Condo developer wants fees reduced
WARWICK — No members of the public attended the last regular meeting of the village board held on Dec. 17.
Nonetheless, Warwick Mayor Michael Newhard asked everyone to remain standing after the Pledge of Allegiance for a moment of silence for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre just days prior on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn.
Trustees mustered solemn holiday greetings and appealed to parents to hug their children just a little bit tighter.
The developer of the Warwick Commons LLC condominium project known as “Warwick Meadows – Stage 5” is seeking a reduction in bond amounts and fees.
Representatives came before the board on Monday night to present their position. Bruce Katona of KDJ Realty Inc. in New City and Richard Croughan of the law firm of James G. Sweeney in Goshen want $544,630 eliminated from the bond totaling $2,034,743.
116 condos
The property is located on Brady Road, has had multiple owners since 1987 and was foreclosed upon at one point.
Stage 5 consists of 116 condominiums across 15 buildings.
According to Katona, the upfront fees are “financially onerous” on a project that is intended to increase the amount of affordable housing available in Orange County for workers with incomes between approximately $44,000 and $68,000.
The one and two bedroom units will be 1,200 and 1,700 square feet in size, respectively.
Calling the cumulative bond amount “staggering,” Sweeney asserted that costs for such things as erosion control, landscaping and retaining walls are “not necessary for the health, safety and welfare of the residents,” in a letter to Newhard dated Nov. 14.
The mayor and trustees Barry Cheney and Eileen Patterson disagreed, saying the aforementioned costs are not for beautification.
“The purpose of the bond is to allow the village to perform the project should the owner default,” said Cheney to Katona and Croughan.
‘More sensitive to the client’
New village engineering firm, Lehman & Getz, is “much more sensitive to the client,” said the mayor, who will ask them to review the bond and fees at the expense of the developer and also to answer questions about how to charge appropriately for tapping into the village’s sewer and water systems.
Warwick Meadows was conceived originally as a large project to include 228 multiple dwelling units and 56 single-family houses now known as Ridgefield Estates.
Between 1986 and 1987 the planning board approved the multiple dwelling portion of the project in five stages of which the first four are built and occupied. Next steps include the developers returning to Warwick Village Hall for the second regular meeting in January.
- Birgit Bogler