Environmental Details Sought On 178-Unit Condo Complex 

By Andrew Gorosko

The developer of a 178-unit age-restricted condominium complex proposed for Hawleyville plans to provide the Conservation Commission with additional information about surface water quality on its 50-acre development site at 12-16 Pocono Road, as well as details on steps that could be taken to lessen the construction project’s adverse effects on the site’s wetlands.

Representatives of Bashert Developers, LLC, of New City, N.Y., in Rockland County, at a January 25 public hearing provided Conservation Commission members with answers to a range of questions that have been posed about the condominium project’s effects on the area. The developers are seeking a wetlands permit from the Conservation Commission, which serves as the town’s wetlands protection agency. The site, which is a depleted sand-and-gravel mine, contains wet areas and streams.

Bashert wants to build a complex holding 132 congregate-style dwellings within ten apartment buildings, plus 46 independent-living condos located in a cluster of eight separate buildings. The project would include a clubhouse. Construction work would take three years to complete. The site has EH-10 (Elderly Housing) zoning, which is designated for high-density, multifamily development for people over age 55.

The 50-acre site is adjacent to The Homesteads at Newtown, which is a 100-unit assisted-living building. The driveway at 166 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6), which serves The Homesteads apartment building, also would serve the Bashert project, which is known as The Woods at Newtown.

In 2001, The Homesteads gained town approvals to build 178 dwellings on the 50-acre site, but only constructed 12 condos there, which have never been occupied.

Although Bashert is seeking to build the same number of dwellings as had been planned by The Homesteads, because Bashert has proposed a different site development plan, it must receive new approvals for its project from the Conservation Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

Bashert’s proposal calls for the demolition of the 12 condos on the site that were never occupied.

Attorney James P. White, Jr, representing Bashert, told Conservation Commission members that although the 50-acre site is adjacent to The Homesteads assisted-living building, Bashert has no business relationship with The Homesteads.

“We have no relationship, business or otherwise, with the prior owners” of the 50-acre site, Mr White stressed, noting that Bashert bought the site through a bankruptcy proceeding in which The Homesteads lost the site due to financial problems.

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.

Site Details

Engineer Ted Hart of Milone & MacBroom, Inc, representing the developer, told Conservation Commission members that providing underground parking for 270 vehicles on the site is both environmentally and aesthetically beneficial. That parking would be located beneath a courtyard surrounded by the ten congregate-housing apartment buildings.

The underground parking effectively serves as garage space for the vehicles, sheltering them from the elements, he said. Drainage from the underground parking garage would be channeled into sanitary sewer lines, avoiding the potential contamination of wetlands on the site, he said.

The underground garage would be ventilated to exhaust carbon monoxide fumes from the subsurface structure.

The developer’s environmental representative told Conservation Commission members that there is no evidence of beaver activity having occurred on the site during the past eight years.

An environmental buffer zone would be maintained along Pogond Brook as it courses through the site. There are no environmentally sensitive species located on the property. Numerous invasive plant species would be removed from the premises.

Landscape architect David Dixon of Milone & MacBroom, Inc, representing the developer, said an existing access point to the site at Pocono Road would be reserved for emergency use only.

Approximately 40 percent of the 50-acre site, or 20.7 acres, would be placed under a conservation easement, where development would be prohibited, Mr Dixon said.

Existing wetlands on the site should retain their current water levels after construction is complete, he said.

Resident Barbara Herman of Liberty at Newtown asked about the distance between The Woods at Newtown and her residence at Liberty at Newtown. Liberty at Newtown is a newly constructed 96-unit age-restricted condo complex at 178 Mt Pleasant Road.

Mr Dixon responded that the closest structure at The Woods at Newtown would be approximately 600 feet from Ms Herman’s residence.

Mr Dixon said the developer would work with town Conservation Official Rob Sibley to determine how to best minimize adverse effects on wetlands on the site.

Mr Sibley said he will research what are the environmentally best methods of removing the various invasive plant species from The Woods at Newtown site.

The Conservation Commission hearing will resume on February 8.