Durst Watch (4): A Change of Course?
The sprawling 1,000-unit Durst subdivision proposed on the Dutchess-Columbia border has turned a critical corner with the developer apparently conceding to a drastic reduction in the scale of his original project and a redesign of its layout that would protect environmental resources.
Now in its fourth year of a public review led by the Pine Plains Town Planning Board, the Durst development remains a long way from approval, but recent statements from the developer, town officials and citizen leaders opposing the plan suggest that a much smaller, more compact subdivision could be up for final consideration by early next year.
At a town planning board meeting on June 4, new consultants representing the Durst family– multi-billionaire owners of several prominent Manhattan skyscrapers—offered to redesign the “golf-oriented” subdivision by substantially reducing the number of homes and conserving various ecological and visual features of the 2,200-acre site straddling the Taconic State Parkway just below the Columbia County line.
Critics of the initial proposal, which would likely inflict severe damage on the town’s taxpayers, school system and rural character, voiced cautious optimism.
“It’s a big step forward from where we’ve been,” said John Lyons, attorney for Pine Plains United, a citizens group which has spear-headed opposition to the original 1,000-unit plan. “The next step will be to see whether they walk the walk. If they do, there can’t help but be significant positive changes to the original plan.”
The Dursts decided to scale back their ambitions, suggested Pine Plains United Co-Chairman Jim Mara, under pressure from widespread opposition voiced at a series of public hearings on the development over the past two years.
“They had to come up with a new plan because they got hammered: hammered by the public, hammered by Pine Plains United, hammered by experts from Scenic Hudson and the Dutchess County Planning Department,” Mr. Mara said.
Forecasting how many homes will eventually rise on the bucolic site of the former Carvel estate is complicated by efforts in Pine Plains to adopt a complex zoning ordinance now under consideration by the five elected members of the town board. The final zoning ordinance will be instrumental in determining how many homes can be approved by the town’s planning board and what concessions Durst will have to make towards preserving the area’s rural character, ecological resources and fiscal stability.
Pine Plains Town Supervisor Gregg Pulver, who said his town board has “every intention of approving a final ordinance, with plenty of opportunity for public input, by October,” has suggested 500 homes as a desirable target.
“We’ve never given the developers any indication,” said Pulver, “that we would support anything more than the proposed zoning ordinance would allow, around 500 units, which comes to a roughly four-acre density out there… We’d want to combine that with 50-55% open space, but true open space, not lawns and gardens, that would be open to public access.”
Pine Plains United’s Mara asserts that 500 homes is too many and that the zoning ordinance, as originally submitted to the Town Board after lengthy public review, would allow far fewer.
A total number of 200-300 units in Pine Plains and the adjacent town of Milan “is probably a number we would be open to, depending on how the subdivision is laid out on the site and how it addresses sensitive environmental features and the many other concerns voiced by the public,” said Mr. Mara.
Beyond the housing density and the environmental protections, Supervisor Pulver is wary of what could happen to the property if Durst, after winning approval for a specific project, changes his game plan or sells the property to a mass-market home builder keen to maximize short-term profit.
“My concern,” the supervisor said, “is that they start building the project and then they realize that the golf facilities are not going to attract the buyers they anticipate, and they try to come back for more lots than we’ve approved… There are going to be some intense negotiations to guarantee that what they say they’re going to build is what they end up building.”
The coming months are certain to see a slew of public hearings and debate on the specifics of the town’s final zoning ordinance and on the details of the Dursts’ revised subdivision plan.
As to whether we can expect Durst and company to be breaking ground next spring on a 300 unit subdivision that all sides can accept, Pine Plains United’s attorney Lyons concluded, “I don’t think things are advanced yet to the point where you can say anything so specific.”
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