The Bethlehem Town Board will be the next body to review a draft scoping document regarding the proposed Wemple Corners hamlet project.
On Tuesday, Nov. 15, members of the town’s Planning Board listened to a presentation from an outside consultant from the Chazen Companies regarding the document.
Common issues were discussed regarding the multi-use project, including traffic impacts, the need for apartments in the town and to what extent the developer of the project should study such matters.
Board member John Smolinsky said he’d like to see more forceful language in a final scoping document to ensure that developers provide the best information – possibly their own study — regarding the need for housing and apartment units in the Glenmont area.
“Sometimes it depends how hard you look,” said Smolinsky, who was concerned about a phrase in the document calling for the “best available analysis.”
“Bring forth the best analysis that you can of the housing market, why there’s a demand,” he said.
That demand, and more importantly, how to measure if it exists, was debated between the developer and the board. Andy Brick, the attorney for developer Milltowne Plaza, said he was concerned about the quantity of specific studies to measure housing demands for the town.
“I strongly suspect that we can find regional studies, but I took that language (in the draft scoping document) to mean that if there is sufficient data specifically for Bethlehem, then we would provide that analysis,” said Brick. “If that data exists, I don’t know that it does, but we would gladly do that analysis.”
Board members stressed that a market study would need to be conducted, but it would not need to include an analysis of housing needs throughout the town.
The proposed project would include 526 housing units, including senior apartments and twin homes, along with 84,000 square feet of retail space, and would be located at the corner of Wemple Road and Route 9W.
Legends at Bethlehem
A long-discussed housing project on Jolley Road in Glenmont is going through another change, as the Bethlehem Planning Board considered a new application regarding the development.
An engineer and a developer speaking for the Legends at Bethlehem project detailed their proposal for a conservation subdivision, which would allow for a portion of the property to be conserved as open space.
Board members quizzed the two men about the layout of the 112-unit development. 22 townhouses, 28 twin-style homes, and 62 standalone single-family houses have been proposed, with a price range in the mid-$200,000s to upper $300,000s.
Engineer Tom Andress disagreed with Board Chairman George Leveille about the amount of open space that would need to be in place for the project to receive incentives from the town for conserving open space.
“My interest is to learn how much developable land you are now setting aside to take advantage of the incentives that we offer for conservation subdivisions,” Leveille said.
“It’s a formulation that someone put together to just come up with what a minimal number of acres of open space is,” said Andress.
Leveille said to receive the requested conservation designation, the developers must meet the minimum amount of non-constrained, or developable land, that needs to be set aside. Andress said that isn’t what he reads in the town’s laws on meeting the requirements.
Both agreed that about 40 of the 75 acres are considered constrained land. The argument is over the 35 acres left, and whether the developer must protect 40 percent of that usable space or 40 percent of the entire site.
Board members also asked about the possibility of the open space being donated to a not-for-profit organization. Andress said that was not in the proposal that is before the town.
There was also a conversation about the creation of a homeowner’s association within the development, and how that would factor into the maintenance and upkeep of the open space.
The project has taken many turns, having first been proposed more than four years ago. Board members voted to table the application for a conservation subdivision pending resolution of the dispute over how much open land is needed.
