A public hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 19 on a proposal for a two-building development in Poughkeepsie that would have 63 apartments. The project, known as Highview at the Fallkill Creek, would be built on an 8.7-acre site on Milton Street.
The Fall Kill Creek is approximately 38 miles long and runs from the Hyde Park area into Poughkeepsie, where it feeds into the Hudson River.
The project”™s developer is Moselo Realty LLC based in Monsey. Moselo also is shown in documents on file with the city as being the property”™s owner.
There would be 31 one-bedroom units and 32 two-bedroom units. A swimming pool and pool house would be built for use by the residents.
The plans indicate there would be 123 parking spaces provided, which is the number required by the city for a project such as this.
The height of the buildings would be 35 feet, which the developer shows being the equivalent of 3.5 stories. Three stories would be visible on the east front facades and four stories would be visible on the west facades.
This is not the first development proposal for the property. Back in 2006, the city”™s planning board granted approval for the construction of a 120-unit condominium complex. The applicant at that time was Phoenix Capital Partners LLC.
At that time, the city”™s zoning code placed the land in the Medium High-Density Residential (R-4) zone. The project for 120 units was not built and in Oct. 2010, the site was rezoned to the Medium Low-Density Residence District (R-2), which was more restrictive of what could be done at the site.
The R-2 zone does not permit multifamily projects to be built as-of-right and the developer petitioned the city to rezone the property to the Planned Residential Development (PRD) district, which it felt would permit more environmentally sensitive development of the site.
Under R-2 zoning, the minimum lot size for single-family houses would be 6,000 square feet. A maximum of 63 houses could be theoretically built on the site, which is the number of apartment units the developer is proposing.
The developer points out that its design is intended to conform to the parcel”™s unique environmental character by confining the units to two clustered buildings and that the site is ideally suited to being developed with clustered structures that are away from the creek, which is also intended to help retain existing habitat.
An Environmental Assessment Form prepared by the engineering and planning firm Chazen Companies said that the development would occupy less than half of the property, allowing for 57% to remain undisturbed. It said that although the project site abuts and includes some portions of Fall Kill Creek, there would be no impacts to the creek or associated wetlands.
