Carvel reps update Board of Education

PINE PLAINS — The Pine Plains Central School District Board of Education (BOE) hosted a presentation on the proposed Carvel Property Development project during its regular board meeting on Wednesday, June 6.Matthew Rudikoff of Rudikoff Associates and Dan Stone of Chazen Companies were there to speak on behalf of the Durst Organization, which wants to build a 645-unit second-home community on 2,376 acres between Pine Plains and Milan — land previously owned by ice-cream magnate Thomas Carvel.The two presented material to the audience regarding the impact of the proposed project on both the school district and the community as a whole.“Alex Durst made this presentation on March 14 during a joint meeting of the town and planning boards. We’re here to talk more generally about economic and environmental benefits,” Stone said.Environmental benefitsStone began the presentation by showing slides from Durst’s previous presentation focusing specifically on environmental impacts of the project.“We have demonstrated that this property in every way meets the NND [New Neighborhood Development] criteria,” he said, referring to a provision of the town’s zoning law.Stone focused on the NND requirements and how the proposed project met each one.“As you can see [from the maps presented] there is a lot of open space. The homes are in tight clusters,” he said.Fifty percent of the proposed units are within a half-mile of a designated centroid, as stipulated in the NND.“Open space needs to be preserved in a meaningful way,” he said.The project is projected to add 5 percent to the overall conserved lands in Dutchess County.The team has also come up with a wetland and breeding pool protection strategy.“We have designated buffer-zones around these areas that are larger than required. In this plan we have pulled development away from regulated and unregulated wetlands. We believe we have provided a design that protects the water,” said Stone.Stone also showed how historic structures on the land would be preserved.“We plan to use Spruce Farm as a Chautauqua — an artist’s community — and the Ferris Lane House will be used as the CPD [Carvel Property Development] sales office,” he said.Also highlighted in the presentation were the proposed trail route through the complex along with the new golf course and club house.“Durst is known as one of the foremost names in green development in New York City. That passion for going green will be worked into the golf course and club house. That amenity is one of the significant draws for sale of the lots,” he said.Stone also touched on the jobs that would be potentially created by the project.“The construction and trade industries will be front and center as obviously there will be all the homes to build,” he said.He also mentioned the need for local lawyers as both parties involved in buying homes will need legal counsel.“Here in New York, nothing’s that easy, so they’ll have plenty of work,” he jested.Stone then summarized the overall economic benefits of the project.“The key benefits of CPD are the open space, economic development and public amenities, including the trail. We hope that these would be a draw to the greater community of Pine Plains,” he said.Case study communitiesStone then handed the presentation over to Rudikoff, who spoke about how the project would impact the school district and what the composition of a vacation community is anticipated to look like.“For the DEIS [Draft Environmental Impact Statement] we’re looking at three areas; the case study communities, public school children and the impact on state aid for the district,” he said.Seven surveys were done by an outside agency that looked at vacation communities and their impact on the existing towns they were built in.These finding were presented to the town during the first DEIS process, prior to the adoption of the Pine Plains zoning law and the most recent draft of the project.“The concern for many was that the vacation communities we studied weren’t similar enough to what Carvel in Pine Plains would look like,” he said.As a result four more studies were done in areas more similar to Pine Plains.“We focused on the East Coast and communities we found to be more like here. What we found was that the new studies really substantiated the finding from the previous cases,” he said.Rudikoff said that most of the people who are buying the homes are from New York City, are affluent and spend a large portion of their revenue on upscale restaurants, personal services and other vacation indulgences.“We also found that there is a high degree of participation on local boards. For instance we see many individuals getting involved with things like libraries and fundraising organizations, since they have the extra time to devote to those types of interests,” he said.Another major issue previously raised by the community is the number of homes that are really vacation home versus the number of homes that become primary residences.“We initially found a very high percentage of vacation homes. When we did the new case studies we did find more primary homes, but there was a reason for that. The trend was that many people were buying the homes initially as vacation properties. They become a beloved family vacation spot, stay in the families, people fall in love with the communities and then end up moving in permanently. We see a high length of ownership as the homes stay within the families,” he said.Rudikoff also pointed out that the homes tend to become primary residences usually within retirement age.“What we’ve seen is that these communities generate very little school-age children for the local districts,” he said.Rudikoff did not have updated projections for the presentation as those numbers will be part of the Supplemental DEIS (SDEIS), which the applicant is currently working on.Carvel and PPCSDRudikoff then went on to address the issue of New York state aid and the impact Carvel would have on the school district’s funding.“On the fiscal side, even without Carvel the numbers are changing in Pine Plains. Already the district is experiencing a decrease in aid,” said Rudikoff.Again, Rudikoff did not have projected numbers as previous estimates were for the original 951-unit plan Carvel proposed nearly 10 years ago, and new estimates would need to be completed for the SDEIS.“We’re not anticipating a huge detriment and with the added revenues we think the two numbers would balance out,” he said.Closing and Q&AStone stepped back in to go over the future steps in the project.“There is still quite a bit to do. Best case, it’s still about a year and a half to get through SEQRA [State Environmental Quality Review Act],” he said.Stone presented the audience with a two-slide flow chart outlining the course of events for both the Planning Board and Town Board to keep the project moving forward.“As you can see we’re still quite a ways off,” he said.The floor was then opened for questions; Amy Williams of Milan was first to speak.“Will you be presenting this information to Milan and Pine Plains separately or are the towns working together on this?” she asked.Stone said two Milan representatives sit in on Pine Plains Planning Board meetings.“While they cannot vote this does allow them to stay involved in the process and voice any issues. Eventually, yes, this will go before Milan,” he said.Jennifer Hafner of Stanford was concerned about the open space proposed in the plan.“Will the open space be written in somewhere as being perpetually conserved? Is that something you’re trying to do?” she asked.Stone assured her that the land is being protected in several ways.“It’s in the zoning, in the NND. We’ll also be setting up a not-for-profit that will monitor the conserved land and provide reports to make sure that everything is being done to protect and monitor the open spaces,” he said.Hafner also asked for the exact numbers of kids added to the districts of the new case studies.Rudikoff stepped forth to provide numbers from the previous studies as well as projected numbers that were done for the original 951-unit plan.“All of these case studies, just so you know, can be found on the website. You should read them in full. They are thorough and there’s really interesting, insightful information,” he said.The case studies and the full presentation from March 14 can be found at www.carvelpropertydevelopment.com.BOE reacts to presentationAfter the presentation was over the Board of Education thanked Stone and Rudikoff for coming to speak, then reconvened to proceed with regular business.During the public comment portion board member Helen McQuade suggested the BOE discuss drafting a letter in response to the presentation.Board member Gary Griffen reacted abruptly to McQuade’s suggestion.“You want us to what? Write and say we support this? You’re not getting any support for this [Carvel] from me,” he said.McQuade explained her suggestion further.“I think there should be a decision on whether to support the project or not based solely on the district impact. There’s a lot of information to be looked at, both pros and cons. I think going forward the board should decide how we are going to understand the information presented and decide how to go forward,” she said.Todd Bowen, former Board of Education member and winner of the Board of Education election for 2012-13, spoke up on the issue.“They already said that the district is being impacted already. I just don’t see Durst helping that,” he said.McQuade reiterated the need to examine the issue from all sides.“You have to look at all the factors and make sure the information is accurate. There may be good benefits. It’s our job to understand the full impact,” she said.Board President Bruce Kimball suggested adding the discussion to a future agenda, giving the board more time to process the information.Griffen made it clear that time would not change his opinion.“I will not support this project,” he said.