Planning & Zoning Approves Hattertown Place Residential Subdivision

By Andrew Gorosko

In a 4-1 vote, P&Z members have approved Hattertown Place, a five-lot residential subdivision planned for 21.3-acre site on the west side of Hattertown Road, north of Hattertown Road’s intersection with Poverty Hollow Road.

The P&Z approved the project on October 7, after having reviewed an archaeological report on the subdivision prepared for the land developer.

Hattertown, LLC, of Pawling, N.Y., plans the project for a steeply rugged site at 22-24 Hattertown Road. The existing two lots at the site would be reconfigured into five lots. The land is in a R-2 (Residential) zone.

As part of its review of the Hattertown Place proposal, the P&Z required the developer to study whether the land holds archaeologically significant artifacts.

It is the first time that the P&Z has required such an archaeological review, as allowed under the terms of land use regulations that the P&Z created in May 2009.

The report prepared by Heritage Consultants, LLC, in summary, states that “No significant archaeological deposits will be impacted as a result of the development project.” The report describes in detail the methodology used to make that determination.

The P&Z placed a number of conditions on the subdivision approval.

The western section of Lot B on the subdivision map must be labeled as an area of “archaeological sensitivity” on the official record map of the subdivision.

The P&Z’s archaeology land use regulations seek to preserve significant archaeological, historic, and cultural features of land proposed for subdivisions and resubdivisions. Sites identified as being of archaeological, historical, or cultural interest would be subject to progressively more levels of research, depending upon the relative quality of a site.

Before filing the final subdivision maps with the town, the developer must post a performance bond in the amount of $162,700 concerning town road improvements and stormwater drainage improvements, the installation of a 30,000-gallon underground water tank for firefighting, and the installation of building lot markers.

The developer must permanently field mark the conservation easements and property access easements at the site to allow potential lot buyers to identify such areas. Also, the developer must permanently field mark and blaze a trail within the accessway that leads to the open space area on the site to allow potential lot buyers to identify that area.

There would be about 4.7 acres of open space on the site, plus areas covered by conservation easements.

P&Z members found that the application is consistent with the subdivision regulations and with the provisions of the R-2 zone.

The approved project is the latest residential subdivision proposal which the developer has pursued for the property during the past several years. Earlier versions were smaller in scale. The current version of the project gained a wetlands protection permit last January from the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC).

The Hattertown Place proposal has been revised many times during the past several years.

Town rejections of previous development proposals for the site resulted in court action by the developer in seeking to gain land use approvals.

In March 2009, the IWC had rejected a four-lot version of the project proposed for 11 acres. That rejection drew a court appeal from the developer.