Hyde Park residents throng to zoning hearing
Rampant growth likely, some say
By John Davis Poughkeepsie Journal April 1 , 2005

HYDE PARK -- An overflow crowd of almost 200 packed into town hall Thursday night to criticize and support the proposed new zoning regulations. Based on the those who spoke during the first two hours of the public hearing, and applause generated, a majority opposed adoption of the zoning draft by the town board.
Patrick Downes of Connelly Drive said the new land use rules would lead to development that would threaten the character of the town noted for being the home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
''I don't like the zoning plan,'' Downes said. ''You don't have to be a historian to know FDR wouldn't be signing onto this.''
The zoning regulations recommended by the town zoning review committee would restrict new home construction in the rural parts of Hyde Park and allow more in the commercial and neighborhood districts.
''It represents a plan for orderly growth,'' said Florence Rosen, co-chairwoman of the zoning review committee. ''This is a good and solid plan.''
Increases in minimum lot sizes are intended to implement the 1997 comprehensive plan, which calls for preserving the town's rural character by concentrating new construction around the town center and existing developments.
Paul Nassetta of Silver Fox Lane said he opposed the 1997 plan, but nevertheless thought the 2005 zoning was worth enacting.
''I think it artificially divided the town,'' Nassetta said. ''I think the master plan only addressed the aesthetic elements in town and not the economic. I think the 2005 plan has made the best of a bad situation.''
Hints of sprawl
But a number of speakers Thursday night said the 2005 zoning proposal deviates too much from the master plan in creating three new commercial districts which, they say, will lead to highway sprawl.
''Unattractive strip malls will be be allowed all along routes 9 and 9G,'' said Roberta Brodie of Quail Ridge Road. ''We cannot sell out our town to the developers that don't live here.''
Some of these critics support the 2003 zoning, which the town board failed to pass that year. Those rules concentrated commercial development in the town center and required larger residential lot sizes in the rural areas.
Louis Lelyveld of Route 9 said the 2003 zoning better protected the small-town atmosphere of Hyde Park.
''This plan is too darn weak for Hyde Park,'' Lelyveld said of the proposed zoning.
Bob Baxter, owner of the Park Plaza on Route 9, said the 2005 zoning would restrict his ability to develop his shopping center.
''With the new zoning, I see I am not part of the town center,'' Baxter said. ''I think the 2003 (zoning) was a much better situation.''
Dennis Eagan of Staatsburg said, if enacted, the 2005 zoning would permit too much residential development in his hamlet through smaller lot sizes -- six dwellings per acre.
''This will negatively affect the character of Hyde Park and make us Wappingers North,'' Eagan said. ''That six units per acre will destroy Staatsburg. We're going to have sewage in everyone's basement.''

Copyright © 2005, Poughkeepsie Journal .

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