Planning Board - Regular Meeting

Welcome tonight, folks. Welcome. Welcome for coming out tonight on this summer night. We have, um, almost full attendance. We have two board members, Walter Hickey and John Piazza. ARE NOT IN ATTENDANCE TONIGHT, BUT EVERYBODY ELSE IS HERE TONIGHT. WELCOME TO THE MEETING, PLANNING BOARD MEETING, JULY 20, 2026, 730 P.M. FIRST UP WE HAVE BUSINESS ITEMS. THOSE ARE ITEMS THAT WE HAVE REVIEWED IN THE PAST. ONE OF THEM IS MINUTES AND ANOTHER IS AN EXTENSION. WE'LL REVIEW THOSE QUICKLY AND THEN WE'LL GET TO THE MEAT AND POTATOES OF THE NIGHT. SO FIRST UP IS MINUTES FROM THE 7-2-2026 PLANNING BOARD MEETING. We're going to hold off on those. Those are in process. Okay. Eighth request for a 90-day extension of resolution of approval for subdivision application number SD20-6. The second request of a one-year extension by site plan application 20-0. one-two and steep slopes application that says twenty there's zero one five for the development of four-story hundred seventy unit service-enriched senior housing residents break you see you live in three sixty four two thirty six grasslands road fell new york one one seven dot seventeen dash one dash twenty eight grass and say don't break you see you live in development so this was the break you see you live in development grasslands wrote that came before so while ago now And they're looking for an extension because I believe, Pat, they are doing stuff with the county, with Board of Health approvals and things of that nature.

That's correct, satisfying their conditions of approval, Mr. Chairman.

Okay. Any questions or comments on the request for a 90-day extension for Brightview Senior Living on Grand Sons Road? Okay, so we can entertain a motion.

I'll make a motion to grant the 90-day extension.

Motion from Jane. Second. Second from Eileen. Jane? Aye. Eileen? Aye. Judy? Aye. Steve? Aye. And an aye from me. Okay, so we do have two things. There's a general table.

So you also have the site plan for one year and the steep slope for one year.

Oh, we broke this into pieces. Okay, it's all in one big paragraph, but I got a little confused on that. I can see that. All right. One year site plan. So just the motion.

I'll make a motion to extend the... Extension of the resolution for the steep slopes and the site plan. We're going to break it up?

Yeah, we have to break it up.

All right. Of the site plan first. Second.

Motion from Jane. Second from J.D. Jane. Aye. Eileen. Aye. J.D. Aye. Steve. Aye. And an aye from me.

And I'll make a motion that we grant the extension for the steep slopes.

Second. Second from J.D. Jane. Aye. Eileen? Aye. JD? Aye. Steve? Aye. And I for me. Okay. So folks, just to kind of orange it for the rest of the evening, we have three items for public hearings. Two. Two. I'm sorry. I turned it over and I thought there was three. One is 630 Bedford Road, Stoneborns. And the other one is, I think by some people here, is for the Sleepy Hollow Lake, Briarcliff Manor. So we're going to start off with 630 Bedford Road, Stoneborns, proposed renovation of, in addition to an existing 1930s building post-fire. Renovations include creating a new loading zone, application site plan, PSP 26-2. Location, 630 Bedford Road, Mechanical Hills, New York. Section block lot number is 111.14-1-1. Zone OSR, Owner's Zone, Barnes Restoration, Applicant Architect, James Coleman, AIA. And we can waive the reading of the public notice.

I'll make a motion to waive the reading of the public notice.

Motion from Jane. Second. Second from Eileen. Jane. Aye. Eileen. Aye. JD. Aye. Steve. Aye. And aye from me. Aye. Thank you for coming out tonight.

Good evening. My name is Matt Steinberg with DTS Provident. I'm joined by Jason Grauer, the Executive Director for Stone Barns, and Jim Coleman, the project architect. So we appeared before this board back in March and June of this year. Just to remind the board, the project involves a renovation in addition to the existing 1930s building, which was damaged by fire. So up on the board is the existing conditions. This shows with the addition, it's a small addition. The footprint's approximately 1,300 square feet. The total floor area is less than 4,000 square feet. The project also includes the relocation of an existing loading space that's being moved to the north because it's essentially where the new addition is going. So in responding to staff comments, we presented last time we were here that we were able to relocate that loading area to essentially eliminate all disturbances to steep slopes.

Can you do me a favor? Can you turn that, we've seen this around. Can you see this, the public can see this? So we've got it up on the screen as well. I SAID DON'T TURN IT THEN. WE'RE GOOD.

I DIDN'T SEE THAT. SO SINCE OUR JUNE APPEARANCE, I CAN REPORT THAT WE HEARD BACK FROM THE STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE. THEY ESSENTIALLY INDICATED THAT THE PROJECT WOULD NOT HAVE AN ADVERSE IMPACT ON ARCHEOLOGICAL OR HISTORIC RESOURCES. AND I THINK THAT WAS THE REMAINING ITEM THAT WE WERE WAITING FOR. BUT I'D HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OTHERWISE THAN WE'RE HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PUBLIC.

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM BOARD MEMBERS? Okay, let the record show there's no additional questions or comments from board members. Okay, folks, so we are here for this particular application, 630 Bedford Road, Stone Barns. If there's any questions or comments from the public, we would like to hear from you. If you have a question or comment you'd like to make, please raise your hand. We'll give you a number. If you have a number, you can speak. If you don't have a number, you can't speak. Any questions or comments on the restoration of Stone Barns? GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE, GOING THREE TIMES. OKAY. LET THE RECORD SHOW THERE'S NO ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS COMING FROM THE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC. OKAY. THAT'S FINE. WE DON'T HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FROM BOARD MEMBERS OR THE PUBLIC. So we are at the point now we have this application, which is a public hearing. We're going to need to make some decisions what we're going to do. From a town staff perspective, how are we doing?

We're in good shape. It was a very minor amendment to the site. As you may recall, there was a zoning amendment that dealt with certain provisions on the site, which the project is fully compliant with at the moment. So there's no site planning issues, no site engineering issues. Okay. We're good to move forward.

Okay. So first thing we have to do is figure out what we're going to do with the public hearing.

I make a motion to close the public hearing.

Motion from Eileen.

Second.

Second from JD. Jane. Aye. Eileen. Aye. JD.

Aye.

Steve. Aye. And aye from me. Okay, the public hearing is now closed. So now we need to make a decision what we're going to do with the application.

I make a motion that we direct the preparation of an approval resolution.

Motion from Eileen. I'll second it. Second from Steve. Jane. Aye. Eileen. Aye. J.D. Aye. Steve. Aye. And aye from me. Okay. So next up. Thank you. You're good to go. We're going to read through the next one, which is item number two, which is why I think many of the folks are here tonight. 835 and 855 Sleepy Hollow Lake Road, Barcliff Manor proposed major subdivision of two parcels of former Rockefeller property totaling 214.41 acres into 65 parcels to develop an 18-hole golf course, fully amenitized country club of Village Green and approximately 75 single-family homes and townhouses. Application also includes a petition to the Town Board for a text amendment to change the language of Section 218-43, Nonprofit Membership Clubs. This public hearing has received comments on the secret draft scoping document, the application subdivision PSD-26-4, PSP-26-4, PLS-26-7, wetlands PLW-26-1, Special use PLSU 26-2. Town board referral TB 26-1. Location 835-855 Sleepy Hollow Road, Brock Left Manor. SECTION BLOCK LOT NUMBERS 110.8-1-1, 104.20-1-1, ZONE R-40, OWNER APPLICANT, SOUTH ROCK LLC, DBA, FUEL CLUB LLC, ENGINEER ARCHITECT, JMC ENGINEER, SITE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PL LLC, ATTORNEY, DARREN AND SIMONS LLP. THAT WAS A LOT. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU.

Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, David Steinmetz from the law firm of Zarin and Steinmetz. Pleased to be back before your board this evening with regard to Southworth and the Fieldwood Development Project. I'm joined by a number of members of our development team, Jason Mencher from AKRF, Diego Villareali from JMC, my colleague Vincent Padone, as well as Christian Rockefeller tonight. I'm going to be very brief. First and foremost, I want to thank those planning board members that were able to come out and see the site during the site visit. And we are really pleased that you had a chance to see the site and understand it and understand the issues that we're dealing with. Tonight is a very focused matter. It is a procedural matter under the New York state environmental quality review at or secret as you all know your board determined to serve as lead agency with regard to this application. Your board then issued a positive declaration pursuant to secret, which means that we have to go through a comprehensive environmental review. tonight for procedural purposes and for the record is to receive public comment on the draft scoping outline that has already been shared with your board and shared with your professional staff. The scoping outline is just that. It is an outline of the issues that we know and we believe we need to study pursuant to SECRA. It has been reviewed by your professional staff and tonight it is available specifically for comment by the public. Tonight is not an opportunity for us to do a full blown presentation of the project. We have done that previously. We're not going to do that again. I am, however, going to turn it over to Jason to just explain. The basics and explain how we formulated the proposed scope so that you're clear and the public is clear before the public hearing opens what issues we have all. collectively determined need to be studied and analyzed in the draft environmental review document that we will be working on shortly. So with that, I'm going to turn it over Mr. Chairman to Jason Mencher and we look forward to receiving comments. I should state for the record we do have a stenographer here so that all public comments relative to the scope can be taken down so that we have a chance to review them as well as your staff as we work on finalizing the scoping document. And thank you for the opportunity to conduct this. Thank you.

Thank you, David. Thank you board. Good evening. My name is Jason Mencher. I'm a senior planner at AKRF. We're planning an environmental review firm, and together with the balance of the project team, we're assisting with the environmental review for this project. As David noted, tonight we're here for a scoping session to discuss the proposed scope, which I would like to call the table of contents for the environmental review. The presentation tonight is going to cover the project site, the proposed project, and the contents of the scoping document. I won't run through the project team again. I just want to note that the applicant, Southworth, is a developer, owner, and operator of private club communities and is partnering with members of the Rockefeller family on this project, and that communities and golf courses developed by Southworth have been recognized as some of the most environmentally friendly around, and this project will be no different. So tonight, as David noted, we're here to receive feedback on the scope. Comments raised tonight won't form potential updates to that scope and then form a final scope. Comments on the substance of the environmental review will come later in the process and there will be other opportunities for public comment. I'm so sorry.

This is where the show must go on.

The show can go on. I have a visual which I'd like to share.

I was thinking more of maybe a little skit or something. I don't know.

I'm a pretty good dancer.

There you go. Thank you for being with me.

It's okay. Yep.

So I'd like to orient everyone to the project site which is outlined in yellow. It's at 835, 855 Sleepy Hollow Road. It's approximately 214 acres. The current access is from one driveway on Sleepy Hollow Road. The current conditions on the project site include forested areas, maintained fields, historic carriage trails, and various existing structures, including a gatehouse, which some of you may know from driving Sleepy Hollow Road, as well as a manor house and barns and stables. It has the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail and Route 9 to the west, to the north is the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, and to the south and east of the site are the Rockefeller State Park Preserve lands. This, however, is a private parcel with history dating to 1886 when it was first acquired by the Rockefeller family as part of the broader 2,000 acres that form that family compound in the area. It was used as a private residence from that time until 2025 when it was acquired by the applicant who was partnering with members of the family on this project. And it has never been part of the State Park Preserve, so I just wanted to dispel that potential misconception. So this map will show us the green is the state park preserve areas. If we zoom in on the red, that's the project site in blue. And as you can see, there are trails in the surrounding area, but the project site has no trails. It's fenced and there is no public access. That said, the applicant respects and understands the significance of this property and this area, and they're going to develop the project accordingly. So the proposed project. In forming the site plan and developing the project, the applicant undertook a number of site planning considerations in order to work with the natural features of the land, preserve forested areas to the extent possible, and use the land itself and its features to enhance the design of the project. So some of those considerations include layout, centralizing homes in the center of the site with golf around the perimeter, and then moving down further, extensive buffering around the project boundaries and maintenance of forested lands. As I noted, the access would remain at the driveway and Sleepy Hollow Road. The slopes and grading were considered, so using clustering and bringing the project and the development portions into the center of the site allows limited steep slope disturbance, or rather limits the steep slopes disturbance to the extent possible, as well as minimizes earthwork and minimizes tree removal. There will be changes to site coverage necessary, but those will maintain current hydrology Their drainage patterns would remain as they are and the project would use green practices and stormwater ponds. The site plan leans into those unique features of the site that includes stone walls, different views, rock outcroppings, mature trees to enhance the project design and also and critically maintains a number of those existing roads on the site to maintain that integrity. So this is the proposed project. It's a conservation subdivision. There would be 75 privately owned single-family homes and attached townhouses. It would include a private for-profit membership club and 18-hole golf course. That would include amenities such as a clubhouse, pools and fitness facilities, racquet courts, and other recreational uses, as well as approximately 200 parking spaces and related infrastructure. The site plan, as I noted, would retain many of the site's existing improvements, including that gatehouse we can see from Sleepy Hollow Road, the manor house, the barns and stables, and would repurpose those structures for uses related to the membership club and golf course while maintaining their historic character. Under a conventional subdivision with the existing zoning, the site could be developed with at least and more than 100 residential lots, but this project, by applying a conservation subdivision and pulling inward, only proposes to develop 75 residential homes and will make use of those features to enhance the community. So zooming in a little further just from that larger site plan, as I noted, the amenity core would include a clubhouse, pool and fitness facility, racquet courts, and indoor activity center, as well as walking trails. And it would preserve various areas of forest both around those features and around the residential homes to maintain the integrity of that portion of the site. In terms of the residential approach, the idea is to have residential lots that are connected by mostly existing roadways or rather roadways in the place of where the roadways are currently, forested areas in the center, preserving the ridge and other important natural features. There'd be a variety of housing options, which includes 57 single-family homes on different sized lots and 18 attached townhomes. They'd be thoughtfully designed, and they'd use private roadways. Retaining those forested areas, even in the central portion of the site, seeks to preserve natural integrity as much as it can, even in the more developed area, which is the residential and amenity core. We're proposing a 65-lot conservation subdivision. 57 lots would be for single-family homes, so those tan ones in the center. One lot for the 18 proposed townhomes. That's the one kind of towards the left north portion. Two lots for forest preservation, both along the perimeter of the site as well as in the center of the residential components. And then five lots for the golf course, the club amenities, the roadways, and the golf operation areas. You've heard this before, but for the benefit of the public, we've petitioned the planning, we've requested, we've applied to the planning board for a subdivision approval of a cluster subdivision, special permit approval for a membership club, site plan approval for the club amenities, steep slope approval, and wetland control permit approval. We've also petitioned your town board for a small zoning text amendment that would allow for-profit membership clubs. would grant the Planning Board the approval authority over membership clubs and would grant the Planning Board some discretion to vary dimensional requirements as they relate to parking and certain tee-to-green setbacks and specifics that have to do with golf course design. At your last meeting, as David noted, you required us to prepare a DEIS by issuing your positive declaration. The purpose of that EIS is to analyze the project's potential significant adverse environmental impacts and identify measures to minimize, avoid, or mitigate those impacts to the greatest extent possible. And this is just the beginning of what will be a lengthy process of review, going back and forth on the scope, then performing the environmental review, and having the public provide feedback along the way as well as your board and your town planner. I'm not going to go through all these technical areas, though if I did, I think I would make our council drop to the ground. I just wanted to show this is the table of contents for the EIS, which shows the breadth and depth of what we're intending and planning to study. If I can focus on a few of those areas, visual and community character, natural and cultural resources, traffic construction alternatives, I just want to offer the public a little bit of a flavor of the level of study that the EIS will require of us. So we've scoped that we will study visual and community character. What that would require is that we take photos from off-site locations, including Sleepy Hollow Road on the north, the Aqueduct Trail and Route 9 on the west, the 13 Bridges Trail on the east, and then render what potential views into the site could look like from those publicly accessible vantage points. That would allow us to understand if there are any potential changes and visual impacts from the proposed project. This site is in a historic district. As a result, we're required, and the scope requires us, to coordinate with the State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, their SHPO office, their State Historic Preservation office. We've already undertaken the first step of that, sending the site plan to that office, giving them an inventory of the buildings on the site, what we propose to do with them, what would remain. And we will go through that iterative process with them throughout this PIS process. In terms of natural resources, as everyone is aware, there's forested areas, there's wetlands and watercourses, flora and fauna on the site. So the scope will require us to map those wetlands to coordinate with both the town and the Army Corps and agencies having jurisdiction over the wetlands to identify if there are any impacts to wetlands. and to mitigate those. There will be a robust traffic study as required by the scope and we'll study potential impacts to area intersections, traffic volumes, pedestrian safety, site access. We also, under the scope, are required to study construction impacts. That would include duration of construction, phasing, access, staging areas, potential impacts to neighbors from noise or dust, and all the measures we will incorporate to mitigate that. Finally, the scope requires us to study a variety of alternatives Those would include a no-action alternative, meaning nothing happens, the site remains as is. A conventional subdivision alternative, which as I noted earlier, would be what is permitted under existing zoning for somewhere over 100 residential lots, and we're proposing 75 single-family homes, as well as an alternative site layout. And with that, this is a public scoping session, and the purpose is to hear the feedback from you folks and the public. So I want to thank you for your time. We look forward to hearing your comments and we do look forward to working with you and the community as this project progresses. Thank you. Thank you.

