Opinions differ on completeness of Carvel study

PINE PLAINS — The Planning Board’s discussion of the Carvel development project April 11 focused on one issue — archaeology.

Carvel, if approved, could add 951 homes to Pine Plains. The applicant is retooling the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), a document required under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

The board last spring deemed Carvel’s DEIS incomplete. The project’s consultants have worked to revise the document. One of the few outstanding issues is the chapter regarding archaeology.

At the April 11 meeting, Matthew Kirk, an archaeologist with Hartgen Archaeological Associates, explained the applicant’s criteria for tests and why his firm, as well as the applicant, believes that sufficient archaeological study has taken place.

Nelson Johnson, the applicant’s legal representative, said a document dated April 2 addresses all of the board’s archaeological concerns.

"We’d like to get the DEIS finished so ... people can comment on it," the attorney said.

Warren Replansky, the town’s attorney, differered. "I thought it was kind of light ... and conclusory."

Kirk explained that in 2003, New York’s State Historic Preservation Office noted that the Carvel site "clearly had no archaeological concerns." Despite this, the applicant hired Hartgen to conduct tests on the site.

In 2004, a Phase 1A study, which is archaeological reconnaissance work, was conducted on the property. It was revised two years later.

"That’s the most important part of the archaeological process," Kirk said.

Shovel tests were conducted during the Phase 1B period, which was completed in 2005.

Additional investigation occurred in 2006.

"Even though we felt it was complete, we redoubled our efforts," Kirk continued.

There are two types of artifacts in the archaeological world — historic and precontact.

Historic artifacts are often found in the vicinity of a residence and could consist of a chicken bone or a piece chipped off of ceramic ware, left behind by the Native American tribes that used to call the Carvel site home.

After digging more than 1,500 test pits, the Hartgen team only found one precontact artifact — a flake from an arrowhead or spear tip.

Carvel devised a certain criteria for testing.

Areas within 100 meters of water were tested because the site’s early inhabitants "didn’t stray too far from water," as Kirk put it.

Parcels on certain elevations (more than 12 percent slope) weren’t tested because Native Americans most likely stayed closer to the ground.

Most of the existing golf course was ruled out because construction probably destroyed any artifacts that were in those parcels.

"That soil was turned over and over," Kirk said.

Standing water and pieces of land with bedrock were also excluded from testing. The topographical constraints were later mapped. Kirk said this allowed him and his associates to focus their efforts.

Since a meeting this past January, the Planning Board and the applicant have not seen eye-to-eye on when a Phase 2 (more shovel tests) should be conducted.

Carvel’s representatives have said that since a Phase 2 study is not a completeness issue, it can be deferred until after the DEIS is approved by the board.

"We’re committed to doing a Phase 2," Johnson said. "We’re looking to bring this to closure."

Members of the board have asked why the applicant wants to delay the start of the test if they acknowledge it has to be done at some point.

"If you’re going to do a Phase 2, you target it to the area you want to develop," Nelson said, adding that this would be accomplished by conducting the test after the DEIS is deemed complete.

Opinion differed on Carvel’s testing criteria, as well. Christopher Lindner, an archaeologist who is working with the board on the project, met with the applicant to discuss the criteria in May of last year. The criteria, which the archaeologist called "inadequate," was still put to use, Lindner said.

As the hour grew late, Replansky said he would seek the advice of the state’s preservation office on the Phase 2 issue.