Planning Board Holds Special Meeting

On Monday, June 20, the Planning Board held a special meeting to discuss the lead agency for the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) for the proposed Hidden Forest development. They agreed to send out a Lead Agency Coordination Form to the Involved Agencies. These are agencies which, as the title suggests, are directly involved in the process. They are the Hurley Planning Board, the Hurley Town Board, the Ulster County Department of Highways and Bridges, the Ulster County Department of Health, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Department of Transportation, the New York State Department of Health and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. This latter agency will receive a form mostly as a matter of courtesy because, we were told, federal wetlands are not subject to the New York State SEQR law. In addition, a number of Interested Agencies have requested to have advisory review power and/or be kept informed of what is happening with the development. They are the Towns of Marbletown and Rosendale, the Ulster County Planning Board, and the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, this latter because of the possibility of historic artifacts (e.g. Indian burial grounds) on the site. Paul Hakim, Chair of the Planning Board, said he thinks the Planning Board is the body best suited to be lead agency with the other organizations having input into the process. He mentioned that the DEC has recently accepted only one offer to be a lead agency and that is of the Crossroads Venture project in Shandakan. (Also, DEC has had a 25% cutback in full-time employees over the past few years and is extremely stretched to handle what they currently have.) Letters are expected to be mailed to the Involved Agencies in about a week from the date of the meeting asking if the receiving agency is interested in being the lead agency for the development. If there is no response to the letter or if they respond that they are not interested, then the Hurley Planning Board will automatically become the lead agency. No mention was made of what happens if a recipient is interested in becoming the lead agency, but, according to the State, if the lead agency cannot be agreed on within 30 calendar days, any of the involved agencies or the applicant can ask the DEC Commissioner to resolve the dispute. Mr. Hakim stated that no further business will be conducted regarding the proposed development until there is a lead agency. He expects to be be able to announce this agency at the the Planning Board meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, August 1. Very briefly, SEQRA requires lead agencies to give equal consideration to environmental protection, human and community resources and economic factors when considering proposed housing develoments, among other projects. It requires a full Environmental Assessment Form to be completed. Click onto the SEQRA Information listing on the right for more details.

Latest 652 Development Information

Most of you have already read the May 20 front page Freeman article on the public informational meeting conducted by the Hurley Planning Board and the developer on May 18. If not, you may want to click onto it in the column on the right. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION • Darren Davidowich of U.S. Homes, soon to change its name to Lennar, gave the attendees a long sales presentation on the houses which will range from almost $300,000 for the 3,600 square foot duplexes to almost $400,000 for the 3,600 square foot detached houses. Currently, the median price of an Ulster County home is about $220,000. A November 28, 2004 Freeman article quoted Chester Straub, president of the Ulster Country Development Corporation, as saying that the median family income in the county is under $57,000 a year. This family, he said, may be able to secure a mortgage in the $130,000-$160,000 range, but not more. • Most of the audience’s questions were taken by Geraldine N. Tortorella, an attorney with the firm of Hocherman Tortorella & Wekstein, LLP, One North Broadway, White Plains, NY 10601. As the Freeman headline stated, “Hurley residents get few answers about gated community.”Ms. Tortorella has written that the limited liability company, Hurley 209 Company, LLC, is a joint venture between Tomlew and U.S. Home. Tomlew will be primarily responsible for the development approval process while U.S. Home will handle the buildout of the project. • Tomlew’s head is Richard Lewis who is based in Newburgh. He was at the May 18 meeting, but did not speak. Tomlew, under the name of Tomlew of Pine Plains, LLC, is in the process of developing a project in Pine Plains of 280 residential units, 7 office buildings and a grocery store on land purchased from a local farmer and the town supervisor. Tomlew is also incorporated as Tomlew of Gardiner LLC. At the May 18 meeting, the developer did not rule out construction of commercial buildings at or near the site. • Lennar, see www.lennar.com. This Miami-based corporation is one of the largest in the country in its field and has constructed 45 “active adult” communities across the U.S. This would be the first in New York. None are in New England; the nearest are in New Jersey which has three with the largest in Waretown, near the shore, with 1,400 houses. By “active adult” they mean that one person in the household must be 55 or older. • A recent issue of CNN Money says that Lennar is not only in the construction and home sales business, it also has a financial services section that provides mortgage financing, title insurance, closing services and insurance agency services to the buyers of its group homes and others. In addition, it provides high speed Internet access, cable television and alarm installation and monitoring services. • A lead agency for this development has yet to be decided. The lead agency is very important because it oversees and sets the direction of the inquiry. Dan Shuster, the Hurley town consultant, noted at the May meeting that this agency could be any of many involved agencies including the Hurley Planning Board or Town Board, the Ulster County Planning Board, Department of Highways and Bridges or Department of Health, or the State Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Health or Department of Transportation or even the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In addition, Marbletown and Rosendale have requested status as “interested agencies.” • One Hurley resident claims there are Indian burial grounds on the site which should be investigated and marked. • Traffic. The development must still procure permission for a road cut onto the controlled access highway, U.S. Route 209, from the State Department of Transportation. The only exception to DOT’s access-control rules has been for the state police barracks. The developer has proposed a traffic light at the site. Others have requested a public connector road there between 209 and Lucas Avenue. • Water. The project is expected to generate a daily water demand of 250,000 gallons. Outflow from the sewage treatment plant is to go into Mill Creek which flows very close to the main Hurley/Marbletown aquifer where most of the towns’ drinking water arises. The proposed site is currently full of bore holes for water, sites which were accessed by bulldozers. Residents are strongly urged to take a walk through the area to see the resulting damage to the woodlands. • The development must be built under the provisions of the PRD (Planned Residential Development) provisions of Hurley’s local zoning laws. The Town Zoning Code states that “In order to carry out the intent of this section, a PRD shall achieve the following objectives: a) A maximum choice in the types of environment, occupancy, tenure, types of housing, lot sizes and community facilities available to existing and potential town residents at all economic levels. b) Flexibility in the location and design of small scale nonresidential uses which support and are compatible with residential areas. c) The preservation of trees, outstanding natural topography and geologic features and prevention of soil erosion. d) A creative use of land and related physical development which allows an orderly transition between lands of differing characteristics. e) An efficient use of land resulting in smaller networks of utilities and streets. f) A development pattern in harmony with the objectives of the Town of Hurley Comprehensive Plan.” • A draft of the upcoming Hurley Comprehensive Plan states: “The general consensus of the citizens of Hurley was to maintain the rural character of the community and our township. They were concerned that overdevelopment would change Hurley and its culture. They did not want to see Hurley become a victim of urban sprawl and wanted to maintain the rural atmosphere, peace and quiet of this uniquely residential town.”

