Cedar Hill Road Development discussed at April 21 Planning Board Meeting

The April 21 Planning Board Meeting had several items on the agenda for discussion -- but clearly the "star" of the show was the discussion of The Conservation Corners Subdivision (formerly known as Joey Estates). This is a Different Proposed Multifamily subdivision than the multi-family proposal discussed at the last Planning Board meeting. That proposal is called Acadia - and the current proposal is for 12 single family homes & 66 units in multifamily units. This proposal is on 139 acres includes 22 single family homes with 44 multifamily units. The plan is to have water/sewer services self-contained on the site - and a 1500 foot dead end road is proposed (the limit of the town's zoning code). The Planning Board had a number of suggestions -- less dense concentration of homes - perhaps units of two homes per building instead of the plan's 4 homes per building, more definition of how the undeveloped space is to be used/cared for -- walking trails? fields for recreation? How are mature trees going to be preserved and integrated into the plan? There was a request to build a connecting road, and to get input from Fire Services on the desirability of at least two access points, while not creating a short-cut/speedway through the proposed development. A mention that those in the current neighborhood have water issues was discussed, with the rejoinder was that the County Board of Health doesn't recognize those issues from any of the data that they have (Residents /Well drillers are supposed to let the Board of Health know when there are water supply issues -- and there are no issues on record right now). The site has very steep slopes, and the request was to look at the placement of the buildings/roads to minimize the amount of grading required. So much more work to be done -- and with the possibility of this development (the same engineering firm is involved in both) being done with the Acadia plan... that is the potential of 144 new homes in the Cedar Hill Area. (Please remember that these plans were in place BEFORE the building moratorium, therefore they can still go through the process)

Earlier on the agenda - was a request for lot line re-alignment on Wheeler HiIl (interesting that it is not referred to as a subdivision - see the April 7 Planning Board discussion -- which seems pretty similar) where 1.46 acres which includes a 1,500 square foot home, shed and garage to be included in the Chapel of Saced Mirrors property and removed from the Obercreek property. The Planning Board directed the planner to prepare a draft resolution approving this realignment. The public hearing requirement was waived and this will be on the agenda for the next Plannning Board meeting.

The engineers for the Kingdom Hall Amended Site Plan (by the way, the Town's building deparment is not able to locate the original site plan) for a property on All Angels Hill Road discussed the changes and comment letter that the Town's professional staff provided. A large part of the discussion centered on the lighting proposed -- some of the lights are leased from Central Hudson and don't comply with the Town's current lighting code, other lights are and owned by the property owners and do comply. The updates include changes to the building facade, replacement of the monument sign (with lighting that is directed down, rather than the current uplit sign) The site plan will be updated to reflect the comments/directives/suggestions and a public hearing will be scheduled for June 2.

After waiting patiently through all of those discussions, the owner and engineer for the 33 Middlebush Road project - which is approved as a contractor storage facility, came forward to say that there is an interested buyer, who would like to store - inside the building - boat, car and RVs - some for personal use, and rent out some bays for others to use for that purpose. Within a minute -- it was decided that this is a Zoning Board of Appeals decision, not a planning board decision. Yea - for the Town Building Department providing such great direction to property owners/builders in the town. The billable hours for that piece of insight is a great ROI. Seriously, does anyone go through the requests and evaluate them - it is a waste of time not only for the applicant, their staff -- but also the planning board members and the town's professional staff.

A request for an extension to the site plan and special use permits for the Caretaker's cottage on Route 376 was granted. The extension was requested because the applicant is waiting for the Dutchess County Health Deparment to finalize their approval.