|
Editorial - Bound to Happen
08.09.2007
Harlem Valley Times
The Benjamin Companies has withdrawn it's Dover Knolls development application from the Dover Town Board. We can't blame them.
The developers' proposal to convert nearly 850 acres of the former Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center into a transit-based community has been sitting on the board's table for more than four years collecting cobwebs, as residents continue to ask, "Why?"
The Citizen's for a Better Dover organization spear-headed a petition drive that urged board members to re-open the dialogue with the Dover Knolls developers. To date, they have acquired more than 700 signatures yet dialogue languishes.
The petition drive does not mean residents are for or against the development. It only means they want the board to move the process forward so more information can be gathered.
In four years, the developers could have easily been in front of the planning board working on a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to discern how such a large project could affect the town.
In four years, the $16 Million the developers have spent in out-of-pocket expenses to keep the project afloat could have gone to more worthwhile endeavors.
In four years, residents could have received the information necessary to make their own educated decisions about the project.
Instead, those four years were basically wasted with the only results being unanswered questions and a now nonexistent application.
Shame on town board members for needlessly dragging out this process. It is not their job to stall the application over minute details and an army of planning consultants, but rather to move the process forward and let the facts speak for themselves.
To be fair, the Dover Knolls Development Co. has helped fuel the fire in some instances. Bickering between the board and the developers an matters like unnecessary memoranda of understanding continued to slow the process in March and May.
These constant disagreements are what led the developers to withdraw their application. They say they intend to re-submit it later on, but why should they? For more delays?
The Dover Knolls project is the biggest development proposal in the history of Dutchess County. Its size and cost overwhelmed the board, so much so that members were afraid to make the least decision, lest they be held accountable for the biggest disaster in county history.
Dover Knolls might yet be a huge success. But, this is election year and campaigns demand caution at best and inaction at worst.
We hope the board realizes that it's waste of time and money could have been cleared up with a mediator and a determination to open a public dialogue.
Town resident Edie Flood said she hoped her group could convince the current town board - or a future town board - to re-engage in negotiations with Benjamin Companies so the project could be built.
We fear the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center will continue to deteriorate as it has for the past four years. Everyone lo sos then.
Nearby
In nearby Pine Plains, town government has a much more open relationship with large developers.
The Carvel Property Development, which could add 951 homes across the border of Pine Plains and Milan, has been moving along at a steady pace, despite its size.
The planning board consistently meets with representatives of the Dirst Organization to discuss the progress of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and while both sides may disagree on various issues, they do so calmly and rationally.
We commend the members of the Pine Plains Planning Board, along with their planning consultants, for their slow and painstaking progress.
The Dover Town Board should look to Pine Plains for a model of how to work with the Dover Knolls developers.
» Back to Top | Back to List
|
