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Dover: Study Harlem Center Options - Board Adopts Scoping Guide
07.03.2006
By Michael Woyton
Poughkeepsie Journal
DOVER PLAINS - The town wants to see different ways a former psychiatric center can be developed.
At a recent meeting, the Dover town board adopted the scoping document that outlines what environmental effects the developer must study before the project can be approved. The document will act as a guide, Supervisor Jill Way said.
"The scope talks about what [the draft environmental impact study] needs to contain," she said.
The town has included an alternative scenario the developer is required to investigate.
It is a "compact transit-oriented plan in which at least 85 percent of the housing on the west side of Route 22 and 90 percent of the housing on the east side is within a half mile of the railroad station," according to the document.
The 800-acre Dover Knolls development is being proposed by the Benjamin Companies, a Long Island firm that purchased the former Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in October 2003 for $3.95 million.
The developer wants to build 1,338 residential units, ranging from apartments and townhouses to estate-type homes. They are proposing to build 96 homes within a half mile of the Metro-North Railroad station.
The alternative scenario also includes preserving the 83-acre Dykeman property, which Benjamin purchased for more housing space.
Open space requested
Additionally, the town has asked the developer to study leaving 90 percent of the land more than a half mile from the railroad station as open space.
Way said the state Environmental Quality Review Act allows alternatives to be studied.
"Because this was discussed by the public and the town board, going back more than a year, it's very important to our community and needs to be in the scope as a guide for the applicant to prepare the DEIS," she said.
Michael Zarin, attorney for the developer, said Benjamin is excited the project is moving forward.
"This is an extremely comprehensive scope," he said. "We are prepared to move forward expeditiously to take a serious hard look at the impacts of this project, including a meaningful look at an alternative design requested by the board and many of the public."
Adjacent landowner Barbara Clay of Wingdale thinks the alternative plan is good.
"There are a lot of sensitive areas on that land," she said. "Where the footprint already is, from an ecological sense, is where the footprint should be."
She said it was a good idea for the town to ask for alternatives.
"If you don't get it into [the scoping], then you are locked out," she said.
Michael Woyton can be reached at mwoyton@poughkeepsiejournal.com
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