Now that the zoning law has been enacted by the Pine Plains Town Board, the Durst Organization is beginning the application process for a New Neighborhood District zoning change. Doing so entails some very slight revisions to the project layout from the second version of the project. You can view the “pre-application” project material (including maps) on the town website at http://pineplains-ny.gov/content/Generic/View/8. The maximum number of units allowed on the whole property would be 624 (572 in Pine Plains and 52 in Milan). Durst has decided to take the option of paying the affordable housing fee (in lieu of building the 42 affordable units) to a dedicated affordable housing fund that will be set up by the town. The above numbers of units on the property include the “previously approved” subdivision lots in both Milan and Pine Plains, the maximum number of bonus units allowed for in the zoning and the base net yield of units as outlined in the NND section of the zoning law. Some of the bonus units are at the discretion of the town board for various community and commercial benefits provided by the developer; so the actual final number is not yet determined.
After the overwhelmingly negative reaction from the public and many experts representing PPU, Scenic Hudson, the Dutchess Land Conservancy, the county planning office and even the State Department of Environmental Conservation in the series of public hearings held in the spring of 2008; the Carvel/Durst team had submitted a major revision of their original large golf development proposal to the Planning Board. Work on this new “preferred” alternative plan initially was led by Alexander (Alex) Felson, an expert ecological planner now on the faculty at Yale, and the multinational planning firm EDAW. This plan had widened buffer zones around important wetlands and vernal pools and has much more dedicated connected open space. It clustered most of the development around the golf course, away from both the Ham Brook and the Route 199 view shed. The number of housing units was reduced to 648 (576 in Pine Plains, 61 in Milan and 11 on lots that are partly in both towns). The 18 hole golf course was redesigned with the second nine extending towards 199 on the west side of the property. There will no longer be an additional 9 hole academy course. The new NND proposal retains many of the features of this plan, with the layout only slightly revised to cluster it slightly more and a small reduction in the total numbers of units.
The Planning Board also must continue its work on their review of the comments about the original DEIS and reach decisions about what must be done to address them (probably in a Supplemental DEIS). The redesigned project will probably be part of that process and additional studies may be required as needed, for example, in reviewing the fiscal impacts, school impacts or other environmental impacts and to examine the impacts of the revised layout.
The original proposal was for 951 new units (some houses are already on the property) on 2,200 acres (1,772 acres in Pine Plains and 428 acres in Milan). The Dursts had also planned 71 additional units on the “previously approved” 99 half acre lot subdivision west of Carvel Lake that was carved out of the original plan (on approximately 55 acres), making the actual original total 1022 new units. The property is on both sides of 199 beginning just west of the hamlet area of town (including the first farm before you come to the wetlands) and it includes sections on Hicks Hill Rd., Stissing Mountain Rd. and Sherwood Rd. and small sections even cross the Taconic Parkway. It includes all of the original Carvel Golf Club. This first proposal included 563 houses and 388 attached units: 526 detached houses on 988 acres in Pine Plains and 37 houses on 142 acres in Milan; and 4 clusters of 358 attached units on 75 acres in Pine Plains and 30 units on 8 acres in Milan. The overall density of the project in Pine Plains was 2 acres per unit and 2.3 for the whole property.
In addition, the Durst Organization recently purchased a contiguous 98 acre farm on Mt. Ross Road. This purchase brings the total acreage they own to nearly 2,300 acres. This recent purchase is not included in the proposal currently before the town.
Posted by Gregg – Pine Plains United
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