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De Vido's Foundry Pond Shell Games a Lesson in Hypocrisy
Dear Editor,
Anyone's child need an example of "hypocrisy" for a school report? Look under "Firm Profile" at www.devidoarchitects. com: "We .. believe in designing for our clients a facility .. that fits agreeably into its neighborhood."
At last week's Zoning Board meeting, Alfredo DeVido's lawyer Bill Zutt tried to defend his client's attempt to stuff 4 houses onto a 3-lot subdivision that would irreparably harm the neighborhood. Strutting up to ZBA members, Zutt announced that when faced with Planning Board and resident protests, "Mr DeVido decided there was more than one way to skin a cat." Foundry Pond residents have been forced to hire a lawyer, Robert Gaudioso, who skillfully showed the ways DeVido wielded his knife.
Land has Class 2 & 3 slopes, triggering Steep Slopes issues? Delete from Building Permit maps. Existing easements and rights-of-way? Delete them, too. Protests from Planning Board and residents? Withdraw application, play shell game with lot lines to avoid PB review, re-apply. Not enough land to build a house? Annex old road which has existed since 1800's, drag small buildings onto it so Village of Cold Spring can't access its own reservoir and may be forced to sue developer to get it back. Begin building first house and receive stop work order? Whine "so much money has been spent on materials" that it's not fair, and continue. Drainage issues? Ignore. If caught? Promise to remedy, ignore again. Confronted at ZBA meeting? Have lawyer state breezily, "While all this may be true, it's irrelevant."
In a roomful of angry residents, DeVido had 2 supporters: surveyor Glenn Watson and his assoc. Margaret McManus. When asked about the potential run-off, which would cascade onto existing residents as well as into already silt-choked Barrett Pond, McManus stated that it had been remedied by "planting grass seed." Hearing hoots from the audience, who were aware that grass seed doesn't grow well in January, she snapped, "This application does not require subdivision approval! The drainage issues are not DeVido's problem, they are Philipstown's!" When asked whether the recent DEC Stormwater Violation notice had been addressed, no one in the DeVido camp seemed to know.
Foundry Pond is a small, winding road. Residents are not trying to prevent DeVido from building at all, they're trying to prevent him from cramming so many McMansions onto a small piece of land that he creates a traffic and environmental nightmare. But DeVido wants his houses; if he has to ruin a neighborhood, hasten the unwanted suburbanization of a small rural town and endanger the lives of local children in order to build them, in the words of his lawyer, "it's not his problem."
If community wrecking ball Alfredo DeVido gets what he wants it will only encourage people like alleged granny swindler Peter Morris, who is still skulking about the North Highlands. If this worries you, come to the next ZBA meeting: January 29, 7:30, Town Hall.
Suzie Gilbert
Garrison
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