No. Castle Agrees to Start SEQRA for Brynwood Proposal

The North Castle Town Board narrowly agreed last week to commence the environmental review for Brynwood Golf & Country Club’s application to build 88 luxury condominiums and redesign its golf course.

Before close to 300 people at H.C. Crittenden Middle School in Armonk, the board voted 3-2 on Sept. 27 to jumpstart the state Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process and declared itself lead agency. Many of those in the crowd siding with the plan wore green “Save Brynwood” stickers but there was nearly an equal number who appealed to the town board during the three-hour hearing to reject Brynwood’s request to begin SEQRA. The discussion and vote came nearly three years after the current ownership group bought the 156-acre property on Route 22 and about a year and a half after it submitted its original application.

Supervisor Howard Arden and council members Diane DiDonato-Roth and John Cronin supported the vote to begin the review while councilmen Michael Schiliro and Stephen D’Angelo opposed the action. In addition to site plan approval from the planning board, the town board would have to grant Brynwood a zoning change from the current two-acre residential to a new golf course community zone, said Mark Weingarten, an attorney representing the applicant.

Arden said the SEQRA process will help town officials determine whether the site can sustain Brynwood’s plan. There are questions on a wide range of issues including density, traffic and whether the developer’s projections of additional tax revenue for the Byram Hills School District and the town are accurate.

“The concern of this developer is not our responsibility but it’s an opportunity for all of us to benefit,” Arden said of the decision to begin the review.

Two days before the meeting, Brynwood made the latest revision to its plan, lowering the number of residences from 98 to 88 condominiums that are targeted to empty nesters. Last year, the applicant submitted plans for 243 units, cut that number nearly in half earlier this year, then reduced it to 98 with its Aug. 31 submission. With the latest plan, there would be 58 two-bedroom units, 25 residences with three bedrooms and five four-bedroom units.

Edward Baquero, president of Corigan Real Estate Group, part of the Brynwood partnership, applauded the decision by the board to move ahead saying the group welcomed the opportunity.

The ownership group is projecting a $690,000 net revenue increase for the school district despite estimates of 14 additional schoolchildren. It also estimates $237,000 in tax revenues for the town.

During his presentation at the start of the hearing, Weingarten reiterated that Brynwood would submit an application for 49 single-family homes–the number it could pursue without a zoning change–if its request to begin SEQRA was rebuffed. That plan would shut the golf course and club as soon as next year, he said. But if SEQRA would start, Brynwood ownership pledged to keep the facility open, Weingarten said.

He said that the country club model where the golf course is open about six months a year is no longer sustainable and the project would provide a type of housing that isn’t available in Westchester.

In opposing the move, Schiliro and D’Angelo cited density concerns as their chief worry.  Last year they both said after Brynwood’s initial submission that they would support a plan that approaches the number of housing units the current zoning allows.

“I can’t in good conscience make this recommendation to the planning board and have the project go through the SEQRA process because the SEQRA process is not going to solve the density issue,” Schiliro said.

But Cronin, who said he shared the same concerns regarding density, said he was willing to listen to the developer and any plans to mitigate the various issues the applicant faces.

“I think there is little risk in starting this process,” Cronin said.

During the hearing, supporters on both sides lined up to point out either the drawbacks or the advantages of the proposal, including a contingent from nearby Windmill Farms who would feel the most impact.

Detractors said they were worried the SEQRA process would provide inadequate protection if the project was too large, added too many vehicles to the roads or children to the schools or didn’t provide the forecasted tax revenue.

“What we need to see here is a better understanding, more information, more leadership from our town,” said Windmill Farms resident Pete Coviello. “The SEQRA process was not designed to determine what zoning should be done or the number of units on the property.”

Stuart Kovensky, co-president of the homeowners group Residents of Windmill, Inc., said the fact that the units would be taxed as condominiums rather than private homes could be a burden to the town and single-family taxpayers. If the market can’t support the more than $1 million estimated price tag for the units, prices would drop enticing more families with children to live in the complex.

“If taxes are so important, why are we going to give away this project at half the tax rate you and I all pay,” Kovensky said. “It makes absolutely no sense.”

Windmill residents weren’t the only ones who criticized the plan. The town’s Open Space Committee Chairwoman, Kerri Kazak, said granting a zoning change to save a private golf course and club doesn’t rise to the standard of benefitting the community.

On the other side were those who urged the board to begin the review. Armonk resident Martin Berger, a developer, said the proposal can’t be adequately evaluated unless SEQRA begins and the town’s professionals can delve into the critical issues surrounding the project.

“Everybody wants a solution and wants something done,” Berger said. “You can’t, in my opinion, make a proper decision until every issue is hashed out and examined.”

Windmill resident Steve Buschel said that there are plenty of homeowners in his community who support the project and are anxious for the review to begin.

“Members of the board, without a fair review of the proposal, North Castle would deprive Brynwood of its right to a fair and impartial hearing on the merits,” he said.