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The document is called a Preliminary Final Environmental Impact Statement (PFEIS) and was recently submitted on behalf of the property’s owner, Brynwood Partners LLC. The statement includes a revised proposal, with the number of housing units cut from 88 to 80. The revised plan, in turn, has changes including a proposal to paying the difference between what condos will be taxed and what would be paid if the units were single-family homes.
The PFEIS is the successor document to the project's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which was produced for the earlier housing iteration.
Before the Town Board voted to accept the preliminary statement at its Nov. 5 meeting, Town Attorney Roland Baroni gave an overview of where the environmental review will head next.
Baroni anticipated that Brynwood will post an escrow and request a referral of the preliminary statement from the board to the town’s consultants. The PFEIS, Baroni anticipates, will be reviewed by consultants in December and early January. The consultants will then report back, Baroni explained, and determine whether the document is adequate to be accepted or if a revision is needed. Eventually, Baroni anticipates that the preliminary statement will be deemed an adequate document
The next step, Baroni told the Town Board, will be to reopen public hearings, which cover Brynwood’s request to have special-use permitted language added into the code, for amending the town’s Comprehensive Plan and for qualifying the property under the new code section. The latter item would follow the adoption of the special-permitted language.
Brynwood proposed adding a specially permitted use into the property’s existing single-family zoning, which would be called a Golf Course Community.
Next, Baroni told the board, they would close the public hearings and consider findings. The findings, Baroni explained, discuss the project’s associated impacts and how to mitigate them. If the Town Board adopts the findings, according to Baroni, the environmental review is done. The next steps, according to Baroni, would be for the board to vote of the legislative items for the proposal, including the special-permit language and Comprehensive Plan change. The applicant would then need approvals for subdivisions and site plan from the Planning Board, Baroni explained.
In comments before voting to accept the PFEIS, Town Board members expressed a willingness to keep the process going.
Deputy Supervisor Stephen D’Angelo explained that acceptance of the PFEIS “doesn’t condone or condemn this project.”
Some board members also alluded to a change in the Town Board’s composition during the course of the project’s review. Councilwoman Barbara DiGiacinto, for example, noted the addition of three new board members.
Previous coverage regarding Brynwood’s revised plan is available here.
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