One last procedural comment. Just so we're clear, we are not here to answer questions that the public puts to your board and comments that they present with regard to the scope. However, Mr. Chairman, if there's anything at any time you wish us to get up and speak to, we certainly can do so. That's why our team is here. But again, we're here really to listen tonight, and that's the purpose of the secret scoping hearing.

Thank you. I actually do have a question, though.

Go right ahead.

So you mentioned twice that You're requesting 75 units versus 100 with the golf course. If you put 100 units, would you still be able to have the golf course?

Uh, good evening, just for the record Diego Villa reality with the engineering consultant for the applicant. So that purpose was to look at the site without the golf course. How many single compliant single family residential homes of the required size based on your zoning district could be built on the property. Um, and it's well over 100 just to clarify. We've already started to look at those studies and that is something that would be included. Uh, in the, um, but that would look at it without a golf course roadways, cutting through different areas and again, full size compliant lots based on your current zoning district. Whereas the conservative or the cluster subdivision allows us to reduce those lot sizes, limited to a very specific area to minimize those impacts.

And what is the lot size there?

Yeah, it's the, the current zone just from. 40,000 square foot lots. So throughout correct. And then there is a small portion on the north west side of the property closest to the intersection of sleepy hollow road and route nine. There's a portion of it that's within the art 10 district that theoretically could be built with 10,000 square foot lots as opposed to the 40.

Excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but it's a new public hearing. We forgot to waive the, I'm sorry. She always remembers that. I'll make a motion to waive the reading of the public notice. Sorry.

No, thank you. Motion from Jane.

I'll second it.

Second from Steve. Steve. Jane. Aye. Eileen. Aye. JD. Aye. Steve. Aye. And aye from me. Okay, any other questions?

I had one. It's proposed as a conservation question.

Correct. Turn the mic through. Sorry. So out of that,

Is the golf course part of the conservation or is it just the 62 acres of the forest that you're serving?

Terrific question. One of the issues that we will be explaining in the environmental review document is that under New York State law, there is case law that says golf courses constitute open space. and can count toward open space in a conservation or cluster subdivision. So our answer is one of the benefits of this project as opposed to the response Diego gave to JD. If we were doing a conventional subdivision, we would likely spread the lots all throughout the property and the entire property would not only be disturbed, IT WOULD HAVE A NUMBER OF ITS OPEN SPACE AREAS OCCUPIED BY HOMES AND FAMILIES. THE GOLF COURSE, HOWEVER, CONSTITUTES OPEN SPACE, AND IT IS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THE CLUSTER SUBDIVISION.

OKAY. I'M GOING TO ASK THE ONE QUESTION I THINK IS GOING TO COME UP, EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT REALLY FOR TONIGHT, BUT I'M GOING TO ASK IT ANYWAY. Where are we with the zoning text amendment with time? I've seen some of the meetings with the town hall town board. But where are we with that zone of text amendment?

So, Mr chairman, as we discussed previously, and I will reiterate, we have presented a zoning petition to the town board. We have discussed it with the town board. The town board cannot under New York state law take act. take action on that petition until the secret process is completed. It constitutes, quote, an action under New York State law. And therefore, we need to go through this process before they can actually vote on the text amendment.

I know people are thinking the question, which is why I asked the question. Absolutely. So essentially, we need to go through this process. for them to make whatever decision they're going to make. This process that we're going through now really doesn't have anything to do with the decision that they're going to make.

not entirely correct and i'll explain why and we discussed this and we presented this at the site walk when you go on the site and you understand some of the components of the site it becomes clear why the t to green requirement in your current code may not make a lot of sense in terms of trying to protect the public and passers-by on sleepy hollow road from errant golf golf balls So, 1 aspect of the text amendment is to correct the T to green concept and provide your board with some discretion to make an intelligent and safe decision about golf course design. 2nd, we have also explained in our petition that there is, in our opinion, no adverse impact associated with. taking a membership club having the exact same use of the property by a user that happens to be a for-profit membership club so the use first user issue will also be discussed in our environmental impact statement and that will we believe educate the town board on the fact that there is no adverse impact about clarifying what we believe is improper in your code in terms of regulating the user rather than the use okay

Yeah, that is definitely a question in people's minds, and I wanted to address that tonight before.

It will be explained in great detail in the environmental impact statement.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you. As we are required to, it'll be explained in detail in the environmental impact statement. It'll be in writing and articulated.

In the IS, okay, okay. So with that being said, we are here for a public hearing for specifically the CEQA draft scoping document. So I'm going to try to frame the conversation to just that. We're going to stay away from my like it or dislike it. People have opinions on that, but that's not what this is for tonight. Tonight is about the specific CEQA scoping document that has been disseminated and is out there. So with that being said, we do have a little bit of procedure to go through. We have the reading of the public notice already. We've done that already. Check that box. What we have to do next is give people numbers. If you want to speak, I'll give you a number. If you have a number, you can speak. If you don't have a number, you can't speak. So with that being said, raise your hands if you'd like to speak. So number one, number two, number three, number four, number five, number six, number seven, number eight. Anybody else? Number nine. Did I get you in the back? I didn't get it. Okay, so you're 10. 11 okay so we have a look 12 you want to go last okay all right all right so okay can we have speaker number one come up hello hi welcome thank you this is new for you to just state your name for the record yeah this is new i've only been to the regular board meetings well thank you for coming out tonight yeah uh l i live in hawthorne What's your name?

Yeah. L Y a E L. Okay.

Thank you. Hi.

Nice to meet you guys. Um, I, I guess as I said, I'm new, so I don't know if I'm allowed to ask certain questions or not.

So let me just frame it for you. So there's a document that's out there. It's called the draft scope and document. And that's right. Right. That's specifically what you're going to be addressing. Like you, you have questions or clarifications or things that need to be added to it or, or refined.

Okay. Is it okay if I ask and you let me know? Sure. Throw it out. Okay. Just sort of understanding, as you mentioned earlier, about the zoning component, whether this is something that we're doing just for this or how that's going to affect long-term.

So that conversation will be addressed in the EIS itself.

Okay.

