PINE PLAINS — After receiving The Durst Organization’s latest application for the Hudson Valley project (formerly known as the Durst project) in Pine Plains and Milan, the Pine Plains Planning Board discussed the application and what steps should be taken going forward at its meeting on Wednesday, April 14.
Conservation subdivision
The Durst Organization submitted an application to the board on Wednesday, April 7, that proposed a 237-lot conservation subdivision on its 2,655-acre property west of the main hamlet of Pine Plains. As part of its proposal, Durst requested in its proposal that the board begin both the sketch plan review of the subdivision and the required State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process and begin circulating for lead agency.
Included in the SEQRA process, a new Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will be prepared to review the project.
The meeting was held over Zoom and live streamed to the “Pine Plains Planning and Zoning Boards” YouTube channel due to the COVID-19 health crisis. Durst Project Manager Lisa Baker introduced a few team members, including attorney Jennifer Van Tuyl, project manager Catherine Monian and planner Stuart Mesinger from The Chazen Companies.
Baker outlined their intent to present the residential sketch plan The Durst Organization submitted to the board for the proposed conservation subdivision redevelopment of the former Carvel Country Club and its adjoining properties. Although it’s been almost a year since they last presented to the Planning Board, she said the team has been “working continuously to consider the best project imaginable for this beautiful property.
“We look forward to working closely with your board and the Milan Planning Board to create a project that preserves a substantial amount of open space, protects environmental resources, supports local economic activity and preserves connectivity to the hamlet and adjoining recreational resources,” Baker said.
Past plans
Monian projected an overview of the project site as a visual for Mesinger’s review of the project’s history. From the development of the late ice cream magnate Tom Carvel’s original plan for the property in the 1960s to Durst’s acquisition of Carvel’s golf club in 2001, Mesinger covered pivotal moments for the property as well as the various alterations made to the project over the past two-plus decades.
He also touched on Durst’s application for a second-home community project in 2004 and its 2011 application under Pine Plains’ New Neighborhood Development (NND) provisions to develop a new neighborhood district.
Mesinger said Durst studied conservation subdivisions closely before deciding to advance a new project. The organization formally withdrew the NND application and held a public meeting to discuss the conservation subdivision concept last February; by April, a pre-sketch application for the conservation subdivision concept was submitted to the board.
Mesinger reminded the board that the purpose of the pre-sketch process is two-fold: to establish a base residential yield for how many units can be developed on the property and to establish at least 50% of the site as open space as required by the conservation subdivision process.
Monian projected the pre-sketch plan that outlined the various conservation features mapped on site; 53% of the site was identified as open space and the calculation for the base residential yield came out with 223 units. In addition to submitting the conservation subdivision application to the Pine Plains Planning Board, Mesinger said Durst met with the Milan Planning Board to present the concept and talk about the development process.
They also met with the New York State Department of Health to talk about water and sewer, and are now trying to schedule a meeting with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to talk about issues that might fall under its jurisdiction.
Open space
Looking at the sketch plan application itself, Mesinger pointed out key features, such as how the plan respects the buffers around the regulated wetlands and limits road crossings. However, he said he believes the plan’s most salient feature is the amount of open space. With the base residential yield calculated at 237 lots (11.2 acres per lot), the development is largely focused on Lake Carvel and north and west of Route 199. Because Durst is considering a resort in Pine Plains, Mesinger said they’d like to have the resort be an alternative to be considered in the project’s DEIS.
Planners Frank Fish and Sarah Yackel from BFJ Planning, planning consultants for the town, gave the board a preview of what steps are expected in the SEQRA process.
Fish said he believes the first action would be for the board to declare its intent to be lead agency in the SEQRA process, while Yackel walked the board though that process with its anticipated steps, meetings and scoping sessions. The board engaged in a thorough discussion both with its planners and Attorney to the Town Warren Replansky in terms of how the resort alternative would work.
Working with Milan
Planning Board member Dick Hermans asked if the board should set up a formal liaison with Milan to stay abreast of Milan’s side of the project. The board agreed it was a good idea to have a Pine Plains liaison attend Milan’s meetings and designated Hermans to be the liaison.
Replansky said he believed the Planning Board is obligated to conduct a coordinated SEQRA review with Milan. As he’s anticipating that there’s going to be much more coordination between the two municipalities during the review of this project, he said the bard should start thinking in terms of how it will do that.
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.
Joining in the fun at the dedication of the new pollinator pathway garden at The Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4, local expert gardener Maryanne Snow Pitts provides information about a planting to Lorraine Mirabella of Poughkeepsie.
MILLBROOK — Participating in a patchwork of libraries that have planted pollinator pathway gardens to attract insects and birds to their native plantings was one of the accomplishments being celebrated at the dedication of a new pollinator garden at the Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“A lot of work went into it,” said Emma Sweeney, past President of the Millbrook Garden Club, who started the local library’s initiative two years ago.
The Pollinator Pathway program is a national effort to plant native plants that native insects depend upon for sustenance and preferred plants for their own seasonal reproduction.
Jana Hogan of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Executive Director of the Pollinator Pathway program, was on hand to present a plaque to the library for its successful participation.
“A garden is not just a garden,” said garden designer Andy Durbridge of Wassaic, designer of the library’s garden. “It may serve as a model for other gardens along the line.”
Speaking to the 50 visitors at the dedication, Durbridge said that the library’s garden has a mission, that it is a working garden, planned to serve insects and birds over their seasons. The earliest plants support pollinators, while the full range of plants continues to serve the needs of those they attract, offering habitat, shelter and food.
A pollinator garden is akin to a prairie, rather than a formalized European garden, Durbridge noted.
The garden project was supported by the library’s Friends group using funds raised during the Holiday Silent Auction and ongoing book sale. A grant from the Millbrook Garden Club also provided support.
Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
AMENIA — After gathering comments from the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, as it considers adding alternate members to those boards, the Town Board discussed possible changes to local laws governing those boards at its meeting on Friday, Oct. 3. The meeting date, usually on a Thursday, had been changed to accommodate a holiday.
In recent weeks Town Board attorney Ian Lindars has been compiling comments from the affected boards along with comments from the Town Board. The new laws may bring the appointment of two alternate members to each board. Alternate members are likely to be required to attend all meetings and be prepared to be seated if needed and be familiar with the applications being discussed. They would also need to take training required of all board members.
Lindars will prepare a draft of the new local laws to be reviewed by the Town Board and the affected boards.
As the Town Board begins work on the town’s annual budget negotiation process and anticipating an increase in some budget lines to accommodate major projects, the board unanimously approved three resolutions. The first will override the tax levy limit imposed on municipalities by the state of New York, a limit generally tied to the rate of inflation.
A public hearing on the proposal to override the levy limit was set for Thursday, November 6, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.
