Developers of the Zena Homes project will be back before the Town of Ulster planning board July 9 to seek approval for a 30-lot subdivision at the end of Eastwoods Drive in Woodstock.
Last year, the developers initially proposed more than 190 homes and townhouses, a professional-level golf course and a helipad on land that comprised more than 500 acres in Woodstock and 106 acres in the Town of Ulster. They have dropped plans for the Woodstock portion, though they finalized purchase of all the land.
The developers changed their name from Woodstock National LLC to Zena Development LLC and are focusing on a subdivision in Ulster called Zena Homes.
Opponents include Stop Zena Development, Woodstock Land Conservancy, and other groups including Ulster Citizens, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, Overlook Mountain Center, Kingston Land Trust, Kingston Citizens, Friends of Bluestone Wild Forest and Catskill Mountainkeeper. These organizations argue the development would negatively impact an area adjacent to a critical environmental area and increase traffic on already heavily traveled Sawkill Road.
The developers say their intention is to build 30 single-family homes, but they estimate six to eight of the lots can accommodate two-family duplexes.
However, paperwork filed with the town shows 22 of the 30 lots could accommodate duplexes by right under Ulster code, bringing the allowable total to 52.
The developers argue 77 homes are actually permitted, but based on community outreach, they have decided on a scaled-down 30 homes.
One major obstacle to their aspirations is that the sole access to the site is through the Town of Woodstock.
Developers Evan Kleinberg and Eddie Greenberg will have to explain to Town of Ulster officials the status of approvals for improvements to Eastwoods Drive, a private gravel road off Zena Highwoods Road.
Kleinberg and Greenberg told Ulster’s planning board in April they believed site-plan approval was not needed from Woodstock. The developers argued that site-plan approval was not required for Eastwoods Drive because a road is not a “use” delineated in the zoning code table of uses.
A May 24 determination from Woodstock building inspector Francis “Butch” Hoffman disagreed.
Hoffman countered that site-plan approval was triggered by the fact that a building permit was required, not by the use. He also noted the exception of a road for a one- or two-family dwelling does not apply to a subdivision of 30 dwellings.
Also included in the development is an accessory community recreation area on a 3.14-acre lot that will include a tennis court, two pickleball courts and a 2400-square-foot recreation facility, Hoffman said.
“The road will serve these facilities in addition to the residential dwellings, and that also establishes that the one-family/two-family dwelling exception in Zoning Law § 260-74(A) does not apply to this project,” Hoffman wrote.
Road improvements will also require a Town of Woodstock wetland and watercourse permit, Hoffman wrote.
Kleinberg wrote a response to email questions.
“Our goal for the Ulster planning board meeting on July 9 is simply to continue progressing the project forward towards eventual approval,” Kleinberg wrote. “We will be updating the board on the May 24th determination from Woodstock’s building department, as you referenced, and our plan to move forward with the review as required. More details on timing for the Woodstock review to come on the ninth.”
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Ulster Town Hall, 1 Town Hall Drive.
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