Village, Liberty Greens agree on parkland, hookup fees

Warwick — The Village of Warwick and developer Jonah Mandelbaum, who is building Liberty Greens, a 250-unit affordable senior housing development on Grand Street, have agreed on fees that will be paid to the village for building. In the agreement that was approved by the Village Board on Monday night, Mandelbaum agreed to pay $200 per unit for a total of $50,000 in lieu of parkland. Typically, $3,000 is paid in lieu of donating parkland per unit when building in the village. However, according to Trustee Eileen Patterson, the village didn’t expect a full fee arrangement for several reasons, including the fact that the developer is providing recreational facilities to the residents. “Our discussions at the recent Liberty Greens fees work session centered around the fact that this property was annexed from the town and zoned as multiple resident senior housing,” said Patterson. “It is standard practice for the developer’s fees to be reduced on affordable housing developments. This, added to the fact that the developer is providing recreational facilities for the residents, helped us make the decision to reduce the payment in lieu of parks fee and the building permit fee.” The building permit fee usually costs 4 percent of the cost of the total project. The village set the building permit fee to $15,000 per building for a total of $45,000. Mandelbaum will pay the full water hook-up fee, which is $3,000 per building. With three buildings, that cost comes to $9,000. Sewer hook-up fees were reduced slightly, from $3,000 to $2,800 per unit. With 250 units, that fee totals $700,000 due to the village. All of the fees will be paid to the village before certificates of occupancy are issued, according to the agreement. The only exception is with the building permit fees, each of which will be paid when an application is made. There are currently three subsidized senior housing developments in the Village of Warwick: Creekside, Burt Farms and Devon Wood, which also was built by Mandelbaum. Liberty Greens will by far be the largest in Warwick. Mandelbaum has built similar developments throughout the county, including in Goshen and Port Jervis.