Smith Farm housing project off to a rough start

BY ERIKA NORTON
MONROE — Plans for the Smith Farm housing development off of Gilbert Street, which were put into action early this year, did not get off to a smooth start.
The 181-home project plans cover 79.2 acres of both Town of Monroe and Village of Monroe land, and received preliminary approval in 2006. Then in August 2015, the plans received conditional final approval from both the Village and Town of Monroe planning boards.
However, since the start of development, a series of stop-work orders have been issued by both the Town and Village of Monroe. In addition, nearby residents to the site were shocked to see how quickly the area was cleared, and were concerned about runoff.
“It’s just a boggling thing to see that those trees and all of the underbrush and whatever else there … was taken away so quickly, and then of course we had the rain,” said Myrna Kemnitz, an Orange County legislator who lives around the corner from Gilbert Street.
The housing plans include a mix of 54 duplex units, 64 patio homes, 63 detached single family units and a community recreation area. All patio and single two unit homes will contain four bedrooms and all duplex units will contain three bedrooms.
In addition, 36 of the duplex homes will be “age-restricted,” meaning they will only be sold to those 55 years of age or older, as a condition of the deed. The goal of this restriction, according to the plans, is to reduce the number of school-aged children and their impact upon the school system.

The most recent stop-work order, issued Feb. 25, cites a failure to implement the storm water management and erosion control plans required by both the municipal building codes and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, according to the order posted by the Village of Monroe at the site. This order came after the clear-cutting of the land, combined with significant rainfall, caused muddy water to flow from the site down onto Gilbert Street.
Kemnitz not only lives near Gilbert Street, but drives past the construction on Route 17M everyday on her way to and from work in Goshen.
“I watch it everyday, and when it was raining and we had that horrible mud washout, I went through it because I drive an SUV,” Kemnitz said. “I can’t tell you what it’s like to see a running river crossing the road, and you could not tell where Gilbert Street began and where it ended on either side of it because it was just a wash of mud.”
According to Village of Monroe Building Inspector James Cocks, the stop-work order issued to the developer of the project, BMG Monroe I, LLC, was specifically due to the violation of the village storm water discharge code, which prohibits illegal discharge.
The project developers have immediately endeavoured to remedy these violations, according to the developer’s lawyer, Ronald S. Kossar. “We met with the DEC to work out the implementation of the storm water management plan in conjunction with the municipalities … and we are actively implementing what is required.”
For the Village of Monroe, Cocks said that when the village receives a letter from the Smith Farm owner’s engineer that the site is in full compliance, and the DEC lifts their stop-work order, then that village stop-work order will be lifted.
The first stop-work orders, issued at the beginning of February, cited issues with a subdivision map, according to Kossar. The map was signed by both the Town and Village of Monroe planning board chairmen, but never filed with Orange County.
The lapse of filing the subdivision map, Kossar said, was an inadvertent administrative error of the town, as well as the village. The Village has since lifted this stop-work order.
The Town of Monroe stop-work order remains in effect, which cites not only an issue with the subdivision map, but a failure by the developers to acquire a building permit to start clearing, Kossar said. BMG Monroe I LLC., which is working in conjunction with Verticon LTD., filed a notice of appeal in early March, and the validity of that stop-work order will be determined by the Town of Monroe Zoning Board of Appeals.
“I guess a determination is still pending by the town and it is under appeal,” Kossar said.
The developer has subsequently applied for a building permit to allow site clearing, which is pending, Kossar added.
When asked about the concerns of residents nearby the Smith Farm site, Town of Monroe Acting Supervisor, Tony Cardone said, “Anything that’s going to be done there, that’s going to be built on the town property, and I’m going to assume the village property as well, is going to be done in accordance with the codes required to put those buildings.”
The water for Smith Farm residents will be provided by the Village of Monroe. Village of Monroe Mayor Jim Purcell said that a water yield study was done in 2009, which showed that there was adequate water supply for the Smith Farm homes.
“That project would have never been approved if the appropriate services could not have been provided,” Purcell said.
According to mortgage records, in 2010, mortgages totalling $6.65 million were assigned from original developers George and Anthony Maio under Paragon Development, LLC, over to Greenstone Equities, LLC. The president of Greenstone Equities, LLC, a New York limited liabilities company, is Zigmund Brach, a prominent developer in the local Satmar Hasidic community.
Smith Farm is only one of the numerous housing projects in various stages of development in the Town of Monroe. Two large projects pending development include Bald Hill Estates, consisting of 138 townhouses off of County Route 105, and Henry Farms, a 115-home plan off of Lakes Road.
The most heavily contested proposed development is the annexation of 164 acres of town land into the Village of Kiryas Joel. There are also proposals before the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals requesting a variance for accessory apartments that can transform a single-family residence into a multi-family household regardless of the impact on septic or the aquifer.
In light of the numerous residential projects, The Town of Monroe is considering implementing a residential building moratorium. If approved, the moratorium would halt all new residential development, preventing new approvals, building permits or variances to be given.
Lasting at least three months, the break would allow the Monroe Town Board time to review and reassess the town’s Comprehensive Plan, which was approved in 2008 and hasn’t been updated since. The board would look at the town’s land use, zoning regulations, environmental concerns, demographics, housing needs, as well as agricultural, commercial and industrial development.
A public hearing to gauge the public’s support of the moratorium will be held on Monday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Monroe Senior Center.