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Urges Residents to Attend ZBA Hearing re Foundry Pond Road
To the Editor:
Construction of houses on the old Alleverdy ‚ a.k.a. Russian Camp property on Foundry Pond Road has finally come to a halt, courtesy of the Putnam County courts and the Honorable Judge O’Rourke who signed a temporary restraining order on December 4, 2006. Several requests had been made directly to our Code Enforcement Officer Tom Monroe over the past several months to issue a stop work order on building permits he issued, but to no avail.
The forum next moves before the ZBA on January 8, 2007 where they will make the ultimate decision as to whether or not these building permits were issued in error.
The developer originally purchased 3 lots, two of which did not comply with the R-80 zoning on Foundry Pond Road. He deftly added tens of thousands of extra square footage to his land by representing before the Planning Board two years ago that he owned an old road abutting his land as his 4- lot sub-division was presented.
An entire neighborhood appeared at the Planning Board public hearing on 10-21-04 with numerous concerns as they pertain to drainage, storm water run-off and a development completely out of character with its neighborhood. The Village of Cold Spring Water Department had also been accessing the reservoir across the developer’s land for the past two decades and utilizing the old road as well, none of which was accounted for on his site plans.
The developer clearly heard enough from the Planning Board and this neighborhood as he soon thereafter withdrew his application and quietly began a series of lot transfers, lot line adjustments and elimination of the Village’s rights across the land. His single lot sub-division plan purposely left off easements and right-of-ways (which he needs to eventually access his own rear lot) so as not to trigger Planning Board or Zoning Board review. He was then issued two building permits and currently owns two adjacent lots for future houses, a brilliant scheme in which he accomplished his 4-lot subdivision without any board approvals.
As icing on the cake, the developer then relocated existing cottages from his property into the old road, completely blocking off the Village’s access to the upper dam of the reservoir as well as impeding an existing road that all other property owners abutting it still have rights to. The cottages have been sitting in the road for over a month and should an emergency arise for the Water Department to get to the dam, they will not be able to.
I urge Philipstown residents to attend the January 8, 2007 ZBA public hearing, as should the developer get away with these various activities, it will certainly set a precedent allowing others to do the same.
David Weinpahl
Cold Spring
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