Silo Ridge plans to gift overlook park

AMENIA — The Planning and Town boards held a joint meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, during the Planning Board’s regular meeting, to discuss Silo Ridge’s pending artisan park gift to the town.The prospective park is planned as an overlook view from DeLavergne Hill.Silo Ridge representatives were also at the meeting, including Stoneleaf Partners CEO Pedro Torres.Planning Board Attorney David Everett reviewed a checklist of six steps to be taken for the process of transferring the artisan park to the ownership of the town.First, Everett told the boards, both agencies should agree upon details for the park in order to guide Silo Ridge as to how the plans should be developed. Next, the Town Board should adopt “a nonbinding resolution consenting or approving the plan.”The Planning Board, in turn, will have to evaluate the environmental impacts of the park. This will be covered in the State Environmental Quality Review Act, Everett explained.The fourth step is a formal offer of dedication of the park in Silo Ridge’s subdivision plat, followed by the approval of the park plan via approval of the site plan and subdivision plat.Finally, Town Board, Planning Board and Silo Ridge attorneys will draft a deed for the formal dedication process.After Everett spoke, the boards engaged in discussion for the first step, reviewing details of the park.Planning Board Chair Joseph Fontaine posed members with the subject of physical qualities such as a maintenance agreement, lawn care, the parking lot, driveway, path and benches.Town Supervisor Victoria Perotti questioned whether some people had an issue with there being benches.Torres explained that Planning Board consultants were concerned that benches would interfere with the viewshed. The current park plan includes a mix of flowers, a walkway to a lookout and two benches pending the boards’ discussion, Torres explained.Perotti moved to the question of park hours — whether the park would be open all year or just seasonally and at what hours the park would remain open.Torres suggested the town close the park at night and during winter, for the purpose of saving on snow removal.The applicant representative added that Silo Ridge is willing to “take care of regular maintenance” of the driveway and parking areas as well as mowing the lawn.Fontaine raised the issue of paved or porous surface, noting that a surface-like gravel would be difficult if the boards determine to leave the park open in winter.Town Councilperson Vicki Doyle expressed want for surfaces made with pervious pavers and on-site signage to explain the visual history of Amenia, specifically the town name’s Latin origin, “amoena,” which means “beautiful to the eye.”Torres said that in regard to the pervious surface, the applicant has spent “over half a million in fees” with the town already and is financially constrained.Doyle returned to the discussion of hours, citing a prior Town Board consensus to do dawn to dusk and closed in winter.Planning Board member Nathan Roy noted that the DeLavergne Hill view “can be most beautiful” during winter and said he’d prefer to have it open year-round.Doyle agreed but reasserted a need for pervious pavers.“Porous pavement in compliance with [the Department of Environmental Conservation] is very expensive,” Torres said, “and not as easy to maintain, either,” reaffirming his opposition.“They’re giving us something nice, they’re giving us an overlook,” Councilperson Stephen Perotti said. “What we need to do as a Town Board and a Planning Board, we need to be a little bit more willing to let it be what it is, which is a nice overlook.”Supervisor Perotti said that the Town Board will discuss the plan details for what it “really wants for this park.”“We’re delighted that it’s being offered to the town,” she added. “I think having a scenic overlook with our beautiful DeLavergne Hill is a wonderful thing. At our regular meetings we’ll be discussing this; it’ll be on our agenda so that we can come to some decisions.”