build a mixed residential/commercial development, affordable to "Pine Plains' residents" of undetermined size. Ms Powers also said they would not build on Mill Hill, which is part of the well head protection area, and would restrict what they build to the flat field. However, there seemed to be no concrete plans beyond this and the owners have yet to sign the letter of agreement with the town that they are proceeding "at their own risk" required to continue the SEQRA review during the moratorium which was extended in the third week of January, 2008.

The Parkview development is for 40 houses on 28 acres near Stissing Lake. It received a positive declaration under SEQR and is currently working on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

5. Parkview:
This is a 40 house (five models of two story prefab houses to choose from) on the 28+ acre flat field on the way to the lake between Lake Road and Stissing Avenue, bordering the town recreation park. Robert Housmann is the developer who has an option on the property and Jim Murphy and Lynden Chase are the owners. This project was before the Planning Board for a year with the Planning Board repeatedly requesting modifications in the project and the developer returning with insufficient changes to satisfy the Planning Board. The Planning Board vote was 4 to 3 in favor of a positive declaration, which requires a more lengthy environmental review. PPU was very active in lobbying for a positive declaration (letters and petitions, including a letter from our lawyer) and our community meetings included discussions of the project. The developer sued the town requesting that the positive declaration be voided and the moratorium not apply to this development. He lost on all counts. Although the developer's representatives discussed possibly continuing with the application during the moratorium at a recent Planning Board meeting, they have elected not to sign the letter saying they accept they would be doing so at their own risk; so the application is on hold at this time.

Jane Waters

Town Centre Village Green Parkview Carvel/Durst