Big Dutchess proposal rethought
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The proposed Durst Development project that would have virtually doubled the size of the DutchessCounty hamlet of Pine Plains is back on the drawing board.
Company representatives say the move is a response to public comments to their plans and not a result of economic conditions that have changed since the plan was first proposed.
Douglas Durst purchased the roughly 2,200-acre parcel from the estate of ice cream magnate Tom Carvel for $12 million in 2003. Plans called for 388 units of attached housing, with two, six or eight units in each structure. The remaining 563 units were to be single-family homes, with 475 houses having average lot sizes of less than two acres, 62 lots of three to five acres and 27 lots of five acres or more. There are also already approximately 90 approved building lots on the land that were to be developed as part of the project. There would be a total of 950 units under the original proposal and the project would include a private country club for those who purchase homes in the developments.   Â
But that was then. Now, there is uncertainty as to what will be proposed, after a town Planning Board meeting on June 14 where Durst representatives abruptly announced they are going back to the drawing board. Their announcement came after a series of public meetings on their plan, at which local residents expressed broad opposition to the size and scale of the proposal. Â
Pine Plains town attorney Warren Replansky described it as a “fairly major change in the direction of the project,” but there is no firm timetable for a re-introduction of ideas.
“We have hired the internationally known environmental planning and design firm of EDAW and are taking a fresh look at the design,” said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the Durst Organization. “We are looking at ways to produce a plan that is protective of the environment, delivers real benefits to the local community and is also financially viable.”
The project was controversial from its inception, which some locals date back to as early as 1966, when Tom Carvel proposed a similar sized development and built the golf course that now stretches around Carvel Lake. Parts of that development proposal were approved but only a tiny number of units were ultimately built.
The site straddles the towns of Milan and Pine Plains and is accessed directly off the Taconic Parkway at Ferris Road. It is rural and even wild country, surrounded by rolling hills, ridges, old farm meadows and fields returning to thick forest. About 10 percent of the land, or 200 acres, is environmentally sensitive state and federally protected wetlands and seasonal wetlands that cannot be developed.
The project site straddles scenic state Route 199 from the Lafayette State Multiple Use Area in Milan to just west of Cedar Knolls in Pine Plains from where on clear days one can view of the Catskill Mountains to the west.
There is currently a building moratorium in Pine Plains. A new zoning proposal is now being considered by the town, and is something of a wild card, since some drafts of the law could reduce the number of units allowed on the Carvel land by almost two thirds.
The new plan will be unveiled “some time soon,” according to Barowitz. Initially, residents had expected the new plan to be unveiled in time for the July 23 planning board workshop meeting, but Barowitz said he was not sure that deadline would be met. And he said that there is no time pressure on the project, a fact that allows it to be planned in ways that avoid vagaries of boom and bust real estate cycles.
“This has always been a long-term project,” said Barowitz. “There is a 10-year build out on this project, so we”™ve always looked at this from a long-term perspective.”