Owners of Brynwood Golf and Country Club recently unveiled plans for a residential development on their Route 22 property that is about one-half the size of the proposed project withdrawn last summer in the face of criticism from the golf club”™s neighbors and town officials in North Castle.
The private country club will host open houses in early March to present the redesigned plan to area residents before seeking town approval and a zoning change for the project. The presentations will be at 8 p.m. on March 1 and at 3 p.m. on March 4 at the club near Armonk.
The new plan calls for construction of 123 luxury condominiums and golf villa residences, compared with 243 residences originally proposed last year. The homes, primarily two-bedroom and designed by Hart Howerton, a Manhattan-based architectural firm known for its designs of golf resort communities, will be “designed, targeted and priced for the ”˜empty-nester”™ market,” Brynwood owners said in a press release. They said few if any school-age children are expected to live there.
Neighbors of Brynwood, the former Canyon Club, last summer voiced concerns about the development”™s impact on the water supply and increases in traffic and school enrollment that would result. Some New Castle town board members also shared the club”™s neighbors”™ complaint that the 243-unit development was too dense for the site.
While reducing the housing units by almost half, the new design also includes a clubhouse reduced by 40,000 square feet from the original design and a banquet facility reduced from a maximum capacity of 400 persons to 200. The owners also have eliminated 22 existing hotel rooms at the clubhouse from the project.
The new plan reduces parking on the site from 564 spaces to 271 spaces and eliminates a previously proposed parking structure.
As originally planned, Brynwood”™s 18-hole golf course will be redesigned and renovated by Rees Jones, the well-known golf course designer. The project will preserve more than 150 acres of open space.
Brynwood”™s owners said the development is expected to generate about $2.4 million annually in property tax revenue ”“ a $2 million net increase. The Byram Hills School District would receive an estimated $1.6 million annually in property taxes from Brynwood and the town would receive an estimated $363,000. The project also is expected to yield more than $2 million in town building permit and recreation fees.
The luxury development is expected to create about 300 construction jobs and 75 permanent jobs.
Jeffrey B. Mendell, an Armonk resident and one of three principals of Canyon Club Partners II that in 2009 paid $6.3 million for the former Mitsubishi Inc. property, said their goal is “to create a world-class residential country club community that ensures Brynwood”™s long-term sustainability while contributing to the town”™s fiscal and environmental well-being.” The new plan responds to neighbors”™ concerns and is “smaller in scale, higher quality and more intimate” than the original design, he said.
Another Brynwood partner, Edward Baquero, last August said the owners”™ withdrawal of the project as it was under review by town officials was driven by “the current level of misunderstanding and misinformation” in the community. He said the owners concluded they would not have “a fair opportunity” to present their plans in the state environmental quality review process. Baquero suggested the merits of the development plan were overshadowed by politics and the upcoming fall election.
Since the project was withdrawn, North Castle residents have elected a new town supervisor and one new town councilman.
Noting that more than half of Brynwood club members are North Castle residents, Mendell said, “We want to ensure that this project works for our club and our community.”
Mendell last year said Brynwood”™s owners could demolish the golf course and replace it with estate housing ”“ a use for which the property already is zoned ”“ if the town rejects the proposed country-club residential development.
