Local builders bet on boom, not bust
By Edie Johnson
CHESTER — Now that the economy is recovering, housing experts predict a growing preference among for apartment and townhouse living, especially among the tide of aging baby boomers looking for a way out of big houses and their upkeep.
This has created an opportunity for the Greens of Chester, a cluster development first proposed back in the 1980s. The Town of Chester Planning Board gave the development preliminary approval in 1998, but when the town board objected, the project was put on hold. At that time, local law allowed the town board the final decision on cluster developments.
The village also protested, saying it should have been included in decisions made about a development whose roads would connect with village roads. The Greens developer sued.
In 2008 the court decided in favor of the applicant. The court ruled that state law trumps local law, and that the planning board's decision to allow the development should prevail. But by then, the housing market crashed, and the project sat idle.
The Greens of Chester now wants to move forward. According to the court ruling, Chester must facilitate approval for the project within the next 90 days.
But here's another wrinkle: Chester has sewer capacity to support only two phases of the project. By the time it advances to Phase 3, the town will be required, by the court decision, either to obtain additional sewage capacity from the Harriman plant, or build its own plant.
The village currently has 29 gallons of sewer capacity available, while the town has 110 gallons.
Most roads on the site will be private. The main road leading to Route 94 will have sidewalks. Anthony LaSpina, the town's highway superintendent, said he has neither the equipment nor the staff to maintain them. The town board said part of the revenue that will come from 431 new taxpayers should be budgeted to make safe walkways.
Eagle Crest sales are brisk
Meanwhile, sales at the Eagle Crest subdivision, a cluster of colonial-style houses built on farmland and ridge-protected areas off Hambletonian Road, has been so brisk that the developer sought, and received, approval to continue with the second and third phases of the project. In the short time the houses have been advertised, three have already been sold, two are under contract, and another is ready to enter into contract.
Along with building additional houses, the contractor will fix an irregular section of Hambletonian Road. Traffic will be rerouted to the new road during repairs.
The next group of homes will be in a ridge-protected area, which limits the size and color of the ranch homes to be built there so that they will blend into the ridge.
Baroda Realty awaits go-ahead
Baroda Realty is progressing on an open area development it wants to build on a hillside along Blackmeadow Road.
The lower portion is in a flood-prone area. After multiple revisions, the site plan now includes multiple buffers to protect homeowners from rising wetlands, and wildlife from human encroachment.
Neither bog turtles nor Indiana Bats have been observed on the property. But because the site contains potential habitat, the builder will be required to leave a 300-foot buffer for the turtles and restrict building to certain times of year to provide bats with nesting sites if they come.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has approved the buffer areas, but the U.S. Fish and Game department has not yet signed off. The town board will not approve the project until it does.
Before the planning board can give the development preliminary approval, it must give it a "negative declaration," which means the project will have no appreciable negative impact on the environment.
Chester's new planner, Alan Sorenson, raised concern about placing houses too close to the wetland.
Planning Board Chair Don Serotta said, "I am not going to approve homes that are not functional, where the owner would step off his back steps onto a wetland and would not have room to put in a shed or a pool."
Fox Hill at Creamery Pond — A fourth development in its final phase, Fox Hill at Creamery Pond, includes eight lots, is undergoing a major change that will enable it to move forward quickly. John Sorrentino sold Fox Hill to Reiger Brothers. Residents of the earlier phases of construction will be watching out for changes.