No. Castle Closes Brynwood DEIS Hearing; Comments Taken Until Aug. 20

The North Castle Town Board closed the public hearing on Brynwood Golf & Country Club’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) last week following public comments that revealed continued split sentiments for the proposed 88-unit condominium project.

Residents have until Aug. 20 to submit additional written comments on the document. Town officials agreed to extend the written comment period from Aug. 12 after several speakers at the July 10 meeting appealed to the board that more time was needed to digest the more than 2,000-page document that is part of the ongoing environmental review.

Responses by the applicant to the questions and comments posed by the public will be incorporated into a Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Meanwhile, the concurrent public hearing on the requested zoning change that is needed to allow for a golf community was adjourned until a future date.

Speakers lined up for just over two hours last Wednesday night at town hall to urge the board to carefully consider key issues surrounding the project. Some residents pointed to the likelihood of worsening traffic headaches on Route 22, the possibility that the project could trigger increased enrollment for the Byram Hills School District and whether the developer can tap into enough water on site to sustain the project, which includes a redesign of the golf course. The course accounts for about 140 of the property’s 156 acres.

At the first part of the public hearing on June 27, opponents had also raised the issue of tax inequity. The residences would be taxed as condominiums, which yields about half as much tax revenue as single-family homes of similar value.

Armonk resident Earle Yaffa said the most important issue to him was how the project threatened an already overburdened Route 22, a consideration that should signal to town officials to put the brakes on the project.

Yaffa said that any development at the site would make traffic worse but since Brynwood is proposing nearly twice the number of units that current zoning allows, traffic problems could explode.

“I don’t think the town board can proceed with the assumption that traffic is bad, Brynwood will make it worse, but since it’s already bad who cares,” Yaffa said.

Supporters stressed increased tax revenue, maintaining open space and how the prestige of a project featuring two-, three- and four-bedroom luxury condominiums starting at an estimated asking price of $1.2 million would benefit the entire community.

Resident Alan Cohen said town officials have made some planning errors in the past but officials can’t let this proposal slip through their hands.

“You have once chance to get this right,” Cohen said. “We cannot let a vocal minority stop a first class project. We’re all in this together. We all live in this community, we all want the best for this community. We want North Castle more desirable.”

Hickory Kingdom Road resident Dan Davis said opponents risk losing the open space and golf course in what has already been a sharply scaled-down project.

The Brynwood partners, who have mentioned on several occasions that they would move ahead with plans for a 49-home subdivision should this proposal fail, originally proposed a community with more than 240 units about two years ago, then later cut that density in half. Last year they scaled it back to the current 88 units.

Davis said maintaining the status quo is unrealistic.

“I think they’re gambling and I don’t think the town board should participate in that gamble,” Davis said. “If you believe you’ve got the best deal you can get from the developer, and I think that’s likely, then I think you should proceed.”

But resident Steve Schneider said the possibility of the area being overburdened by congestion is not only a serious threat because of the residences but also because there will be a restaurant and catering facility and golf course along with maintenance staff who will be on site.

“It’s a full commercial facility and it will be beautiful but I really urge you to really take a tough look at how to fix these issues because these issues are issues and they are there,” he said.

Attorney Mark Weingarten, representing Brynwood, said by preserving open space and building age-targeted residences that would yield a projected 10 school-age children, it will be a boon for the school district that will see a fresh $1 million a year come into its coffers.

Even if student projections are off and there are more than 20 school-age children, that would still mean hundreds of thousands of dollars for Byram Hills.

“I look forward, as we have, to continue to talk to everybody here and listen to your ideas,” Weingarten said.