It’s not what the developers of the proposed 30-lot Zena Homes subdivision in the Town of Ulster had been hoping for, but it’s what they got. They must play ball with Woodstock before Ulster planning officials will proceed with their project review.
The project is much diminished from the originally proposed Woodstock National, which featured more than 190 homes and townhouses, a golf course and a helipad. The developers changed their name to Zena Development LLC and dropped the gold course and helipad,
They say they have no plans — for now — for developing the 500-plus acres in Woodstock. Instead, their goal is a moremodest 30-lot subdivision for 106 acres in the Town of Ulster. Access would be from Eastwoods Drive, a private gravel road in the Town of Woodstock.
Among those attending the packed Town of Ulster planning-board meeting on July 9 was Woodstock town supervisor Bill McKenna.
Opponents argue the development would negatively impact land adjacent to a critical environmental area and increase traffic on Sawkill Road.
Just a procedural step
Zena Homes attorney Alec Gladd told the planning board that action by Ulster was the next step. He asked for a board-to-board discussion between the two towns based on a new environmental impact statement.
“Our only hope was you could circulate it tonight, then it could be an official discussion with the Woodstock planning board at [its] August 1 meeting that we’re targeting. So then by the time we come back in August [to the next Ulster planning board meeting], it’s just a procedural step,” Gladd said. “You obviously don’t need to assume lead agency or act on it. But we would just like to get the process started.”
Town attorney Jason Kovacs had other ideas. “I think this application is contingent on Woodstock,” he said. “So you have to move ahead with Woodstock for this board to really take any action here.”
Only then, Kovacs said, could the Ulster town planning board initiate the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process.
“I think the board would like to see this done simultaneously with Woodstock,” agreed Ulster planning chair Rory Lee. “We can at that point circulate information.”
This planning-board meeting in Ulster was a follow-up to the developers making the case on April 9 to the town board that a building permit was all that was needed to make improvements to Eastwoods Drive to accommodate the traffic generated by the proposed new housing subdivision.
Woodstock building inspector Francis ‘Butch’ Hoffman had told the applicants that their large project needed to apply for site-plan review from Woodstock’s planning board, and that they needed to obtain a wetlands and watercourse permit.
Just interested in shooting
Some of the discussion centered around potential impacts to the Ruby Rod and Gun Club, which owns 450 acres next to the property. Since shooting guns within 500 feet of a residence is prohibited by law, about 20 acres would be impacted, developer Evan Kleinberg said.
“We’ve had a discussion with the gun club and offered to be open to any concerns that they have about a potential no-shoot zone,” he said.
The club has said it wants no part of the development. Its membership voted in December to deny access through its 450 acres.
“They’re not interested in building. They’re just interested in shooting,” planning board member John Crispell explained.
Kleinberg said the property also has a 40-yard front setback and a 30-foot side setback.
Attention in Woodstock
McKenna’s been doing his Woodstock homework.
“They’ve been asked about whether they had applications in, and it was unclear,” said McKenna. “And I spoke with the planning department and the building inspector this afternoon to verify whether we have anything in yet.”
More than six weeks since Hoffman’s determination, no application has been submitted in Woodstock.”
The developers couldn’t hand Woodstock the application on July 31 and expect to be on the August agenda, McKenna, who has yet to take a public position on the project, noted.
“I’m not going to talk about my personal feelings, but I will say we have zoning laws, we have other laws. I just strongly believe there’s a process and we should go through the process and make sure that it’s fair and see where it leads us,” McKenna said. He said he hadn’t seen a plan for the road yet.
Woodstock Land Conservancy executive director Andy Mossey, committee co-chair for Stop Zena Development LLC, said he looked forward to reviewing the new environmental impact statement submitted by developers. He is also interested in Woodstock’s official role.
“This is intriguing that now the Town of Woodstock will be formally involved,” he said.
Moving forward
Mossey expects the developers to present to them at the next planning board meeting in Woodstock. “And we’ll see how that relationship moves forward,” he said.
“We had asked Evan Kleinberg, ‘Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently?’ He goes, ‘Yes’,” said townofulstercitizens.org co-chair Regis Obijiski. “I said, ‘But are you in it for the long haul, because this is going to be a very long haul for you?’ He said, ‘Yes’.”
Obijiski speculated that the developers had to keep going because they had investors.
“But they didn’t do their homework and learn what this would entail,” he said. “And Evan [Kleinberg] said to us he expected for the proposals to be received with open arms.”
They expected easy approvals?
“Yeah, they got that wrong,” said Obijiski’s co-chair, Laura Hartmann.
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