And that's a town board conversation as well. And I encourage you to bring it to the town board as well.

Next, I guess I'm concerned about the loss of forest and biodiversity and how that's going to be impactful.

So listen, I'm going to take that and help you a little bit and frame it. So your conversation, your concern is about, and they have to now see if they responded to that or not, and they'll take that note and go with it. Okay. Your concern is about the forestry and whether it's going to be disseminated or not.

Right, how bad of an impact it's going to be on, like, the wild.

They'll address that in the EIS document.

Okay.

In the scope of the document.

Okay. Am I allowed to state the concern?

You certainly can. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not.

No, I'm genuinely asking.

I'm not an autocrat. I do encourage you to say what you want to think or what you want, what you're thinking.

Okay, so I guess the concern for me as a Hawthorne resident is the preservation of the 62 acres and the ecological impact of removing approximately 90 acres of nature forest. Another thing that I saw in the presentation, I don't know if it's going to be addressed in the document, is the pesticides and how that's going to affect the water contamination from the gulf. I know it's brought up in other meetings in terms of chemicals in the water kind of steaming into our waters. I know there's some issues going on with some other places in town as concerning about soil and the chemicals, but concerning regarding how the golf course utilizes certain chemicals and how that would impact.

So pesticides, herbicides, things of that nature, right?

Yeah, how that's going to impact residents if it steams into the water. My next concern is the amount of water usage that's going to go into the facilities on this course, the golf course, and any of that.

Okay. And just a frame of it, they're taking notes. See the guy with the yellow pad and the lady over here? They're taking a lot of notes. So you're doing beautifully, by the way.

Um, and then the traffic and safety concern, um, I know that's something that might. Come up in terms of a traffic study, um, but kind of how much we're anticipating it's going to cause congestion in general. Um, and then the emergency burden. I know emergency service burden, how much is going to be impactful on our EMS and fire department. We were already having discussions about how it's impactful of our town members and how much is this additional going to be increasing that as well as stormwater and flooding concerns, which is something that's been going on with the town for a while and how that additional uh burden is going to be impactful for us and then the historic and cultural aspect i think that i grew up in sleepy hollow myself i went to sleepy hollow middle school before moving to dobs ferry so this town holds a lot of history for me and i think that's a big part for me as well okay thank you

So I have to say one thing. For somebody who said they're new at this, you did it beautifully. And that's exactly how we have to do it. We have to frame it up with questions that we feel need to be addressed at some point. And it's less about I like it or dislike it or those things. But you did a nice job. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Speaker number two. Welcome. Thank you for coming out tonight.

Thank you. I'm pleased to speak in front of you. Thank you for the opportunity. My name is Matt Clayton. I live in Weber Park in Sleepy Hollow. And I'm here today to express my concern with the project development of the golf course in Sleepy Hollow and my input regarding what kind of environmental review is necessary. I'm most concerned with the environmental impact of pesticides known to be utilized in golf courses and also documented scientifically to have a relationship with the incidence of neurological diseases, including Parkinson's. I am no scientist, but I am concerned. I'm a concerned neighbor and a person with Parkinson's. I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014. Common symptoms can include tremor, slow movement, fatigue, cognitive impairment, among other possible symptoms. And there are many other variations of symptoms that one gets, one can have in Parkinson's disease, and one can have different symptoms just depending on the person. I wouldn't want this condition, I wouldn't wish this condition on anyone, but especially not on my neighbors and their children. as a public as public servants the planning board should conduct a thorough environmental investigation that addresses the potential impact of pesticides used on golf courses and the incidence of neurological disorders thank you and thank you for sharing your story okay we have speaker number three speaker number three three speaker number three

Dominic Vita Hawthorne. Good evening Chairman Collins and members of the Planning Board. My first request is simple. Before you adopt the final scoping document, please clarify exactly what action is being reviewed. project before you depends on a zoning amendment that would allow a for-profit membership club where one is currently not permitted. I respectfully ask that the final scope clearly state whether the zoning amendment and this application are being reviewed together as one action or separately. If they are one action, please say so. If they are separate actions, then please explain in the final scope how cumulative impacts will be evaluated and how the environmental review will avoid segmentation. That clarification belongs in the final scope because it defines the scope of the environmental review itself. Beyond that, I respectfully ask the board to strengthen the final scope in six important ways. First, require the DEIS to study how this project will operate, not simply how, pardon me, how it will be built. Construction ends, operations continue for decades. The DEIS should evaluate membership levels, peak occupancy, tournaments, special events, restaurant activity, deliveries, maintenance operations, parking demand, and hours of operation because those are what drive traffic, lighting, noise, water demand, and neighborhood impacts. Second, expand the water analysis. This project includes an actively managed golf course. The DEIS should evaluate irrigation demand, groundwater recharge, baseline groundwater quality, long-term monitoring, drought planning when a drought prone area, and how fertilizers and pesticides may move through groundwater and nearby waterways over time. Third, approximately 90 acres of forest may be removed, which is a real loss and merits serious scrutiny for its impacts in this DEIS. And also important for this DEIS is what happens to the forest that remains. The DEIS should study forest fragmentation, wildlife corridors, habit connectivity, long-term forest health, and impacts on birds, bats, amphibians, reptiles, and pollinators. Fourth, require a dedicated section on long-term golf course operations. Fertilizer use, pesticide management, irrigation, chemical storage, maintenance facilities, wastewater management, and spill prevention are permanent operational activities, not temporary construction issues, and they deserve their own environmental review. Fifth, expand the study area where appropriate. A quarter mile radius will not capture impacts to neighboring communities, downstream waterways, the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, or visual impacts from surrounding high elevations. Finally, I ask that the final scope include two additional chapters, one on cumulative impacts and another on long-term environmental monitoring. The board should understand not only the individual impacts of this project, but how they interact over time and how those impacts will be monitored after construction is complete. This property is unique, sits next to one of the county's most significant protected natural resources. It includes substantial forest clearing, a large residential development, and an intensively managed golf course. That combination deserves an equally thorough environmental review. My request tonight is simply this, make the final scoping document as complete as possible and consider independent expert help for this review. Better questions now will lead to better answers later and ultimately better decisions for the board, the applicant, and the residents of Mount Pleasant. Thank you.

Thank you for coming out tonight. Okay, speaker number four. Speaker number four. WELCOME. THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT TONIGHT.

HAVEN'T BEEN HERE IN A WHILE. SPENDING MY TIME AT THE TOWN BOARD. I ECHO EVERYTHING THAT MR. VIDA SAID AND I'LL BE SUBMITTING SEPARATE NOTES ON THOSE PARTICULAR THINGS THAT ARE OF INTEREST TO ME. ONE OF WHICH IS THE TRAFFIC. I put it in the document, Nancy Rogers-Golodets, 816 Sleepy Hollow Road. That's all right. Good. Hi. Thank you. All right. The traffic is a real concern because we have now bookend potential developments on our road, 1 and 715, which we've been discussing for six years. And now we have another, you know, 75 households. And so I want to put into the board that we get a cumulative traffic study done.

For both, you mean?

