COPAKE GREEN PROJECT SET TO SPROUT AGAIN

Mike McCagg

ccSCOOP News

07-20-09 - 5:15 p.m. - A controversial housing project in the heart of Copake is apparently moving forward after a multi-year hiatus. A surprise visit by Housing Resources Executive Director Kevin O'Neill to a Copake Planning Board meeting in early July heightened speculation that the 139-unit Copake Green project is back on the table. While town officials were unclear whether the visit meant that the developer was ready to move ahead with the project, O’Neill confirmed to ccSCOOP on Monday that he is indeed ready to proceed. “We’re going to get it back on the agenda. I went to the last meeting to get the board members up to speed, because you basically have a new board down there,” said O’Neill. O’Neill said he plans to request that the Planning Board officially restart its work on the project at its September meeting.

The Copake Green project, which has been on hold since 2007, consists of 139 senior and family residential dwelling units to be constructed on a 122-acre site off County Route 7A and Mountain View Road. The development would include a community green, land preserved for dedicated agricultural use, and open space to be donated to the Town of Copake for use as parkland.

The proposed residential development includes 59 senior units, with 35 of those being owner-occupied and the remainder being rental. The remaining units would consist of 68 owner-occupied family units and 12 rental units in three- and four-family unit buildings. Some town residents have raised objections to developing an existing open field, expressed concern about the strain on municipal and school services, and questioned the general appropriateness of the development.

O’Neill said there have been no changes made to the project during the hiatus.

Planning Board Chairman Marcia Becker told ccSCOOP that the status of the application remains active—as it has since the project was first proposed in 2006. She said O’Neill’s appearance at the Planning Board meeting had not been planned, but she had notified O’Neill some time ago that, if the project review was going to be restarted, he would have to brief the Planning Board members on the project. “I told him there are several new members that need to be brought up to speed who knew nothing about it,” Becker said.

Although O’Neill did not equest to be put on the agenda ten days in advance of the meeting—the Planning Board requirement—Becker explained that, because there was a light agenda in July and because Housing Resources owns land in the town, she believed allowing O’Neill to make his twenty-minute presentation was the right thing to do. “It caused an uproar that we let him speak. . . . So from now on we are adhering to the ten-day rule,” Becker said.

Jeanne Mettler, chairman of the Comprehensive Planning Committee, said her panel is not taking a look at the Copake Green project yet because they are currently involved in examining broader issues in the town and undertaking a survey of residents. "It's not something that is on our plate right now. We are just beginning to meet with groups, and we just put a survey out," she said.