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OWNERSHIP QUESTIONS STYMIE PROGRESS FOR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
08-10-09 – 10:30 a.m. - Who owns the property along Sunset Boulevard will have to be determined before the Stockport Town Board can take action on a major housing development proposed for Stottville.
The Town Board conducted a public hearing on Tuesday, August 4, on a proposed law that would allow a 112-unit development to be constructed on a patch of land between State Route 9 and Chester Avenue. The developer, SSD Stockport, is seeking a Planned Development District designation from the Town Board for a 34-acre parcel which would allow the development of 76 single-family residences and 36 age-restricted town houses. The land in question is currently zoned “half-acre residential.” The proposal, which involves a total of 122 acres, would be an example of “cluster development”: the 112 units would be built on 34 acres; the remaining 88 acres would be designated “forever wild.” |
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Sunset Boulevard
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The current proposal—one of the largest developments proposed for the county in a decade—has been scaled down from the proposal presented by the same developer five years ago. The original proposal involved more than 100 single-family homes and several dozen town houses
Town Supervisor Leo Pulcher said the board heard from residents as well as the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce expressed support for the enabling designation. Residents expressed different opinions--some favoring the proposal and others expressing a variety of concerns, including increased traffic on Chester Avenue and stress the development would place on the Town's water and sewer systems. An attorney representing National Grid expressed the company’s concern about easements for its property, which is located in the middle of the proposed development.
Columbia County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Colby told ccSCOOP that the Chamber threw its support behind the project because of a need for new houses to support businesses in the county.
“We feel very strongly that there is a need for new houses in the county. The existing stock of new houses in the county is low. I have talked to two employers coming into the area. They are looking for new homes, and they have had to go other places to fill that need,” said Colby.
Colby said the Chamber’s Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to support the project.
Although the Stockport Town Board closed the public hearing, a major issue could still bring the project to a halt: the question of who owns some of the land along Sunset Boulevard, a short dead-end street off Chester Avenue. Pulcher said there are unanswered questions about the ownership of some of the land, and for at least one parcel, there is no known owner. Sunset Boulevard, which would need to be widened to meet Town specifications if the project were to move forward, would provide access to the development from Chester Avenue.
According to the proposed plan, single-family houses would be built along a new road to be constructed from the end of Sunset Boulevard to Route 9. The proposed age-restricted town houses would be constructed in the northwest corner of the property, in the vicinity of the Town’s older water tower, near the veterans' monument on Route 9.
"A lot of properties have to have easements, and others have to be acquired," said Pulcher. "If we go ahead and do the local law and can’t resolve Sunset Boulevard, basically that local law would be no good."
Pulcher said he expects that the developer will research the property ownership in time to appear again at the next Town Board meeting, which is scheduled for September 2.
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