Pine Plains United - Have your say in how Pine Plains grows

Resources

Experts Cite Flaws in Durst/Carvel Document

April 12, 2007

Read the Documents
(PDF documents, Acrobat Reader Required)

» John Lyons Overview of PDEIS Critiques.

» George Janes' Assessment of the PDEIS Visual Impact Study

» Lisa Nagle's Assessment of the DPDEIS

» Becky Thornton's Letter Critiquing Carvel as a "Green Development"

Pine Plains United retained three experts in land use to review the Proposed Draft Environmental Impact Statement submitted by Durst. They have reviewed relevant sections of the Durst/Carvel DEIS and found them flawed. We have also included a link to a Letter-to-the-Editor by Becky Thornton, president of the Dutchess Land Conservancy, critiquing Durst's claim that this is a "green" development.

John Lyons, an attorney with Grant and Lyons; George Janes, a visual impact expert at the Environmental Simulation Center in New York City; and Lisa Nagle, a planner based in Saratoga Springs, have each submitted letters to the Pine Plains Planning Board questioning the assumptions and methodology behind the document and urging the board to delay any decision on completeness until the flaws are corrected.

According to Mr. Lyons, "The defects...unless corrected...will undermine the integrity of the forthcoming substantive public comment," a reference to the hearings, required under SEQRA, at which the Planning Board and the developer receive feedback from the public.

The Environmental Simulation Center provided a letter to the Planning Board offering a critique of the Proposed Draft Environmental Impact Statement, stating that the visual impact of the proposed Durst/Carvel development "cannot be accurately described using materials published in the PDEIS."

In his 16-page letter, Mr. Janes details flaws in the methods and assumptions used in Chapter 7 of the DEIS, which deals with the visual impacts of the proposed 1,000-home development. He cites several failures on the part of the developer to show "worse case scenarios," as required by SEQRA, including photo simulations that were created using the wrong type of camera lenses and fail to include driveways and lawns. The effect was to lessen the true impact of the development on the viewscape.

Lisa Nagle's letter highlighted a host of flaws in the document, including its failure to adequately address the fiscal impacts of the attached and semi-attached residential units and, most importantly, its failure to reconcile the seeming contradiction between the scale and layout of the development with the goals outlined in the Town Comprehensive Plan, which, among other things, cites an almost universal desire among residents that the town retain its rural character (the Durst/Carvel development, if approved, would nearly double the size of Pine Plains).

Mr. Lyons concludes his letter by urging the Planning Board to avoid needlessly rushing to a decision, despite the pressure it may be feeling from the applicant. "Don't let the tail wag the dog by curtailing your completeness review due to time concerns."