Combining both. I mean, I might throw the, I can't think of the name, another 10-acre property or 10 houses are being built right across or next door to the brand. I know it's your brandy one, but I don't think they call it that anymore. So, I mean, I would add that, and I don't know, you know, obviously how that's done, but I think that the developers should contribute to a cumulative study as well as the traffic congestion at the intersection of Route 9 and Sleepy Hollow Road, which is pretty dangerous right now. I understand that it's going to be straightened out, which is a huge improvement, but that's a pretty dangerous intersection. And now with this number of homes going there, I think it will become even more dangerous and require a light. Understand the Department of whatever transportation or whatever needs to be involved with that, but the town and I would hope that the planning board and the developers would see that as a common sense thing to be doing. So I have a different request and it's really about my house. And like my neighbors, our home relies 100% on a private well for water. We don't have a public backup line, so if our wells run dry or our groundwater is poisoned, our water becomes completely useless, our health is destroyed, and our property values plummet to zero. Homeowners face the devastating financial threat of total well replacement, which costs tens of thousands of dollars, or paying to pull municipal water lines down our streets. We don't have sidewalks and we don't have really a lot of land there to do that. I'm sure it could be done with God's money. We should not bear the financial burden of this development and take these risks without strict oversight and contingency plans. Maintaining an 18-hole golf course and 75 home requires an astronomical amount of water consumption and massive ongoing applications of highly toxic pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. Currently, the scoping docket does not explicitly show on-site extraction wells. However, because a golf course requires millions of gallons of water, we are deeply concerned that if municipal water hookups become too costly or restricted water wars, the developer will pivot and drill high-capacity production wells during and maybe after construction. This has happened in some of our neighboring communities. The developer's current scoping document ignores this double threat of groundwater depletion and toxic contamination. It fails to account for how massive irrigation demands could deplete the water table and dry out our wells. It also fails to model how subterranean hydraulic gradients will draw hazardous turf chemicals into our private wells. We cannot leave our drinking water to these two emissions in the scoping document and in the DEIS. Under CEQA as a lead agency, your job during the scoping phase is to protect public health and our home equity. With this responsibility, I request that the Planning Board mandate three strict directives in the final scoping document. Number one, Forcibility and contingency plan. The DEIS must explicitly state that if the developer pivots and alters the water or utility plans for any reason, a mandatory CEQA supplemental review is automatically triggered. The developer can bypass groundwater extraction scrutiny now and drill later, no matter what the demand. The DEIS must require an independent hydrological stress test and a mandatory ongoing study of turf chemical leaching to prove exactly how these pesticides will be permanently prevented from poisoning our aquifer. Finally, the DEIS must include an analysis of our property values and mandate that the developer establish a front fund legally binding mitigation escrow account. If the project dries out or contaminates a single well, that fund can immediately pay for full remediation deeper drilling or public water hookups at the developer's expense or the town's if the planning board fails to actually identify that. Finally, I would request that the planning board formally engage the Westchester County Department of Health, which I did see in the lead agency list, but immediately for this specific purpose about the groundwater tracking and monitoring and the well, you know, sampling of the neighbors who have wells on the property. So I thank you for protecting our health, our equity, and our water. Thank you.

And I thank you for coming out tonight.

Thank you.

Okay, speaker number five.

I don't think this Board should rely on the assurance of the applicant for what may result in a change to our zoning code for for-profit private clubs. It needs to be spelled out in the scoping document so that the applicant knows what they should present, and we need to be concerned about this being a precedent for the over-commercialization of the town. Other entities can come along and also develop for-profit clubs. Just recently, in December, Governor Hochul signed a bill that permits the serving and sale of alcoholic beverages in for-profit private clubs. And there could be many more applicants throughout our town.

Can I frame it up?

Your concern is what? My concern is this leads to over-commercialization, that private clubs are not like Sleepy Hollow Golf Club where residents join. Memberships are for sale to the highest bidder oftentimes. And if there's a restaurant, the service is exclusively for members and their guests. So let's say people in the neighborhood want to use some of the amenities there or want to go to a restaurant, that would not necessarily be permitted. So this is going to have an effect on the community character as well.

So let me frame that up then. You're concerned with the community character and over-commercialization.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

And the idea of this being a precedent and it should be addressed. And I'm concerned about the community character. Also, the areas nearby, let's say around Reckless Street and Union Street, these are our ten areas. So we need to know the relationship between the club, the golf course, the housing. Does one have to become a member of the club? to buy a house, if one owns a house, do they have access to the other amenities? This needs to be spelled out and addressed in detail. And as far as whether the degree to which this application may develop into an elitist, virtually gated community, which would be out of character for the area, should be also kept in mind. And finally, I'd be interested in knowing uh... from the applicant how many certified letters neighbors in the area and whether they were tracked to see if they're received okay thank you all right so speaker number six

Chairman Collins, Honorable Planning Board, Dennis McCarthy, Hawthorne, New York. So basically, I think it was tried to be addressed. And thank you for the board's questions. And I commend everyone else what they've said. What was talking about the zone amendment change? The zone amendment change? I think should be clarified more. I don't think the secret process what was described. This is a town zoning code law that has to be addressed and I think it should be spelled out more as as Mr. Russell said in the application in the secret application or the application. I think it's inappropriate for the planning board to make any legislative decisions. All recommendations to the town board. This is fully the town board's responsibility. Um, so I request that, um, that that be clarified number 1 and that number 2, the town board make this decision, not the planning board. Um, I also, um, it was clarified about the 65 lots, but that's not clear in the application. They have to correct that language because it's not spelled out. They can update that language that was shared here tonight. It also says that outside the golf and pool season, there'll be 12-month amenities. I'd like to know what those amenities and activities are proposed. It also states that residences will be managed by HOA, Homeowners Association, and regulate and manage the community, that they would have a set of covenants, conditions, and restrictions that would include architectural guidelines, streetscape details, setbacks, and conditions for all residences. I'd like to know what the proposed covenants, conditions, restrictions, etc. will be, you know, that that should be included in this application. It also states that the project will be clearing 90 acres of trees that was mentioned before. This proposed project actually will clear a significant natural community of oak tulip tree forest, which are 100 to 150-foot trees that are basically in jeopardy in the Northeast and in the United States. So I'd like to know what proposed actions they can perform to protect these tulip trees as well as not deforest 90 acres of trees to reduce deforestation effort. I'd also like to, what is the anticipated water supply usage and sewage discharge for both the golf project site and the residential plan? So the average golf water usage in New York State is 38 million gallons of water a year. I'd like to know in addition, well, I'd like to know what it is and in addition, the residential plan. And that's a significant issue as well. They've kind of parted the residential plan from the golf project. I'd like them to zone in and actually include. They have it on the plan, but they have no dimensions whatsoever. They mentioned a 40,000 square district. They mentioned 10,000 square foot district, but they don't show the size of the houses. They don't show the proposal of the houses or the setbacks. That should be clarified. Otherwise, this plan shouldn't go through. Otherwise, the housing shouldn't be included, period. Will the proposed project commit to... environmental principles for golf courses. So there's agricultural improvements in our agricultural food chain. Instead of spreading pesticides everywhere, there's actually environmental agriculture now that has actually progressed the golf courses. But it's rare. It's only about 5% to 10% golf courses. I'd like this golf course to commit to these environmental practices, which are basically spelled out in the Audubon International Society. I have literature here, which I'll provide to the town and to the application.

In addition...

