It is by far the biggest development in Woodstock’s history to any board member’s recollection. Proposed for a location between Zena Highwoods Road and Eastwoods Drive in the Zena-High Woods area, Woodstock National; as it is dubbed, would consists of 24 affordable housing units, 90 single-family homes, 77 townhomes and an 18-hole golf course on 500 acres.
Traffic and wetlands concerns were among issues raised by the planning board during a presentation of a project concept last week. The development is mostly in the newly formed Zena Critical Environmental Area, or Zena CEA.
Planning Board chair Peter Cross stressed the preliminary nature of the Woodstock National project. No formal application has been filed. Under a newly adopted process called pre-sketch-plan review, applicants can seek input from the board before making a formal application.
“This property is in the designated Zena Woods Critical Environmental Area, and thus will involve forest preservation and conservation, wildlife habitat, and wildlife corridors,” Cross said.
Alec Gladd, attorney for the developer, stressed the conditional nature of what is being proposed. “The intent of the development is to preserve as much of that forest cover as possible. The individual lots are going to be limited to the clearing that’s necessary for driveways, wells, the building envelope, and then just maybe for a deck, pool and maybe a shed,” he said.
About 15 of the 18 holes in the proposed golf course are in Woodstock and three to four in the Town of Ulster. The 175-acres for the proposed golf course would take up about 175 acres and include a clubhouse, driving range, golf pro shop and 16 rental villas to be used by members.
The Ulster portion must go before the Ulster planning board for approval.
Jason Straka of Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design said Audubon International has “a high level of interest in participating from the ground up to make this one of their signature status programs.”
The developer wants to bring clients and other communities to show how such a project can be environmentally certified and maintained, he said. “Much of what we try to do is build in as much core habitat for certain species,” Straka said.
Though an existing, operational airstrip runs through the parcels included in the Woodstock National proposal, the developers say they do not plan to continue to operate it as an airport. “We’d like to allow for it to be used as a helipad, potentially,” said Evan Kleinberg, one of the principals. Audible groans could be heard from the audience.
“Even though the town code of Woodstock does not allow airplanes or helicopters in the town, this happens to be an FAA-approved landing strip,” Cross said. “And it’s got documentation to prove that it’s been maintained and that there are landings every year to maintain it.”
Planning board member James Conrad was concerned that the affordable-housing part of the concept might have been an afterthought. “I’m just curious. It seems a little, like shoved off over here in this corner. And I just wonder if there’s any consideration to try to incorporate affordable housing more within the whole site,” he said.
With the current zoning, Kleinberg explained, more units could be built the way it has been proposed. If the affordable units were integrated, their number would have to be downsized.
By the time the project was ready to move forward, planning board co-chair Judith Kerman noted, new zoning will hopefully be in place. Some of the changes will allow for cluster development on order to have less impact on the land.
The affordable-housing component would need to meet income criteria, such as 150 percent of the county Area Median Income, or AMI. Rent would be no more than 30 percent of family income.
Planning board member Graydon Yearick asked whether the trails or restaurants would be open to the general public. Kleinberg replied that d they wouldn’t be exclusive to the members.
“We don’t intend to have a gate and a lock,” he said. “We’re still kind of working through the programming, but we want people to be able to utilize some of the parks and the trails.”
Kerman stressed the importance of traffic impact. “I want to suggest to you that the traffic issues are a really important thing to think about,” she said. “This is this is not such an easy place to put in 200 cars.”
Gladd assured the board that traffic impact would be considered. “We’re going to do a full traffic study that will be part of all the other studies. I’m sure you’ll get a stack of paper as I am tall,” he said.
Gladd is about six feet tall.
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