Facing opposition from neighboring residents and a likely request from town officials to downsize their project, owners of Brynwood Golf and Country Club have dropped plans to develop a condominium community on their golf course property near Armonk.
Brynwood partners, in an Aug. 15 letter to North Castle Supervisor William Weaver and town board members, formally withdrew their petition for a zoning change to make way for the proposed 243-unit development on 14 acres. The partners in 2009 paid $6.3 million to a Mitsubishi Inc. affiliate for the roughly 160-acre property on Route 22.
The letter was dated two days before the town board was to decide whether to refer the development proposal to the North Castle Planning Board to begin a public review process or send it back to Brynwood for changes.
Edward Baquero, president of Corigin Real Estate Group in Manhattan, one of three partners in the purchase of the former Canyon Club, said the owners were ready this summer to begin the state environmental quality review required for the project after two years of talks with town officials. But they were withdrawing their proposal in light of “the current level of misunderstanding and misinformation” in the community, he wrote.
The partners “now fear that the merits of our application are being overshadowed as a result of the political calendar. Accordingly, we take this time to review all our options,” Baquero told town officials.
A spokesman for Brynwood said the owners had no further comment on their decision and future plans for the property.
Brynwood principal and Armonk resident Jeffrey B. Mendell in late June told the Business Journal the 18-hole private golf course would be converted to an estate housing tract ”“ a use for which the property already is zoned ”“ if town officials rejected their condo proposal.
“If the town doesn”™t want to do this, while it would break my heart as a golfer, we would demolish this golf course and build 49 estate houses” on 2-acre lots, said Mendell, CEO of JBM Realty in Greenwich, Conn.
“I don”™t want to do that. I don”™t think it”™s the best use for the property. I don”™t think it”™s the best use for the town. The important thing, as a business, that”™s our fallback.”
With the golf-course industry in decline nationwide, “We”™re doing well, but we”™re not getting an adequate return on our investment ”“ and I”™m a businessman,” Mendell said.
Brynwood”™s owners projected the condominium development would generate annual tax revenue of $2.1 million to $3.5 million for the Byram Hills School District and $450,000 to $750,000 for the town of North Castle in addition to $2 million in building permit and recreation fees for the town. It was expected to create about 300 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs.
With the state”™s adoption this year of a 2 percent cap on annual property tax hikes and with taxpayer assessment grievances continuing to whittle away at property tax revenue for municipalities, “We believed that the revenues from our proposal would have been one of the town”™s and school district”™s best opportunities to maintain the levels of service that this community has come to expect,” Baquero told town officials.
According to published news reports, the country club project had sparked opposition from residents of a nearby housing development on Route 22. Weaver, the town supervisor, reportedly shared some of the opponents”™ concerns. He and other town board members reportedly felt a 243-unit development was too dense for the site.
Baquero in his letter acknowledged neighbors”™ concerns about the water supply and increases in traffic and school enrollments resulting from the project. Brynwood partners, though, had targeted local baby boomers looking to sell their larger family homes rather than younger couples with school-age children as prospective condo buyers.
The state environmental quality review process, whose costs would be borne by the proposed developer, would have allowed those concerns to be addressed by experts, Baquero said. But the partners concluded they would not have “a fair opportunity” to present their plans for review, he said.
Weaver could not be reached for comment at presstime.