Um, how can this, uh, golf project and residential commit to reduction in pesticides, which was mentioned here tonight by several people. The pesticide and herbicide application, um, implementing on the landscape management plan to reduce significant health risks to animal species and humans. So, basically, the songbird has kind of disappeared because of herbicides and many of these pesticides that are being used because they eat the bugs, the bugs have the pesticides, and the songbirds have pretty much disappeared, as well as the bees. We're doing promotion for bees. We're doing promotion for butterflies. All these pesticides and herbicides are basically killing them. So they've also affected cancer, neurotoxicity, development and learning disabilities. birth defects, respiratory illness, endocrine, immune disruption, and a whole sort of skin irritation, headaches, and other disorientation orders. So I would like the GOLF project to commit to utilize the least environmentally hazardous pesticides that affect both animals, butterflies, bees, and humans, and the subtle reference I'm providing. The applicant also needs to answer all the questions in the environmental impact statement. They conveniently answer some questions and they don't follow up with the answer to the ones that are related to those questions. For instance, habitat is quantified and protected. No endangered species of flora or fauna. They mentioned a conservation easement in response to that. But in this, it says that you must maintain the application for two years to ensure indigenous vegetation at a minimum replicates the original vegetation of the site. So in other words, protect the flora and fauna. And if it's affected, you have to replace it with indigenous vegetation. They don't answer that. But I would ask them to answer every question because that's just one example. So let's see. Wetlands delineations being encroached upon. Please answer the question of the wetlands delineations being encroached upon in the environmental assessment form. That's another question that they don't answer because they state that it would be affected, but they don't answer where. So it should be outlined on the map. it should be shown the wetlands so for information purposes here to the public to the board one acre wetlands holds one million gallons of water so it's really significant one one acre of wetlands so um So describe how this proposed action will affect water bodies and the wetlands, please, because that's not fully described. As well as excavation fill, any alteration to channels, banks, shorelines, any river waterways, describe how those will be affected. So another example is the proposed action include other activities that will include empowerment of any liquids. They say yes. What's the purpose of the impoundment? Irrigation pond surface water feature. And they state that it's going to be about three million gallons of surface, about one acre. Yet the second question, another question related to that, says identify the wetland or water body which would be affected by name or water index number. and they don't answer it? Or where is the geographical description of it? It's not answered. Describe how the proposed action will affect that water body or wetland excavation or fill placement and the channel or banks. Again, not answered. So please answer all these questions. I would just like to leave off with There's the Audubon International and Environmental Management for practice for golf courses. So it deals with the building of the golf courses, how it affects the steep slopes, how it affects the wetlands, how it affects the tree forestation. I'd like to state for record that right now the wetlands and the steep slopes is being worked upon. We're pushing, my group and many residents are pushing for 150 feet wetland delineation, steep slopes to be excluded, very and excessive steep slopes to be 100% excluded, and for steep slopes to be increased 25-50%, you know, percentages. There's also wetland habitat information here that I'm going to provide. And I have information on the health effects, again, affecting cancer, affecting the animals, that I'm also going to provide the town. Just a couple last things just to mention, and I'll wrap it up. There's a nutrient water runoff law in New York State So if people have seen the news recently, there was four beaches that were closed in northern Westchester. Those four beaches were closed because of algae. Algae is a result of runoff from grasses that most people use, unfortunately. So I'm not just beating up on this golf application. I'm saying that this is an issue across the board. So those wetlands were closed, or those beaches and lakes were closed because of pesticide application. So, I believe we need a local law to deal with that. So, I want the applicant to know that we'll be pushing for a local law for tree preservation in addition to what I just mentioned.

Just one other thing.

So, wetland mitigation fund, we're going to push for that as well, to have wetland permit fees and encroachment, if you encroach upon wetlands, then it has an impact.

something else we're going to push for.

And just so you know, Mount Pleasant was recommended to have 100,000 trees planted by 2025. And the NRI that the Conservation Committee created in 2023, three years ago, stated that in 15 years, we lost 10% of our tree canopy, 700 acres. and this and it's probably 750 800 right now this is going to add another 90 acres to that list so again pushing for tree preservation please try and reduce the tree preservation so dennis how does that frame with the scope and document So the tree preservation has increased so much in this town, it's affected wetlands and flooding and stormwater damage. And I'm asking to reduce, I'm stating how much trees we lost, and I'm asking to prevent more trees from being affected. To study that. I'll wrap up. Thank you very much to the board, and thank you everyone for the questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, speaker number seven. And if that's, we need to adjust that.

I'm going to stall Mr. McCarthy, but I'll do my best. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to make a comment.

Don't you just grab it right off. There you go. Okay.

There we go. Can you hear me now? Yes. I have a very short comment. Maureen Petrie, and it's for the surrounding area that the applicant proposes to evaluate. Right now it's only one quarter acre. everybody's made all these comments about runoff and all these things I would just say considering that the impacts of such a large development that includes removing up to 90 acres of trees the applicant should be required to evaluate a larger area a quarter acres 1320 feet so beyond their site They really should be required to evaluate their impacts in a larger area than that. And I also wanted to make the comment that I've been in touch with Matt Castro from the Westchester Planning Board, and they're accepting RFPs for a study of the Pecanico River watershed in general. Just that the board is aware that there is going to be a study of the mechanical river watershed. So I don't know how that all fits into this, but I just wanted to make the planning board aware. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Speaker number eight. Speaker eight. Good evening. Good evening.

My name is Lisa black. I live on sleepy hollow road. Um, I'm actually an immediate neighbor of the property that's being proposed here.

Um, sorry. You sent that note out. Didn't you? Did you send that email out recently? I did. Yes. I was going to ask if the board received my letter.

Um, I'm here with my husband, Dan as well. And, um, many of my neighbors from the archival community are also here as well.

So sorry.

I'm usually very loud. I'm here with many of my neighbors from the Archville community as well as my husband. We are at 897 Sleepy Hollow Road, and we're an immediate neighbor to this proposed property. In fact, we're totally surrounded by golf courses at this point, considering the applicant's proposal, because Sleepy Hollow is directly across the street from our house. So, I first wanted to say, I wanted to thank the applicant because Troy and his team, and I know Troy is not here this evening, but I did want to thank the applicant for proactively reaching out to the Archville community and having some initial discussions with us to at least get our initial concerns about the project and have some discussion about that. So, I did want to say thank you to Troy and his team for at least initiating that conversation since we are the immediate neighbors. That being said, I did outline in very significant detail in my letter at least six topics that I think are very important that the board should consider. And I know some of my neighbors and our community members have discussed a lot of them this evening, so I don't want to repeat any of that. I would encourage everyone to read the letter. I believe it's publicly posted as well, correct? Yeah. And then the last item obviously was the zone amendment, which I'm not going to touch because obviously others have talked about that. We've been a Archville member for 25 years. Our family has lived there. The houses in Archville have been there almost 150 years or so. My neighbor, Vernice, can attest she's been here for quite some time as well. And I do want to sort of zoom out and talk about some of the specific issues that everyone was mentioning, which were obviously environmental and wildlife issues, the traffic that I think are being echoed this evening. But I wanted to just sort of hone in on a couple of issues. And I don't know if... By any chance, if you could put up the actual map of the of the project, if you look in the upper northwest corner, that's where the Archville community is.

Yeah, I know where it is. Yeah.

Yes. And you can see that there's a water irrigation pond right in that corner. There's also a maintenance facility. There's also a practice green that they have planned in the proposal right in the middle of the Archville neighborhood. So if I could just zone in for a moment on that specific piece, which is only a few acres of this entire 214 acre proposal. That would probably be the most disruptive in addition to, of course, the traffic, the environmental issues to the Archville community because of where that practice green is proposed to be located. So we would ask that the engineers and the planning team at least consider that practice green being somewhere else. on this plan that they are proposing because of the impact that it would at least create in the Archville community. The other issue I wanted to mention very briefly is the noise. I live across the street from Sleepy Hollow Country Club. I know what mowers and blowers sound like six days a week into extremely early hours of the morning. So I know that there is at least a possibility that they may commit to an electric fleet or something else that might be a little more environmentally conscious and also perhaps lower in volume. But the reality is listening to mowers and blowers, whether they're electric or not, six days or seven days a week is a significant impact on the Archville community. And I think Bernice is right across from me in my backyard. So I just wanted to mention those few things. One other thing I didn't hear anyone mention was, what is the impact to the schools?

My understanding generally is that, is this Sleepy Hollow schools and Terry- Yeah, and they're gonna address all of the school conversation in their documents that they create.

Yes, so that is one thing that I would like to hear more about is the impact on the schools. And with respect to the environmental issues that some of my neighbors have touched on, I would like to know who would be regulating that after the project would be built. Even if there's a commitment to organic or some other type of chemicals, who's going to be monitoring that after the fact? Is that something that a neighbor would have to make a complaint about? We wouldn't even know. I can tell you that I actually have a vegetable garden. immediately adjacent to the proposed property. So that is something that is deeply concerning to me, in addition to what everyone else has said, is actually being right next to the chemical and the pesticides. So with that, I would encourage that the board just review my letter. Those are the things that I think are concerning. The rest of the public has obviously mentioned this as well, and we look forward to hearing what the applicant has to say.

