Durst project 'needs to put the meat on the bones'

PINE PLAINS — The Planning Board held a special meeting Oct. 21 with representatives from The Durst Organization who are trying to move forward with their new Carvel property development plan.

On Oct. 8, the Durst Organization unveiled a new plan involving fewer residential houses and more open space than their original proposal.

The Plan

The new plan has 648 proposed lots, as compared to the original’s 1,022; 576 will be in Pine Plains, 61 in Milan, and 11 would remain in both. As they relate to the current layout of the property, this adds 403 lots in Pine Plains, 39 in Milan, and subtracts nine split lots for a total of 433 additional lots that aren’t there today. These proposals represent a 37 percent decrease from the old DEIS proposal.

There will also be changes in the watershed, with 150 fewer units in the Fishwood Creek area, 214 fewer units in the Ham Brook basin, which is the principal viewshed from Route 199, and 10 fewer units in the Wapinger Creek area.

Previously, the project had stalled in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) phase, following a public comment period last spring.

The need for clarification

Town Planner Nan Stolzenburg gave a brief overview of what was to be expected from the meeting.

“We need to know where you’re at and what your initial responses are [to the new proposal],� she told the board, “as well as what information you feel you need and initial overall impressions.�

All of the board members agreed the applicants needed to be clearer in their intentions with the new proposal.

“How do we view this?� asked Planning Board Chairman Don Bartles Jr. “Is this an alternative to the original plan or are we scrapping the entire old plan and starting from scratch?�

Planning Board member Sarah Jones remarked that she was “encouraged by the direction the new plan was taking,� and that it was an enormous improvement over the original proposal. “But we have an obligation to address the initial plan and the public comments that came in,� she added. “We’ve gone so long without having done that, and it’s required of us.�

As was stressed at the last meeting by Dan Stone, principal of the engineering firm Chazen Companies, the plan is not complete and represents a basic overview of the project. There is no zoning currently in the town, and the plans reflect that — there are no specific measurements of buildings, houses or property dimensions.

“The zoning is floating in the breeze,� Jones reiterated. “And there are issues with slopes [the angle degree on which some property is being built] that need to be looked at. There are also issues of rare species that have to be addressed.�

Board member Kate Osofsky said she liked the direction the plan was going in, but she’d like to see walking trails connecting to areas in the town.

Planning Board member Jon  DePreter was not physically present at the meeting but instead connected through a speakerphone. He admitted he had not seen the newly proposed plans, but that he recalled the original announcement back in July when The Durst Organization announced it was working on a new plan.

“If I remember correctly, everything south of Route 199 was significantly better,� he said. “I’ll echo Sarah [Jones’s] concerns over slopes, and I think we also need to think about the new density of homes. That could possibly change the market statistics already completed for a wider, more open layout, and we want to understand what the values of the homes would be. Are these now going to be primary or secondary homes to the people owning them?�

Milan’s Zoning Board was represented by Jack Grumet, who restated the desire for a zoning plan that conforms to his town’s standards and laws.

“Originally Dan [Stone] had said that there will be no effect on the Fishwood Creek area, but with the new changes I’d have to think there will be some effect, and it’s not addressed substantially enough here,� Grumet said. “But as far as overall impressions, I’ve been talking with the people in Milan, and they think you’ve done a wonderful job. Around the Route 199 corridor you’ve drastically reduced the impact as well as allowed more original viewshed.�

Stolzenburg passed around a matrix that she had compiled from the public comment period during the spring.

“Shortly after the public comment period we were asked to halt the review,� she said. “But we are obligated to and need to continue to review the information received.�

Stolzenburg explained that the original public comments and testimony was more than 500 pages long, and that she had read through it and sorted every comment out into three major categories: site layout and design, consistency with local laws and deficiencies with the plan itself.

“The seven pages here do not reflect the number of times an issue came up or that issue’s priority,� she added. “And these are all broad statements that don’t address specific issues. But this matrix is a quick reference guide.�

Bartles directly addressed Alexander Durst, assistant vice-president to The Durst Organization. He asked how to categorize the plan, since members of the board said they didn’t know how to define just what was being presented to them.

Durst said it was an issue that he would need to speak to his consultants about.

“We realized [during the drafting of the new plan] that we would need more information. There’s no way we  can anticipate everything you need,â€� he said, adding that what he was really interested in was hearing the initial reaction to the plan, to see if this new direction was favorable over the original plans. “But I don’t have a strong desire to pin down [what the new plan is be considered as].â€�

Several board members replied that they needed that information before they reviewed the plan any further.

“Some issues aren’t related [to the plan’s changes],� Stolzenburg replied. “The methodology of data collected for the plans and invalid procedure comments could be addressed irregardless of layout.�

No need to start from scratch

Attorney to the Town Warren Replansky said that new plans could be brought in to substitute for the original plan and it would not require starting completely over.

“It happens all the time during the SEQRA process,� he explained. “The applicant scales the plans down and brings a new plan in.�

In closing, Bartles said the new plan is preferable to the original one. Osofsky, however, said she was concerned that house development “is still very dense. I think impacts are going to be substantial.�

DePreter said that density issues could possibly be negotiated if there were trade-offs like affordable housing.

Bartles concluded that the applicant should deal directly with consultants, not through the board, concerning the issues that needed to be addressed. He said the board would like an answer by the next Planning Board meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 12.

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