Just days after residents in the Village of Saugerties appeared en masse to oppose a land swap between the village and a developer with plans for a 167-unit residential complex, the deal is off.
During a meeting of the village board held on Monday, May 19, mayor Bill Murphy put the kibosh on the swap that would have given the proposed Country Meadows developer a currently landlocked, wooded parcel bordered by North Street to the west, Elm Street to the east and Canoe Hill Road to the north. In return, the village would receive land on which to build a new salt shed.
“This land swap issue has caused so much disruption,” Murphy said. “I told the planning board, ‘Deny it’. I’m fine with that. It doesn’t matter. If we have to relocate our salt shed, we’ll find a different place to relocate it.”
The village is looking into building a new salt shed to replace their current structure, which was found to be out of compliance after the New York State Environmental Conservation discovered that water runoff from the property was spilling into a ditch on Canoe Hill Road.
Under the now-scuppered plan, the developer would transfer 2.02 acres to the village to locate a new salt shed. In return, the village would provide the developer with two parcels: one measuring 1.01 acres and another 1.27 acres, allowing access to the project site, where they plan 26 separate subdivisions with a single multifamily building containing between four and eight units on each lot.
On Thursday, May 15, dozens of local residents filled the fire house on Partition Street to share a variety of concerns about the prospect of a large residential development in that corner of the village.
“We value our green spaces and respectfully request that you vote no to the proposal of the lot-line change and ultimate deforestation and development between North and Elm Street,” said Kathryn Meyer, reading from a petition signed by 293 local residents. “This project is not in keeping with the character of the village.”
Environmental and traffic concerns were among the other issues raised during the public hearing.
At the village board meeting, Murphy said he understood why neighbors in the area of the proposed land swap might oppose the plan.
“I grew up on Elm Street,” Murphy said. “I lived there for 31 years. I love that street, I love those woods. This development is not something that I’m tickled pink about. It’s not something that I would just rubber stamp and push through, by any means. I know the quality of life you all have over there. People are upset about it, and I get it. 100 percent.”
But Murphy added that just because this particular land swap was no longer possible, that didn’t mean some version of Country Meadows elsewhere in the village was off the table.
“There hasn’t been an application put in yet,” he said. “If we deny this land swap thing, then at some point they’ll probably…submit new plans of some sort to possibly look into this development.”
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