Amenia Town Board delays action on affordable housing at Spruce Hill

AMENIA — Based on opposition voiced by neighboring residents, the Amenia Town Board, at its meeting Thursday, Dec. 7, declined to move forward on a zone change request for the Spruce Hill neighborhood.

The zone change is being requested by Hudson River Housing (HRH) of Poughkeepsie in connection with an affordable housing project they have proposed for their 16-acre parcel at Spruce Hill; on Thursday, the Town Board declined to move the zone change request to the Planning Board for its consideration, effectively pausing the zone change until “more information” could be gathered.

Mary Linge, HRH vice president for real estate development and home ownership, presented a brief overview of the project that HRH is proposing. The zone  change would permit the multifamily units being proposed: preliminary plans for the Spruce Hill site include the building of seven affordable duplex units and one affordable seven-apartment building.

Attorney Ian MacDonald of Mackey, Butts and Whalen in Poughkeepsie, representing HRH, said that the affordable housing project would be “good for Amenia and all of Dutchess County.”

One of the adjacent neighbors, Salvatore La Rosa, voiced comments to the proposed zone change, indicating that he and his wife bought their home in 2022, expecting a quiet retirement in a scenic country setting.

La Rosa speculated that the recreational trail proposed by the developers would endanger the public because it would pass a former quarry that now contains a deep lake; that the entrance to the affordable housing complex, situated on a curve along Route 22, was dangerously sighted; that the common driveway to access Spruce Hill, which, according to current plans, would skirt La Rosa’s property, would create traffic flow problems; that a decision to accommodate HRH’s plan would lead to “spot zoning” because there are no contiguous parcels with the zoning designation being requested; that the septic system on the parcel would be uphill from neighbors’ properties; and that the 14 new housing units would require 42 additional post boxes at the Amenia post office, putting stress on available parking.

La Rosa’s comments were representative of other neighbors’ positions on the Spruce Hill project.

Charlie Miller, chairman of the Housing Board, spoke in support of the HRH plans for the property. 

HRH, a 40-year-old nonprofit, first proposed the development at a public forum on affordable housing in October 2022, at which residents met to discuss the need for affordable housing in Amenia.

Amenia currently has no affordable housing. The Housing Board is currently working with the town, hoping to develop what would become the town’s first unit of affordable housing, a single family home on Lake Amenia Road being considered for purchase by the town. The Wastewater Committee also hopes to locate a modern wastewater facility on land adjacent to that site.