Brynwood FEIS Public Hearings Likely to Resume By Spring
North Castle officials anticipate the public hearing on Brynwood Golf & Country Club’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) to resume within two months once the developers address issues raised by the town’s consultants.
Earlier this month, the town board accepted reports from BFJ Planning and Kellard Sessions, an Armonk engineering firm, detailing a long series of questions the applicant must answer related to its condominium development and golf course redesign plan.
At the board’s last regular meeting, Supervisor Michael Schiliro said resumption of the hearing could be in March or April, although how quickly the Brynwood developers submit their responses to the consultants’ reports will help determine when it is scheduled.
The updated proposal consists of 63 market-rate condominiums, 10 fee-simple golf cottages and on-site seven affordable units. If the affordable units are built off-site the developers would build 70 market-rate units along with the 10 fee-simple cottages on the 156-acre property on Bedford Road in Armonk. The off-site requirement would mean an additional affordable unit offsite, for a total of eight.
On Feb. 9, representatives for Brynwood’s development team updated the town board on the changes that were first outlined last fall and why the project would be a benefit to the community.
“This group, they want to be part of your community,” said attorney Mark Weingarten. “They don’t want to sell to somebody else, they don’t want to sell to build other things. This is their vision, this is what they want to do and they’re hoping you share that vision with them by the time they’re done.”
The property is currently zoned two-acre residential, but the applicant has requested a unique overlay district to allow for the luxury multifamily housing. Under current zoning, the applicant could build up to 49 single-family houses.
Various iterations of Brynwood’s condominium and golf course plan have been proposed since the property was purchased in late 2009. Most of the arguments against the proposals have contended that the project would be too dense and would add to congestion along Route 22. Opponents also protested the inequity of condominiums taxes that are roughly half of a similarly valued single-family house.
As a result, one of the biggest changes proposed is making the condominium units fee simple. The forecasted additional revenues to the town and school district is $904,619, which would be provided by the applicant in an annual payment, according to the BFJ report.
Tax revenue projections now amount to about $1.7 million a year for the Byram Hills School District, $467,000 a year for the county and $389,000 annually to the town’s coffers, Weingarten said.
Other changes include greater setbacks from Route 22, a conservation easement that would maintain most of the property as open space and an offer to join Water District #2, which would greatly reduce expenses for the property owners in the district. If Brynwood doesn’t join the water district, Weingarten said on-site wells would support the project’s water needs.
Architect Jim Tinson, said the proposal represents a special opportunity and one that would help boost property values throughout the town. He said Troon Golf, one of the elite golf club management organizations in the world, operates 47 of the top 100 golf clubs around the globe.
“We have the only large-scale and really significantly undeveloped land proposal in this entire area,” Tinson said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
