Planning Board hears progress on Keane Stud conservation analysis

AMENIA — Reporting that the conservation analysis in connection with the Keane Stud project remains incomplete, the developers sought advice from the Planning Borad at its regular meeting on Wednesday, June 25.

Representing the Keane Stud developers was attorney Diana Kolev, Partner of DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, LLP, of White Plains. She indicated that she was following up on the discussion heard during the previous meeting on Wednesday, June 11.

Discussion focused on process involved in meeting the request made by the board’s visual impact consultant George Janes for a “reasonable worst case development” as a help toward preparing a Declaration of Covenant document and measuring visual impact on the viewshed.

Kolev reported that Janes had met with Senior Planner Peter Sander of Rennia Engineering.

“The discussion was fruitful,” Janes reported to the planning board.

“The applicants are creating a list of comparables,” Janes said, reporting that so far they have identified seven examples of homes, largely in the Smithfield Valley, that could provide models for the type of homes that might be constructed within the Keane Stud development as the proposed 10-acre lots are sold.

Janes advised that it may be more important to get the right examples, even if they are not located in Amenia.

The next step, Janes said, will be for the planning board to look at the comparables. Then the Keane Stud developers would set about preparing a three-dimensional model of the site proposal and the visual impact.

“How can the public be brought into the process,” asked board attorney Paul Van Cott.

Janes commented that the board needs to decide how much it wants to be involved.

“We talked about Covenant,” said board member Ken Topolsky, seeking assurance that any Covenant “will have teeth in it.”

“The view from DeLaVergne Hill has no comparability,” said resident Sharon Kroeger during the public comment portion of the meeting. “It is in history and folklore.”

Current plans for the Keane Stud subdivision came under planning board discussion beginning in October 2024, when Keane Stud owner Juan Torres indicated that a new site plan for the property was being prepared.

In early April, Senior Planner Peter Sander of Rennia Engineering detailed changes to the plan for the planning board. Later that month the planning board detailed various concerns, emphasizing the need for establishing Covenant restrictions.

Meetings in June have continued to seek to measure visual impact to the DeLaVergne Hill viewshed.