PINE PLAINS — Of the 14 speakers at Wednesday night’s public hearing on the Carvel Property Development’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the only one who spoke totally in favor of the project was not from Pine Plains or Milan, where the development is planned.
David Chittick, an Ancram resident, told the audience the project would bring "new blood" to the area.
"I don’t want to see rampant growth, but I don’t want the area to dry up," Chittick said. "This project would bring in more businesses into the community to support us."
The rest of the 13 speakers, a combination of residents, public officials and experts hired by grassroots community group Pine Plains United, were not as complimentary as Chittick.
The hired guns
The first person to speak at the hearing, which was held at Stissing Mountain Middle/High School, was Lisa Nagle. Nagle is a principal of Elan Planning and Design Inc. of Saratoga Springs, who was hired by Pine Plains United to speak about chapter three of the DEIS, which covers land use and zoning.
Among the many points Nagle made in her presentation, were that the DEIS did not contain an adequate evaluation of the project’s impacts, the project does not comply with proposed town zoning and comprehensive plan laws and the DEIS does not state how much actual density the project would add to both Pine Plains and Milan.
"We found that there were certain areas in the DEIS that did not address our concerns adequately," Nagle said. "The DEIS, as required by the scope, was to compare each goal of the comprehensive plan to the project. But we found that there were a limited number of goals in the DEIS really favorable to the project. And the goals that were not favorable to the project were not listed."
She added that the project would add a large density of residential units that would be indicative of a suburban, and not a rural, area.
After Nagle’s presentation, Michael N’dolo, an associate principal of Camoin Associates Economic Development from Saratoga Springs, spoke. Like Nagle, N’dolo had also been hired by Pine Plains United to analyze the project.
N’dolo told the board that he analyzed chapter 14 of the DEIS, which covers community services and fiscal impacts.
N’Dolo said there were a number of omissions and material errors in the chapter that renders it invalid.
"It does not accurately reflect the fiscal impacts of the proposed project," N’Dolo said. "We recommend the town of Pine Plains reject chapter 14 in its current incomplete form and require that revisions be made by the project’s sponsor."
N’Dolo said that project sponsor, The Durst Organization, did not pay attention to a report made by the Hudson Group, suggesting that substantial changes should be made to the chapter.
The DEIS claims 90 percent of residents who will live at the development would be seasonal residents, a claim N’Dolo said was rejected in the Hudson Group’s report.
"The most accurate representation would be a 50-50 scenario, where 50 percent would be seasonal and 50 percent would be full-time residents," N’Dolo said. "That has very serious financial implications and that was ignored by the project’s sponsor in the final draft. When I say substantial implications, I’m not talking about thousands of dollars, I’m talking about millions of dollars."
He added that the costs for the police department becoming full-time, the fire department becoming a paid department and the costs for a new emergency facility were not listed adequately.
"You don’t have information in this chapter of what these costs are," he said. "In general, for the public to give you comments, they need to have a reasonably accurate picture of what the project sponsor is representing as fiscal impacts. They can’t address and make comments because they don’t have information to make those comments."
Local comment
Real estate broker Ann Simmons from Gallatin said there is not a market for the types of property that would be offered at the development.
"I remember in one of the earlier presentations given by [the applicants], the presenter said the concept would be a ‘lock and leave’ community," Simmons said. "In my 25 years of selling in this area, I have never had anyone calling about buying this type of property. Buyers have either been weekend buyers who want to enjoy the rural quality this has to offer or a young family looking for a place they could afford. This is a very unique area and we need to be careful about how much growth this area wants to have."
Dairy farmer Barry Chase, who has lived in Pine Plains for 66 years, said that while The Durst Organization has a right to build on its property, residents have a problem with how much the company wants to build.
"What really drives me crazy is that whenever I get the paper, I see an ad from [Durst] that says they’re going to build 951 units, but that’s a totally bogus number to me," Chase said. "I want The Durst Organization to realize that we have laws and a comprehensive plan that state that our town will remain rural. The zoning document says what our town will be doing, and I would like to see [the applicant] not be arrogant but be realistic."
Jack Grumet, the chairman of the Milan Zoning Board of Appeals, said what bothered him the most about the proposed development is that the project was developed four or five years ago, when the housing market was in a much different state.
"The market back then was booming; everyone thought they could make more money in real estate," Grumet said. "Unfortunately, the market has done a complete 180 and the housing market is the worst that it’s been in almost 20 years. Yet, I don’t see any changes in the Durst proposal whatsoever. Big corporations often make bad decisions and we have to be careful and protect our community."
Pine Plains resident Matthias Kessemeier proposed that The Durst Organization create a conservancy to help preserve wildlife habitat.
"I think the land in question is unique, majestic and incredibly delicate," Kessemeier said. "A large portion of this land set up as a preserve could be enjoyed by many generations to come. This could break the mold of another big developer. They could create a small-scale golf course community and set aside land that we would never take for granted."
Last Wednesday’s hearing was the fourth in a series of public hearings on the project which, if approved, would add 951 homes to the town, including 563 single-family homes. The houses would be built on 2,200 acres of land purchased in 2003 by Manhattan real estate developer Douglas Durst.
An additional hearing has been scheduled by the Planning Board for Saturday, April 5, at 9:30 a.m. at Stissing Mountain High School.
Written comments about the DEIS may be submitted to the Planning Board until Monday, May 5, to 3284 Rte. 199, PO Box 955, Pine Plains, NY 12567.
The next public hearings on the DEIS are scheduled for Thursday, March 6, at 5 p.m. at Milan Town Hall and Wednesday, March 12, at 7 p.m. at Stissing Mountain High School.
The DEIS is available for public viewing at Pine Plains Town Hall, Milan Town Hall, The Pine Plains Free Library and the Carvel Country Club Clubhouse. It is also available online at carvelpropertydevelopment.com.