Thank you for coming on. Thank you for your letter as well.

okay speaker number nine speaker number nine one second Jim I just want to get a clarification okay uh I I read that letter today also and I was curious I didn't have a chance to check on it but the green that she's mentioning it's putting green or a driving range it is a driving range yes okay because when we had the conversation on site we were told that there wasn't a driving range that you guys were going to do virtual inside

Thank you.

The virtual golf that you were referring to was one of the buildings that was going to be utilized for that. That area that was being referred to does have a practice area. It's intended for one-on-one instruction and things like that. There is areas to drive balls in that area. It is not a driving range in the sense of something that's open to the public or anything like that, but it is a practice area that's located in that spot, 100%.

okay i must have misunderstood because when we were talking troy said that it was going to take up too much space to do have a driving range so it is not your traditional drive again your um a lot of driver ranges will have

you know, 100 stalls line. It's not that intention. It's a very specific area because it's so limited space that's there. But again, that is details that will be provided as we go. Okay.

So JD, we will answer that, you know, comprehensively and Troy's not here. Our understanding is this is not a driving range area with a row of bays that you would normally see at a normal driving range, either at a country club or a regular driving range. There may be two areas within which to hit, but we'll answer that in detail so that we're not speculating. And we'll provide.

Distances, yes.

Okay, thank you for clarifying. We are at speaker number nine.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I'm David Turner, Bedford Corners. Maybe this was covered in the, I haven't had the opportunity to read the scoping statement, but my question is, and maybe this is covered in there, but I think the neighbors and the community would benefit from knowing the timeline construction first shovel in the ground the phases of what's being done first I think that would be helpful for the neighbors to evaluate the project is to know the timeline how long is this going to be how long do they anticipate that depends on and it when and if it starts of course of course so I'm talking about first shovel in the ground to

But I think you should, to your point, they should be able to estimate it's 18 months, two years, whatever the time frame is.

Right. How long there's going to be trucks and so forth and construction going on. My other question is, and people have alluded to this prior, but my question is this zoning text change that's proposed, Um, would that in the, this would be in the R 40 zone, would that apply to every property going forward in the R 40 zone? Because there's other large parcels, obviously.

I'm going to step out of that conversation because that's outside of my, my pay grade that, but, but those are good conversations to bring to the town board. Great. And I hope people bring them to the town board. Great.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, speaker number 10. Thank you. Thank you for coming out tonight.

Good evening. My name is John Edwards. I live in Thornwood and I'm going to focus my comments on the health hazards of golf courses. I've handed you a recent paper that published to show that there is a significant increase in the incidence of Parkinson's disease for those folks that live within three miles of a golf course, as opposed to those that live more than six miles away. It's not a standalone. I did a PubMed search where I crossed pesticides, herbicides, and golf courses, not golf, golf courses. It came up with 149 articles. In my written comments that I've emailed to Ms. Saracino, I've included eight of them. They all agree with the idea that living next to a golf course or being exposed to pesticides represents a real health hazard. In that paper that I've handed you, that there's a more than two-fold increase in the incidence of Parkinson's disease of folks that live within a mile of a golf course. And there's a further exacerbation for those that are drinking water from golf course runoff. So I think this is a significant and serious problem that needs to be addressed. In terms of the scoping document, I would like to see the applicant in the FEA indicates that they are going to follow the integrated pest management protocols, but that is more of a strategic overview of how you might approach this. I would like to see much more detailed information. At the time I retired, my lab had more than a thousand chemicals and drugs in it and I was responsible for that inventory including the amount, the name, where I bought it and how it was stored and where it was stored. I also was required to maintain a certification for handling these and everyone that walked into my lab had to be certified and undergo safety training before they were allowed to work in my lab. even if my younger daughter, who was a high school student at the time, had to do that when she was doing it there as an informal person. This kind of a thing is kind of a pain in the ass to do when you first do it the first time, but then with computers and Excel spreadsheet, it becomes okay. In terms of the scoping document, I would like to see how South Fork handles some of their other golf courses. They have two in Massachusetts, and I think that it is reasonable to see how those golf courses are handled. But again, I can't overemphasize enough the danger that can be.

Yeah, and Parkinson's disease is the number one grown neurological disorder as of right now. So I empathize with the statement that you're making. It is a concern, and the correlation to this is definitely something that should be dropped into the EIS as well. But it is definitely the number one grown neurological disorder in the country right now.

And I only found yesterday one article that was a review that showed that exposure to pesticides, not specifically related to golf courses, but exposure to pesticides increased the incidence of spontaneous abortions. So I think there's many things that need to be addressed. in the scoping document, but mostly detailed handling, management, and application schedules need to be covered.

Okay, thank you for coming out tonight.

Thank you.

Speaker number 11.

Hi, everyone. I am Dan Black of Sleepy Hollow Road, the aforementioned husband of Lisa Black of Sleepy Hollow Road. I did also have a say and some hand in writing that, so I just want to put in the record. Did he?

I sure did.

So, look, let me just caveat two things. First, agreed with my wife, because it's smart, that the approach that has been made by the applicant to the neighborhood, to us as individual homeowners, has been laudable. And I do appreciate the outreach. And then secondly, environmental concerns, health concerns are paramount in this study. What's already been covered, I just want to add to that last bit that we talked about, that little tract on the end where the Archville neighborhood is. There's 214 acres and that eight-ish, nine-ish acre section that directly abuts some 25 existing houses seems like a very convenient place to put what could be argued are the two most invasive parts of a golf course or a golf course community. the maintenance facility with the noise coming in and out six days a week at all hours of the day and night. It is a driving range. The fact that there's only going to be one or two stalls, if you look at it and what's intended, it's intended to drive balls a distance into the direction of the neighborhood itself. and there is no amount of fencing or buffering woods, what have you, that's going to prevent those golf balls, the errant ones, and then, you know, if you've golfed with me, there's lots of errant, to going into those neighborhoods because it is facing that direction, where you would drive from or hit balls from in this practice area faces into the entire neighborhood, including, by the way, the Archville Fire Department, of which I am a member for 25 years. So the last thing I want to be doing is doing outside, doing drills on equipment and get hit by a golf ball. or have our equipment hit by a golf ball. So I have to think that at 214 acres, that eight or nine acre spot, there has to be another spot where they could at least consider, and I'd love to see this in the document, consider potentially putting that practice area slash range and or the maintenance facility so that the 20 to 25 neighbors in the Archville neighborhood that did not elect to live in a golf course don't necessarily have to make that their thing as opposed to the 75 residents that are opting into living on a golf course with all of the pluses and minuses that come along with it. So I'd love to just understand what the other options are from that perspective.

Thank you for coming out tonight. Okay, speaker, and I know who speaker number 12 is, this lovely lady over here. I know her because she kind of raised her hand at the very end.

Yes.

She wanted to be a speaker, the last speaker. Can I speak to her? Yes, you can.

Can you hear me now? We're going to let this lady go. Okay. I only came to find out what's going on, okay? Because I heard of a golf course. I don't know what kind. if it's for practicing or what? I'm not a governor.

So let me kind of frame what we're doing tonight.

Brunilda Chabrier, C-H-A-B-R-I-E-R. And the problem I have, I don't want to be sitting in my yard getting hit with one of those golf balls and drop dead.

Okay, so let me, well, no, we don't want that either. We don't want that either. We don't want you.

Mr. Black and Ms. Black said everything I had to hear.

Okay.

All right? Oh, they have problem. She's right behind me and we're very close. How are we going to have that?

Okay, so you're concerned about a couple things, and you're echoing the concerns of your neighbors.

With my health, yes, yes.

Yes, we don't want that. Okay. Thank you very much.

So have a nice evening. Thank you for coming.

We bored you enough. You know what? You were a very joyful speaker, so thank you for bringing your joy.

Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you.

And we do... One additional speaker probably got tied up with family or work or something of that nature.