Posted by Paul Economos re 4/7/05 Meeting with Developers

At the request of Jack Darwak, Paul Hakim asked the developers to be left off the agenda for the Planning Board meeting last Monday(which they did) until some issues could be clarified. At the meeting were Paul Hakim, Jack Darwak, Gary, Al Mayone, Karl Brueckner, and Dan Shuster. Dennis Larios could not attend. Essentially the Town told the developers that they would not do any PR for them, and that if they wished to proceed, first an open public meeting would have to be held to let the public know EXACTLY what is involved in the development process here. Not just to say, for example, that a water study would be conducted, but to explain what would be involved in such a study. Who would be performing it, how are they credentialed, what the scope of it would be, along what agency guidelines, what the long and short term ramifications would be, how accurate it would be regarding site specifics, etc. That's just one thing as an example. They were also informed that some preliminary info would have to be provided before the Town would even consider reviewing the project, such things as: Do they have access to the State Road? Do they have a plan regarding the rail trail and any encroachments?, Are adjacent property wells going to be addressed as well as on site water?, etc. They were told that without first having a COMPREHENSIVE open public forum, NO REVIEW WOULD BE CONDUCTED. And, that if any of the people presenting were out of line, the project consideration would most likely be summarily rejected out of hand. I only heard about the meeting around 6:30 this morning. Also of note, the developers were told that the Planning Board, on the advice of Jack Darwak, would request that the State D.E.C. be declared as lead agency for the SEQRA review. They may or may not accept lead agency status, sometimes tending to not be involved in anything with home rule implications, but all at the meeting felt it was most appropriate to follow that path. The public presentation will also include an explanation of section 210-45 of the Zoning, which is for PRD districts. This is just a beginning, of course. They must present a step by step, well defined course of action so the residents know what is involved in the process from the developers end as well as the Town with the review process. Proposed timetables are of course part of this. Paul Economos

"Hidden Forest" Comments Welcome

Background

At the Febuary 6, 2005 meeting of the Hurley Planning Board a developer named Richard Lewis outlined a proposal to build 652 houses on 400 acres in Old Hurley, replacing the beautiful and historic Mill Creek woods between Route 209 and Lucas Avenue. The land is owned by the Gill family. The security “pavilion” to this gated development would be where the parking lot of the Rail Trail is now. Only residents and those with permission would be allowed into this luxury site where the price of houses will range up to nearly $400,000 in current prices. The plan is to restrict residents to “active seniors” 55 and over. In other words, this is not what is normally thought of as senior housing, but a development which will include two swimming pools, tennis courts, a large community center and similar recreational facilities solely for the residents. The development's lawyer in a letter to the Planning Board states: "The project is intended to be constructed in six phases of roughly equal numbers of units over approximately six years. Each phase will include a variety of unit types. The phases will be built successively and each will include sufficient roads, stormwater management structures and practices, and utilities to support the phase. Construction of active recreational facilities, including the club house, and the sewer and water plants will be commenced at the time of commencement of the first phase." Recently, there was a great deal of bulldozer activity in the area which, the developer claimed, was digging to determine if there was sufficient water. Ulster County regulations only state that the builder has to show that there is enough water for that particular site, not if it will dry up the supply to other residents. In addition, this site is extremely close to the main aquifer for Hurley and Marbletown. The area consists mostly of highly permeable soil with a limestone bedrock, meaning that any pollutants are conducted rapidly downhill. Thus, any spilled pollutants will most likely end up in the aquifer and, thus, into our drinking water. The developer plans a nearby sewage treatment plant.