Disagreements over what meets the threshold of clearcutting and other recent violations of the Woodstock Scenic Overlay District prompted a scheduled a discussion of the regulations by the Woodstock Planning Board.
Property owners on Valley View Way in the hamlet of Lake Hill caught the attention of concerned residents and elected officials after a large swath of trees was cut to make way for a residence and other buildings. The area that was cut can be seen from a considerable distance, including from across Cooper Lake. But Woodstock Planning Board Chair Peter Cross said he visited the property and that the action does not meet the definition of a clear cut.
“I found that the site located in the scenic overlay complied with the basics of the scenic overlay requirements,” Cross said at the October 7 Planning Board meeting where a public meeting was held for a special use permit for the property owners, Marc and Hariette de Swaan Arons. “The buildings were not located on the outside edge of the mountain, but were set back against the rock ledges. The building’s exteriors are of stone so as to blend into the mountainside,” Cross said. “There is a buffer of trees to the front of the building so as to screen them from below, and that buffer of trees is to remain. The view from the proposed building site is of a horizontal view of the mountains and does not look down on any of the valley below. The proposed buildings are clad in stone and the windows are recessed into the walls so as not to be obvious and meets the code…There was no clear cut, and the few trees located within the building footprint to be removed will not expose the structures to view. The selective trimming of tree tops to open a view does not expose the buildings.” He called the plan “the least obtrusive and most site-respective design that can be done.”
Cross acknowledged “quite a bit of issues” in the Scenic Overlay District, and at Councilwoman Laura Ricci’s prompting, he scheduled a meeting for December 16 at 6:30 p.m. to go over the Scenic Overlay code.
Cross said the Planning Board would not take any questions regarding clearcutting violations because that is a matter for the Building Department and the board has no enforcement power. “So please don’t bring violations to the Planning Board. That goes to the Building Department,” Cross said.
Architect Brad Will said the design is in harmony with the site and represented less than 1 percent disturbance of the overall parcel. “The owners were very careful in removing some dead trees that they found on site when they purchased it last year,” Will said. “They had a certified arborist come in and assist with some toppings to just let it breathe a little bit more and that was all done very responsibly without damaging the trees that were trimmed.”
Plans call for a private residence, pool, carport, garage, sauna and solar array.
“I’m making no allegations of clearcutting or anything like that. However, there is a very obvious visual impact to the side of Olderbark Mountain, not just visible from our property, but also from Cooper Lake Road,” said Alex Casadonte, whose father, Paul owns nearby property overlooking the site. Casadonte expressed concern about the solar array and its visual impact and asked about steps being taken to minimize reflection.
Will said the array will be ground-mounted so as not to pose an impact and will be significantly lower than the tree canopy. “Because the sun is where it is, they are oriented upwards. So whatever reflectivity happens is not going to be experienced across or down or in any way. And for that matter, because the trees are there, you won’t see the array at all from any angle whatsoever.”
Casadonte, seemingly satisfied with the array location, noted there is still a large impact by trees being cut. “It seems that there is a very significant impact in as much as there’s a large swath that has clearly been removed. And I certainly assume that it has been done as environmentally consciously as possible,” he said. “But there’s also a sort of an irrefutable detriment that the property has suffered.”
Town Councilwoman Laura Ricci said the Scenic Overlay law refers to minimizing cutting and being as visually inconspicuous as possible. “In my view, there is damage to the viewscape. I was elected by the people of Woodstock to try to look out for the people of Woodstock. I understand that people who buy property in the scenic overlay want their wonderful view. So you have a person here wants a wonderful view and a person there wants a wonderful view,” Ricci said. “But the town of Woodstock wants a beautiful viewscape. And that’s the reason there is a scenic overlay law to preserve the viewscape.”
Ricci, who saw the site firsthand, was disturbed by the amount of tree cutting. “I was shocked, upset, I don’t know what the right word is. The trees are topped off. I don’t know what it means we topped off trees so it could breathe. It looked to me, in my opinion that the trees were topped off for a view,” Ricci said. “I have trees all over my property. I don’t run around cutting them and cutting the trees in half to be the half size, so they can breathe. They’re breathing just fine with all of the branches that they have. The trees that I saw, if you take a 40-foot tree and you cut it in half at 20 feet, you’ve cut all that back. They’re not growing back just fine.”
Cross disputed Ricci’s quoting of sections of the scenic overlay code, saying it refers to digging holes for fountains and filling for roads. “That’s not cutting trees. The code says to minimize. That’s why we need to have a meeting later.” Cross said the hope is the trees will grow new branches, but Ricci said that is not possible when they’ve been cut in half.
“If you take an oak tree and you cut it in half, that tree is not just going to be sprouting up and looking wonderful,” Ricci said. “Again, you can disagree. I’m not telling you what to do, because you’re going to make a decision of what you think is right.”
A big gap appears on the mountain
“Sometime between November, December, into January, this huge gap suddenly appeared in Olderbark Mountain. Now I’ve lived here for 51 years and looked out at that mountain and there was never anything out there,” said Jim Monseratte, whose property overlooks the mountain. “But somehow, between November, December and mid-January, this huge gap appeared. Now I don’t know if you want to call it clear cutting, whatever. But it’s huge. It’s enormous. And it can be seen from the three properties up here and also Cooper Lake.”
Monserrate was viewing the property with Ricci and could see a vehicle. “Imagine what it’s going to be when you see five separate buildings and a solar panel device. It’s clearly going to be seen and the views up here are going to be ruined. I mean, if you look from Cooper Lake Road, you don’t see anything, and now we’re going to get to see this monstrosity.”
Woodstock Tree Committee Chair Michael Veitch said he’s been trying to view the property to make recommendations, but his efforts were scuttled. “I requested a site visit on behalf of the tree committee to this property. I got a call at 7 in the morning from the supervisor telling me to back off, not to go there. So I’m here tonight to ask the Planning Board for your permission, your authority for the tree committee to just go up and have a look,” Veitch said. “If it’s as Laura (Ricci) says, frankly I’m horrified. Peter, I don’t know how you can justify cutting trees off 20 feet up, but I would like to see it for myself.”
Cross told Veitch he is invited to the December meeting about the Scenic Overlay regulations. “There are many places where people have topped trees on many mountains. This is not the first time this has happened,” Cross said.
Planning Secretary Melissa Gray said while the Planning Board has asked the Tree Committee on several occasions to go on site visits, it did not for this one. Gray said she asked Supervisor Bill McKenna to explain to Veitch there is a protocol.
Cross said the Tree Committee deals with trees in the hamlet and near highways.
No violations on the property
“There were communications indicating that there were violations that needed to be remediated, but there haven’t been any violations issued,” Planning Board Vice Chair Stuart Lipkind said. “So you know it to me, it’s like putting the cart before the horse. Until there’s a violation, what do we do? And so now we’re being asked to opine and make an ultimate decision on what’s being proposed on the theory that it violates the standards of the of the scenic overlay, but nobody’s issued a violation saying that violates the code.”
Join the family! 
