A proposed subdivision to created four lots for four new houses at the corner of Prospect Street and Henry W. Dubois Drive has drawn criticism from neighbors in the Village of New Paltz.
The project was last brought before the village planning board two years ago, when concerns about the impact on drainage and sewage adding four homes to a primary plot that, before being subdivided, is slightly larger than three-quarters of an acre in size and is surrounded by six other residential properties.
The proposed subdivision was led by Floyd Kniffen, principal of New Paltz-based developer Kniffen Homes, which owns the property. The plan is to sell each of the four lots to buyers who engage Kniffen Homes to build new houses, and among the issues neighbors are having is what putting four houses will do to the neighborhood.
“My main concern here is that I looked at the plan, the drawings last year, when this came up before, and I just don’t see how putting four houses in there is consistent with the character of the neighborhood,” said Gilbert Plantinga, who commented via Zoom and owns a home on Caroline Way, a paved private road that runs along the eastern side of the Kniffen property. “I worry it will have an extremely adverse effect on the value of my property.”
Former planning board member John Oleske, who lives on Prospect Street, addressed the board in person, saying he would like to see a single home built on the existing property.
“It’s a wonderful plot,” Oleske said. “Part of it probably should be saved for like a pocket park to connect with Moriello (Park) and the (Mill Brook) Preserve. Those are my fantasies and I know this is the real world. But still, you know there’s a good profit to be made building a house there that’s like the other ones in the neighborhood.”
Oleske was skeptical that the subdivision as planned could reasonably manage the added stress on the municipal sewer system and felt flooding of properties at lower elevations would inevitably become an issue.
Perry Goldschein, who lives on Caroline Way, shared similar concerns, adding that because of the close proximity of the surrounding properties, building four homes would adversely impact the lives of neighbors.
“We are not divided by even a full road, it’s literally a shared private driveway,” Goldschein said. “This is going to be a significant disturbance to our neighborhood…The applicant responded that he sells lots individually. So you can’t say for certain how long this project is going to be drawn out. With four homes proposed and developing those individually, realistically, we’re looking at a minimum of four to five years full that that’s going to be when that neighborhood, especially the homes in Caroline Way will be impacted.”
Goldschein suggested that the various parties work together to try and minimize the period of time construction might take, whether through municipal ordinance, or by using prefabricated materials in the new homes.
“I had mentioned modular homes because one of the five on Caroline is a modular home and those go up quickly,” Goldschein said. “The applicant indicated prefabricated walls as another option that might speed up development. I’m trying to offer some thoughts on solutions so that this doesn’t become all stick built and multi several year projects for the community to deal with.”
Kniffen said he would consider some of the suggestions made by neighbors, but not all would make sense for what Kniffen Homes does.
“As far as timing, I fully understand the impact building next door to someone’s house has,” Kniffen said. “I do intend to look into doing deep prefabricated panels. When I grew up, my father was a stick builder, I’m a stick builder. I’m willing to try to forget some of that. I think there’s a better level of quality with the stick build house, but prefabricated wall panels are not that bad. But modular, I just don’t feel comfortable considering a modular house there.”
Kniffen added that due to the sale of individual lots and the potential design needs of each buyer, he wouldn’t be able to commit up front to completing the entire project in a specified period of time.
“I don’t know why I would put myself in that risk of saying I could do something when monetarily that’s out of my control,” he said.
Planning board member Rachel Lagodka said she understood some of the concerns of the neighbors.
“This is a very steep slope on that property with a lot of beautiful old trees and large rock outcroppings,” she said. “And when you look at it, it’s really hard to imagine what would happen if you built four houses. I can understand why the neighbors would be upset. Just to flatten that amount of space that you have in those envelopes would cause a major, major disturbance. And it’s hard to see from there, know where all the trees are, but there are some really beautiful old trees.”
Kniffen said the subdivision and new homes were following a long tradition that led to the Village of New Paltz.
“The whole village was wooded at one point,” he said. “This is no different than any of these other subdivisions or any other subdivisions that have been done. And we always do try to take great care of leaving as many trees as possible.”
Kniffen also bristled at the suggestion that the proposal was out of character for the neighborhood.
“I’ve always felt subdividing this and creating lots that are literally the exact same size, maybe a little smaller, a little bit bigger to all the other neighboring lots is about as consistent as you can get,” he said. “I did look into, if I didn’t subdivide, if I wanted to build an apartment building or a townhouse building, what would that look like? And literally that was just one big building right on front of Prospect Street. I felt that this was a better application…This application literally is creating lots that match all the other neighboring ones. They’re all going to be single family houses.”
The planning board voted to move forward with a coordinated review as lead agency, and to refer Kniffen’s stormwater plan to engineering firm Brinnier and Larios.
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