Lawsuit against town of Dover dropped by citizen's group


 


DOVER — Citizen’s group the Coalition for the Responsible Growth of Dover (CRGD) has dropped its lawsuit against the town. The suit alleged the Town Board violated state home-rule laws at a previous meeting.

The group alleged that the board violated laws by not providing adequate notice of its decision to amend Local Law Number One, including failing to give the final text of the law to board members seven days before it was adopted.

The law expanded the reach of the Mixed-Use Institutional Conversion Overlay district to include properties beyond the boundaries of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center,

The center is the location of the long proposed Dover Knolls project, which is still under review by the town.

The Town Board made the decision Aug. 6 to remove the provision that expanded the district’s boundaries.

Town Supervisor Ryan Courtien called the decision to drop the lawsuit by the group a bittersweet victory for the town.

"The lawsuit did not have any merit," Courtien said. "But in the end, the town spent from $15,000 to $20,000 to defend our local law. Our attorneys were confident that we would prevail, but we wasted a lot of taxpayers money in doing this. We really wish we didn’t have to spend money on this."

Group president Carolyn Handler did not return calls for comment for this story.

The lawsuit has been just one of many bumps in the road in the process for developing Dover Knolls, which started in October 2003 when Benjamin Companies of Garden City, Long Island, purchased the old Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center.

The company announced plans to redevelop the 961-acre site, which is a former hospital dating back to the 1920s, into a mixed-use village center.

According to the official town Web site, www.townofdover.us, the plans include the creation of 450 apartments, 62 townhouses and 35 loft apartments, as well as 340,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and 35,000 square feet of office space. As an additional part of the plan, the company would also develop a mountain side residential complex, which would include 590 apartments and townhouses and 10 single-family estate-style homes.

However, the application for the project was withdrawn in August 2007 when the company became frustrated with the Town Board after trying to get an agreement on environmental studies.

In March 2008, the company submitted a new application for the development.

"Right now, [the town] is working on the DEIS [Draft Environmental Impact Statement] and also through the SEQRA [State Environmental Quality Review Act] process," Courtien said. "The lawsuit has done nothing to slow the project down. I think we will be done with the SEQRA process in the middle of 2009."

Representatives from The Benjamin Companies did not reply to repeated requests for comments prior to this paper's print deadline.

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