Village View development raises concerns with nearby homeowner

Warwick - John DeSanto’s property borders on two sides of the proposed Village View Estates development, where 29 single-family homes may rise over 20 acres. “As the homeowner in closest proximity to the proposed Village View development, I feel as though I am the resident who will be most impacted by this project,” DeSanto said. DeSanto’s primary concerns include increased traffic and water. He talked to the Village Board about the “Woodside bypass,” a route people in the area use to cut out the Grand Street/Route 17A intersection, instead using Crescent/Woodside/Locust. “At the present time, many motorists traveling toward the village on Grand Street wanting to go north on Route 17A are using the Crescent to Woodside to Locust bypass,” DeSanto wrote in a letter to the board. “As traffic increases along 17A in the village, the wait time at 17A and Grand grows longer.” Those increased wait times cause more and more drivers to take the shortcut, DeSanto said, turning three residential roads into a racetrack at times, especially in the morning and evening hours. Given that Woodside Drive and Locust Street are narrow, bumpy roads with limited sight distance, DeSanto offered some suggestions, most, he admitted, not necessarily long-term improvements. One that he does think will help with the safety in the area is to provide sidewalks for safe pedestrian passage. Increasing signage and installing four more stop signs in the area should help with the safety issue. DeSanto said he is concerned with the proposal to include three water retention ponds in the development with no safety features built in. One pond would sit just feet from his property. “If these are considered to be ‘wet’ ponds, it would seem prudent to fence them off to keep out young children and animals,” he said. The village’s engineer, Michael Murphy, said a natural barrier would be more acceptable, such as trees and shrubs, instead of a fence which tends to catch debris. Water runoff is also a concern. The land for this development is steep — it will look similar to Chelsea Gardens with fairly steep slopes. Rain pours from the side of the hill, washing away grass and topsoil, DeSanto noted, causing a “temporary raging stream.” “Now, consider how much worse the situation will be once the 20 acres is stripped of trees and homes are built,” DeSanto asked. One solution? DeSanto suggested a concrete drainage ditch be built along the back of the downslope homes in the development to catch the water and direct it to one of the retention ponds. The owner of the property, Robert Silber, also owns an adjacent 80 acres in the Town of Warwick. There is currently no application for development of this land before the town’s Planning Board. About five years ago, he submitted a request to annex the land into the village. At the time, the village and town were working on a new annexation policy. When that was complete, Silber moved forward with the annexation but was turned down three years ago by the Village Board and the Planning Board which said the draft environment impact statement was inadequate. The plan was to build 70 homes if the land was annexed. Village View Estates, which has a completed draft environment impact statement, also had a public hearing in January. It was scheduled to be on the Planning Board’s agenda last night, with the applicant responding to the comments received from residents.