The Woods at Newtown—

178 Age-Restricted Condos Proposed For Hawleyville

By Andrew Gorosko

A New York State developer is proposing the construction of 178 condominium units of age-restricted housing in Hawleyville at a 50-acre site adjacent to The Homesteads at Newtown assisted-living complex.

Bashert Developers, LLC, of New City, N.Y., in Rockland County, presented plans for its proposal known as The Woods at Newtown to the Conservation Commission, serving as the town’s wetlands agency, at a January 11 public hearing. The developer is seeking a wetlands permit for the project. The property contains wet areas and streams.

The site, which is a depleted sand-and-gravel mine, has a street address of 12-16 Pocono Road. It has vehicle access from 166 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6). The site has EH-10 (Elderly Housing) zoning, which is designated for high-density, multifamily development for people over age 55.

Although the project would have the same vehicle access from Mt Pleasant Road as the 100-unit assisted-living Homesteads at Newtown complex, the Bashert development venture is not financially connected with The Homesteads, which gained initial construction approvals in 1998.

In 2001, The Homesteads had received revised town approvals to build 178 dwellings on the 50-acre site, in the form of 132 congregate units and 46 condos.

The Homesteads eventually built 12 age-restricted condos on the property, but they have never been occupied. The condos never received certificates of occupancy due to delinquent property taxes. Bashert would demolish those 12 unoccupied condos as part of its development plans for the site.

After encountering financial problems, The Homesteads was not able to complete its envisioned 278-unit project. Bashert acquired the 50-acre site last spring for $8.9 million. A separate firm, Newtown Senior Living, LLC, acquired the existing adjacent Homesteads 100-unit assisted-living building for $11.8 million.

Bashert would construct the same number of units as The Homesteads had planned for the 50-acre site — 132 congregate housing units and 46 independent living units.

Congregate housing is an intermediary step between independent-living units and assisted-living units, in which residents receive some degree of supervision in their daily lives.

Bashert’s proposal calls for the construction of ten apartment buildings, in which the 132 congregate units would be located. A clubhouse containing an indoor swimming pool would be located nearby. The 46 independent-living units would be located in a separate cluster of eight buildings on the site.

The developer estimates the project would take three years to construct.

Presentation

Attorney James P. White, Jr, of the Pulman and Conley, LLC law firm, represented Bashert at the public hearing. Mr White stressed that the number of units proposed by Bashert is the same number that received construction approvals from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) in the past.

Bashert proposes the same type of uses for the property, but proposes a different site design, so it is necessary for the firm to proceed through the town’s land use review process to gain the approvals required for construction.

Mr White said that based on The Woods at Newtown’s site design, it is necessary to demolish the 12 unoccupied condos at the site that were built but never occcupied. A loop road would be constructed on the property, providing access to both the congregate-living complex and the independent-living buildings, he said. 

People living in the congregate-care units would receive at last one meal per day in the clubhouse near that complex, he said. The ten apartment buildings would be interconnected by a glass-walled corridor, so that residents would never need go outdoors to reach the clubhouse.

The site would have extensive conservation easement areas where future development would be prohibited.

The site was used as a sand-and-gravel mine starting in the mid-1960s. It contains much exposed bedrock. Much of the property is covered with a very dense growth of Russian olive, a small hardy tree that often is used for ornamental purposes along interstate highways.

David Dixon of Milone and MacBroom, Inc, an engineering firm representing Bashert, told commission members that The Woods at Newtown poses a “new opportunity” for age-restricted living.

The ten congregate-housing apartment buildings would surround a courtyard with detailed landscaping features, he said. Subsurface parking spaces for 270 vehicles would be located beneath that courtyard. “No one’s ever going to see these cars,” he said.

Parking for the eight independent-living buildings would be located in garages and at ground level.

The complex would have a sidewalk network. Grading on the site would not exceed a five percent grade.

The Woods at Newtown constitutes a better development plan for the property than was previously proposed in The Homesteads project, he said.

Public water lines, sanitary sewers, electric lines, telephone cable, and cable television lines all would be located underground.

The project would involve some reworking of the wetlands on the site to accommodate the development plan.

Conservation Commission Chairman Sally O’Neil fielded a variety of questions on the project from the public and from commission members. The developer is expected to respond to those queries when the public hearing resumes on January 25.

Those questions focused on the appearance of the project from Pocono Road, wildlife preservation, underground parking, and a chemical analysis of bodies of water on the site.