Yes.

Oh, my gosh. And I'm sick, so I'm sorry in advance. This is very tall.

You can drop it right down. I'm dropping it right here. Okay. There you go.

So Anna Nelson, I live in Thornwood. I just wanted to say that the fact that developer is requesting an amendment to the zoning does not mean that one automatically has to be granted. My sister is an engineer in Texas, kind of fights with towns and planning boards and all this other stuff. And there are definitely times where projects cannot move forward because it was not granted. So zoning exists because communities have determined what land uses are appropriate. And there's a reason that we don't have space for this in our current zoning. So I think that if a proposal is made to require changing the law to make this project fit within our town, then the burden should be on the applicant to demonstrate why changing the long serves the long term interests of the entire town and not just simply benefiting this one project. So I'm just asking, you know, is this amendment being written broadly enough so that future for profit membership clubs could use it? And if this zoning amendment were proposed or rejected, would the I was sorry, if the zoning amendment were proposed with no field would application attached, would anyone be recommending it? And so I think that the answer is no. So I just want to say that like the zoning for me is the big issue because it will have future impacts beyond just this if we make an amendment to our zoning laws. As far as the actual impacts, I think that someone was talking about the 0.25, like when you're looking at like the outside and like the cumulative impacts of the runoff. everything that people who are talking about here like the pesticides everything else you know that Mount Pleasant has a huge issue right now with flooding with stormwater with runoff and so my biggest issue is when we cut down 90 acres of trees and when we add more impervious surface here and when we have more pesticides being used in this area my huge concern is for a community that's already suffering is this is just gonna make everything worse and so I really I'm not going to speak for everyone in Mount Pleasant. I don't know many of the members here that are, I guess, in the market for being members of this luxury golf club. But we do live in this community. We work in this community. I'm raising my child in this community. And so I just want to make sure that it's safe. So I really want these things to be considered.

And if you don't mind, can I just paraphrase what we're trying to address in the IAS specifically? You were concerned about the trees, the pesticides, the herbicides, and the runoff. Was there anything else I'm trying to remember?

Runoff and stormwater. I'm just saying, like, adding more impervious surface. And, like, I think someone was talking about the way that you are, maybe this was Dennis, like, the distance that we're measuring, the impacts of the runoff from this site, and increasing that distance. I think it was, like, .25 of a mile is, like, the distance we look around the site.

but to look at the longer term impacts because again this area does see significant floodings with the wetlands and everything else yeah so they'll address that in their eis documents but i do which i think you're going to i'm sure because you know it's important for people to engage in the process with the zoning tax amendment as well so i encourage you as well to do that as well thank you so okay i just want to ask a question how come i don't get applauded I'm just teasing. I'm just teasing, guys. All right. So with that being said, we have this application here, 835, 855, Sleepy Hollow Road, Brodcliffe Manor. We reviewed a bunch of stuff with them. What are the thoughts and questions or comments from the board at this point?

I want to compliment everybody who sent in letters. They were well-written, they were smart, and they included comments that we can actually fold into the document, some of which were repeated here tonight. IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US TO HAVE THINGS THAT ARE USEFUL THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY ADDRESS IN THE DOCUMENT. IT WAS CLEAR THAT MANY OF YOU HAD READ THE DOCUMENT, THE SCOPE, THE DRAFT, AND SO I COMPLIMENT YOU ON THE QUALITY OF YOUR COMMENTS AND THANK YOU FOR PUTTING IN THE TIME BECAUSE IT WAS A LOT TO READ AND UNDERSTAND.

OKAY. THANK YOU. ANY OTHER COMMENTS? Okay, so we have heard a bunch of stuff for this draft scope and document. So the question we have here tonight is do we feel the draft scope and document

The question is whether you want to close the verbal portion of the public hearing. Right, right, right, right. If you choose to do that, there would be a, you'd extend a written comment period as well to allow people to submit additional comments to you. Yeah. At which point the scoping document would be revised and then you would consider the adoption of the scoping document.

Right. I personally think we should have some written comment period because it is an awkward time of year.

I agree.

It's not directed at you guys, but it seems to be a pattern.

So we have low attendance, and we'd just like to keep it up to make sure that we can have greater input. And I know we can do it with . OK. All right. Any thoughts, questions from board members?

I think that based on the letters that we've gotten, as Eileen stated, that were well thought out, I think we've encompassed a lot of the things, again, that were echoed here again tonight. I agree with keeping the written comment period open, but I think we can close the verbal public comment period.

Any other questions or comments?

If you wish to keep a written comment period, Mr. Chairman, you should decide how long you want to do that.

J.D.?

I would say 30 days.

Does that sound like a motion? I'll make a motion, yes. A motion from...

I'm sorry? I didn't hear you. I THINK A 30-DAY WRITTEN COMMENT PERIOD OUTSIDE OF WHAT WE'VE ALREADY OPENED FOR A PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD IS ACCEPTABLE, BUT THAT'S JUST ME. THAT'S MY MOTION THAT I'M MAKING. WE'LL WAIT FOR THE BOARD TO HEAR IT.

JUST A POINT OF INFORMATION ON THE MOTION. IF YOU HOLD THE WRITTEN COMMENT PERIOD OPEN FOR 30 DAYS, WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO BE BACK HERE BEFORE LABOR DAY FOR THE ADOPTION IN ANY EVENT. SO YOU STILL GET THE SEPTEMBER DAY. SO THE APPLICANT WOULD CERTAINLY WILLINGLY CONSENT A secret doesn't require a 30-day written comment period. We have no objection given. We didn't ask for this to be in July. This is the way the process unfolded. So we would agree that a 30-day written comment period makes sense. We would ask, as Carolyn always does, to send us those written comments as timely as possible so that we can work together with Mr. Cleary to finalize the document, and hopefully we're back here at the beginning of September for adoption. So it would not be, I think your meeting, your first meeting in September would be the earliest we would return.

Okay.

And based on all of the comments that we have already, you guys could, you know, be working on it anyway. Understood. I agree.

May I just ask, Carolyn, when was the scope posted? Do you know?

It was posted yesterday.

Okay, so it's been out for about six weeks now.

Which is longer than normal for a scope to be out there.

Okay.

So I'm going to second J.D. 's motion.

So we have a motion from J.D. and we have a second from Eileen, which means we're going to take a vote.

We have a question over here. Hi, sorry. What is the frozen concept not keeping it open?

Okay. So let me just address that question. What we typically do, keeping it open, there's really not a huge difference between keeping it open versus not keeping it open. The written comment is just as valuable as oral comments. But by the same token, we have to take action at some point on all applications. So get those pencil sharpened. Get those pens going. Get the typewriter going. Typewriter, I'm going to show my age. keep her going, and get those written comments into us. And we will take those into consideration as well, which the applicant's going to have to address as well. I'm not going to go back and forth with here. Procedurally, I can't. Motion is second on the floor.

So are you essentially saying that everybody who spoke today, their words will not be heard?

No, that's, hold on, folks. I'm not going to take, we're going to stick to following parliamentary procedure, but I will address that question under no circumstances. Would we sit here tonight? Have all you folks come out and you could, you guys could have done anything different. We've could have done anything different as well as board members. We sat here for a reason. You came here for a reason. Understood. So they have to respond in some shape, form, or another to those comments. They're not my comments. It's not my document right now. They're phrasing this up for us. So no, they have to address those comments. I will not take any more questions from the audience because that's procedurally not the right way to do things. We have a motion on the floor right now, and we'll take action on that motion. So with that being said, we had a motion from JD and a motion from Eileen. Jane. Okay. Eileen.

Aye.

J.D. Aye. Steve. Aye. And aye from me. Okay. And that's it.

So the written comment period is open until, what's that, August 20th?

August 30th or August 20th. That's a Tuesday, Thursday. 30 days from today. That's it. Thank you all, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Thank you for your time and your patience, and we look forward to working with you to get the scope right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.