The idea to remake a decaying psychiatric center”™s 80-building campus on Route 22 in Wingdale as a modern village and business hub is, “About an eight- to 12-year process,” according to the town supervisor.
The timeframe ”“ which increasingly features planning and environmental momentum ”“ takes on a rosier glow when the actual task at hand factors in: growing an entire transit-oriented village where currently a shuttered and contaminated hospital complex looms. The county executive said this sort of growth has not been practiced in the county since the railroad arrived in the 19th century. He can foresee 140 houses and a number of amenities there within five years and a village in 10 years.
Supervisor Ryan Courtien, whose Dover Town Board serves as lead agency on the project, sees a light at the end of the years-long tunnel, at least partly kindled by a state grant for $2.5 million that arrived last year.
If the pace appears slow, Courtien cites the scale and scope of the project as counterpoint: “What we”™re creating is a mixed-use, transit-oriented development that would take a century to grow organically around a train station,” he said. That train station is the Metro-North stop at Wingdale, beneath the towering psychiatric center smokestack on the west side of Route 22.
Long Island-based The Benjamin Cos. bought the 850-acre facility ”“ complete with functioning golf course ”“ in 2003 for $4 million. It came with baggage.
Much of the land is protected as wetland ”“ the Great Swamp hugs Route 22 in the region ”“ and the buildings contain 2.5 million square feet of lead- and asbestos-contaminated floor space. Among those slated to fall is the 1964 hospital on the hill east of Route 22, pegged as “a complete mess” by a Benjamin representative in 2008. Benjamin did not return calls for this article. The hospital and some 40 buildings will fall if all facets of the plan fly.
The groundbreaking that principals predicted in 2010 did come to pass: a building that had been slated for the wrecking ball ”“ and for management of its contaminants ”“ has come down and a second faces demolition imminently. The state contributed $2.5 million from its Restore New York initiative for the work. The town applied for the grant in 2009 and won it in 2010.
The application filed by Dover Knolls Development L.L.C. calls for 1,376 residences and nearly a quarter-million square feet of retail and office space;Â all within walking distance of the train station, a detail that has kept the Metropolitan Transportation Authority involved in the planning.
Besides the MTA, Courtien said the project has warranted input from the state”™s Department of Environmental Conservation and Historic Preservation Office, and from the county”™s health and planning departments.
After accepting comments from the town”™s planner ”“ New York City-based environmental consultants AKRF with offices in White Plains ”“ and from Poughkeepsie-based Berger Engineering & Surveying, Courtien said the Town Board approved the state”™s environmental review ”“ the so-called SEQRA process ”“ March 9 and will now initiate the subdivision and site plan approvals. The SEQRA findings should be formally adopted by the Town Board at its March 30 meeting.
Then an additional review begins with the Town Board seeking comments from the Dutchess County and town of Dover planning departments and from the town”™s architectural review board. When that work is completed, the Town Board will host a public hearing on the findings. Courtien anticipates final approval of the project “late spring or early summer. We”™ve worked toward this a long time.”
“The Knolls of Dover is one of several significant and exciting projects that are under development throughout the county,” said County Executive William Steinhaus in written response to questions about the development. “This transit-oriented development project for the Wingdale station area in the town of Dover promises to be the first new village-scale development in Dutchess County since the train lines were originally extended north in the mid-1800s, creating compact railroad centers like Millbrook and Pawling. Walkable, mixed-use, and transit-friendly developments around train stations or along express bus routes provide the best future model for the region in terms of protecting the environment and rebuilding our sense of community.
“When the Benjamin Companies began demolition of unneeded buildings on the site, employees were recruited from the community and trained in various trades. With the project site plan and subdivision for the initial phase of the project submitted to the town of Dover for its review, we look forward to multiplier effect of the hundreds of construction and permanent jobs this project will create for Dover and the surrounding areas.
“Over the next five years, we hope to see the first neighborhoods of an exciting new village west of Route 22 and the railroad corridor. We understand the first Knolls of Dover neighborhood will include 140 new residences surrounded by restored wetlands, a 5-kilometer trail system and permanently conserved open space. Just as important will be the new businesses located in the rehabilitated Storehouse and Power Plant along Route 22, buildings that have languished for many years.
“Ten years from today we hope to see a vibrant village center that includes new neighborhoods on both sides of Route 22, providing housing of all types for residents of all incomes and ages, as well as all the services and commercial facilities that a diverse community requires to thrive and grow.”
