Carvel NND Criteria

PINE PLAINS — The Durst Corporation believes the Carvel Property development meets the New Neighborhood Development (NND) provision of the town’s zoning law.

Alexander Durst, co-vice president of the Durst Organization, outlined why he feels the proposed plan fits all 18 NND criteria at a joint meeting of the town and planning boards on Wednesday, March 14 (click here for story).

According to the zoning law, “The NND is intended to allow creation of new residential neighborhoods on properties that adjoin a Pine Plains hamlet zoning district.”

1. Project layout

Durst said more than 50 percent of the of the project’s 645 units will be located at the core around Lake Carvel. “This core — and peripheral neighborhoods surrounding the core — create neighborhood settlements,” he said.

2. Open space

According to Durst, 71 percent (1,697 acres) of the development is conserved as open space, while 72 percent of the NND area (1,394 acres) is conserved. He said changes were made to make more of the project’s borders contiguous with adjacent open space properties.

3. Path system

The Ham Brook trail system will be open to the public, allowing residents to walk around the property on foot. “The easement will be 15 feet wide, so at some point in the future it may be accessible to bicycles,” he said.

4. Local architecture

Architecture firm Looney Ricks Kiss wrote architectural guidelines for the project based on a survey of local homes. Different styles will appear throughout the property.

5. Green building guidelines

Durst said the plan’s design guidelines address topics such as home siting, stormwater management, energy efficency and smart construction practices.

6. Lot types and affordable housing

“There will be a diversity of dwellings,” Durst said, which will range from 0.2 to 12 acres and vary for taste and income. As for affordable housing options, Durst proposed paying a fee to a Pine Plains Housing Trust Fund to give the town flexibility in how it uses the money.

“If we’re recommended to build affordable housing to enable us to sell units, we will do it in a way to make the project a success,” he said. “If you have a fund, you can deploy the fund at a time it is most suitable for the town of Pine Plains.”

7. Development patterns

Durst said it was difficult to create a grid-like pattern of streets since the property is hilly and has wetlands, but they’ve done the best they can with the NND limitations.

8. Neighborhood greens

Durst wants the greens and landscapes streets to be of “high quality” to promote social activity.

9. Community service demands

Most of the roads will be privately maintained, as will the water and sewer infrastructure. Durst said the units will predominantly be second homes, and the market is “fairly strong” in Dutchess County.

10. Project layout

Durst again mentioned the central core surrounded by peripheral neighborhoods and the plan’s consistency with design standards. He also outlined the economic development area, which will feature the golf course and other amenities.

11. Ecological protection

Durst said the project protects wetlands and breeding pools, clusters lots and has large areas of open space. Golf course maintenance will include the use of treated wastewater for irrigation.

12. Archaeological avoidance plan

Some historic buildings and sites will be maintained. Durst said the project has gone on longer than anticipated, and it would cost too much to maintain them all.

13. Viewshed protection

There are buffers around the watersheds, and some homes that are close to Route 199 will be hidden by steep areas with evergreens.

14. Wetland buffers

Durst provided a map that shows the imposed buffers around the wetland areas.

15. Stormwater management

The project’s design guidelines address issues such as erosion and sedimentation controls, minimizing impervious surfaces and the use of native plant species.

16. Open space protection and trails

Durst again mentioned the amount of open space in the project, as well as the public Ham Brook trail system. He also discussed the Spruce Farm Chautauqua, which will house artists in residence to host workshops and sell wares.

17. Infrastructure

There will be a safer intersection at Woodward Hill Road and Route 199, as well Taconic State Parkway exit improvements. Some existing power lines will be placed underground.

18. Adaptive reuse of historic structures

Durst again discussed the Spruce Farm Chautauqua at 2600 Route 199 in Pine Plains, as well as the Carvel Property Development sales office at 210 Ferris Lane in Milan.

He said the project will create jobs, increase the customer base for local business and enhance the tax base for towns, schools and the county.

The full list of NND requirements can be found on page 42 of the Pine Plains zoning law, which can be accessed online at www.pineplains-ny.gov.

 

Latest News

Bunny Williams's 
‘Life in the Garden’
Rizzoli

In 1979, interior decorator Bunny Williams and her husband, antiques dealer John Rosselli, had a fateful meeting with a poorly cared for — in Williams’s words, “unspoiled” — 18th-century white clapboard home.

“I am not sure if I believe in destiny, but I do know that after years of looking for a house, my palms began to perspire when I turned onto a tree-lined driveway in a small New England village,” Williams wrote in her 2005 book, “An Affair with a House.” The Federal manor high on a hill, along with several later additions that included a converted carriage shed and an 1840-built barn, were constructed on what had been the homestead property of Falls Village’s Brewster family, descendants of Mayflower passenger William Brewster, an English Separatist and Protestant leader in Plymouth Colony.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Creators: Sitting down with Garet Wierdsma

Garet&Co dancers

Jennifer Almquist

On Saturday, March 9, the people of Norfolk, Connecticut, enjoyed a dance performance by northern Connecticut-based Garet&Co, in Battell Chapel, titled INTERIOR, consisting of four pieces: “Forgive Her, Hera,” “Something We Share,” “bodieshatewomen,” and “I kinda wish the apocalypse would just happen already.”

At the sold-out show in the round, the dancers, whose strength, grace and athleticism filled the hall with startling passion, wove their movements within the intimate space to the rhythms of contemporary music. Wierdsma choreographed each piece and curated the music. The track she created for “Something We Share” eerily contained vintage soundtracks from life guidance recordings for the perfect woman of the ‘50s. The effect, with three dancers in satin slips posing before imaginary mirrors, was feminist in its message and left the viewer full of vicarious angst.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kevin McEneaney, voice of The Millbrook Independent

Kevin McEneaney

Judith O’Hara Balfe

On meeting Kevin McEneaney, one is almost immediately aware of three things; he’s reserved, he’s highly intelligent and he has a good sense of humor.

McEneaney is the wit and wisdom behind The Millbrook Independent, a blog that evolved from the print version of that publication. It's a wealth of information about music venues in this part of Dutchess County interspersed with poetry, art reviews, articles on holidays and other items, and a smattering of science.

Keep ReadingShow less