Some developers have had to sue towns due to the torturous length of the SEQRA process. But when Susan Shapiro three years ago proposed a sustainable neighborhood of modest energy-efficient homes and ecologically friendly water and sewer systems, she had to sue the town of Goshen to even get them to start the review process. ?“They turned us down without even reviewing it,” Shapiro said. “I don”™t understand why.” ?Shapiro, an attorney and a native of Rockland County, teamed with her father Milton Shapiro, a long time builder in the area to do the project called Timber Trails L.L.C. She said her project on 122 acres off Route 207 would be good for Goshen. She lives near the project site with her family where they run an organic farm.
“Our project would have brought jobs, investment and a national reputation as a sustainable town,” Shapiro said. “It”™s very short-sighted thinking not to encourage this kind of development.” Â ?Goshen Town Supervisor Douglas Bloomfield deferred comment on the matter and suggested contacting attorneys for the town. ?“They are correct, the Town Board did not hold a public hearing before they denied the application,” said Richard B. Golden, a partner in the Goshen law firm of Burke, Miele and Golden. He said that after being sued, the town agreed to hold public hearings, so the Article 78 lawsuit filed by Shapiro was suspended, pending further town action. The next round of hearings is set for Sept. 27.
“The applicant (Shapiro) is also demanding an environmental review of the project and they are entitled to have that done,” Golden said. “So the Town Board is about to initiate SEQRA review and that”™s where we are.”?But  in the meantime, the town changed the zoning in the area, from a green-friendly emphasis on clustered development to a zone that requires either single- family homes on lots of at least six acres or senior housing in townhouse settings. And it added a provision requiring a special-use permit for such projects be approved by the Town Board. ?So Shapiro revamped her plans to create a planned adult community, a project she said is also going to be sustainable as well as profitable. “Yes, we”™re a business and, we want to make a profit. But we want to set an example.”
The proposed project is an active-adult rental community for those age 55 and older, of one- and two-bedroom apartments in energy efficient buildings that will incorporate geothermal heating and cooling and solar hot water heating.
The site would optimize solar gain and maintain about 70 percent of the land as open space and would include walking trails and community gardens, Shapiro said. Additionally, the site has abundant water, with well tests showing 200 gallons per minute, she said. The project plans to use current waste treatment-constructed wetlands with native species plantings. ?Shapiro said these are not the plans of naïve, would-be do-gooder, but the result of a long term economic plan that uses building techniques and wastewater engineering systems proven elsewhere in the country and the world.?She estimated the additional cost for construction at 15 percent above standard construction costs, but said the energy-efficient features return those costs in about five to seven years. She said the structures would retain long-term value instead of costing more to operate as energy costs increase.
Citing Section 97-18(E) of the town zoning law, Shapiro said, “We can do this project by right.”?But town officials are not exactly welcoming the new proposals. “We agreed to a public hearing, but I”™m not sure the litigation is done,” Bloomfield said.
