Does the Right Hand know what the Left Hand is doing?

The Zoning Board meeting on March 16 was a bit of a catch-up session since several prior meetings had been cancelled because of weather.

Public Hearings

The difficulty of a building on Schlichter Road being built on-top of boundary lines without appropriate set-backs has proved to be an on-going puzzle. A decision about the amount of variance required was made, a decision to republish the request and the Public Hearing was postponed until April 11.

A request for a variance to add an apartment for family use to a home on Gold Road was granted.

A variance allowing lot line realignment for a subdivision on Ketchamtown Road, accommodating an existing garage was granted.

Upcoming requests

The owners of property on Pine Ridge Drive, who hope to build a new home, would like to reposition the proposed driveway. Public Hearing scheduled for April 11.

A newly built home on Chelsea Road requires a variance because the homeowners attempt to measure a set-back didn't go as planned. Public Hearing scheduled for April 11.

A request for a variance on setback rules so that an addition can be added to a home on Kent Road was discussed. Public Hearing is scheduled for April 11.

A variance for an existing addition to a previously built pole barn on Ketchamtown Road was reviewed. Public Hearing scheduled for April 11.

A home on Edgehill Drive has a difficulty of technically having 3 front yards (frontage on three streets) making their use of the property for a pool and an addition very difficult given set-back requirements. Public Hearing scheduled for April 11.

AND then....

The lawyer representing Dakota Developers came forward. First asking if the Zoning Board would formalize their role as Lead Agency in the Alpine Commons Multi-Family Workforce Housing proposal. Since the letters explaining this have been circulated to all of the other agencies, including the Town's planning Board... it was decided that the ZBA is the de facto lead agency.

Dakota is asking for 3 variances -- 1 - to allow 144 units rather than their assertion of 93 as of right units (the number 93 has NEVER been confirmed by anyone).

2 - to build to 3.5 stories or 50 feet -- rather than the code requirement of 2.5 stores or 35 feet and 3 - to only allow for 238 parking spaces... where the code would require 44 less parking spaces.

Everyone in the room, aside from a few residents observing, seemed oblivious to the town's planning board letter sent to the ZBA, despite the fact it was posted on the town website, but the developer's attorney basically admitted he hadn't seen it.

The $3K check that Dakota sent the town and cashed..needs to be tracked down.

The ZBA members were asking a number of questions about other uses on the site, the ability to put a small retail store within the development...allowing the attorney to affect a "woe is me, we tried to work with your town board but didn't get anywhere" position -- which is a bit troubling since the details of the Town Board discussions should have been reviewed and well understood by the Zoning Board. He also asserted that the town doesn't need more retail because the problem is the lack of population... and that employers need to have their employees housed - referring to the anticipated investment in chip technology announced by the county's largest technology company... ignoring the massive reduction in that company's local workforce over the past few decades.

AND even more startling ... was the press release from the Dutchess County Executive office earlier in the day... that the County has awarded $1.5M to the developer for this project... with details that have not yet been presented to the town... including that the "units will vary in size from 1 to 3 bedrooms and will range in affordability from 30% AMI (units above 80% AMI are not directly supported by HCP). A subset of the units will be designated fully wheelchair accessible and a separate subset will be designed for households needing hearing/visual accomodations. The project is currently before the Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of Appeals and pending submittal to the town's Planning Board for land use approvals. Construction could begin as early as 2024 and is expected to take two years. "

https://midhudsonnews.com/2023/03/29/dutchess-awards-8-9-million-from-housing-trust-fund-for-affordable-housing/

Given that this project doesn't have any approvals at this point, this is a very assumptive decision... and any kind of caveats, performance obligations surprisingly missing from the announcement.

I