Development fight brewing in Pine Plains
275 sign up for residents' group
Michael Woyton Poughkeepsie Journal April 8 , 2005

 PINE PLAINS -- A group of Pine Plains residents have banded together to make sure the town -- not developers -- controls its growth.
Pine Plains United is the product of small, informal meetings that have taken place around the town in the last couple of years.
''I would say Pine Plains United got started just from citizens concerned about the development the town is facing,'' said Pine Plains resident Scott Chase, one of the organizers.
''And it's not just in this town,'' he said, ''because the cost of development extends out into the school district.''
The Pine Plains school district includes the Town of Pine Plains and portions of Milan, North East, Clinton and Stanford in Dutchess County and Gallatin, Ancram, Claremont and Livingston in Columbia County.
Housing may double
According to the 2000 Census, the town has about 1,200 housing units in it. Proposals before the planning board call for 1,300 units, including 975 homes for the Durst/Carvel golfing community, 280 for the Village Green project and 50 in a development on Lake Road.
That, Chase said, would overwhelm the town, drastically changing it.
''The town has gone through a couple of rewrites to its master plan, and each time surveys have been done, the community wants to maintain its rural, small-town atmosphere,'' Chase said.
Gregg Osofsky, who maintains the group's Web site, said about 275 people have become members, each receiving a bumper sticker that says either ''small, not sprawl'' or ''Pine Plains, love it or lose it,'' with a heart representing the word love.
''The town is coming to a collective understanding that unless we stand up and state what we want for our future, anything can happen,'' Osofsky said.
''We need to step forward and be more proactive,'' he said.
Town Supervisor Gregg Pulver said he was a little apprehensive when he heard that the organization was being formed.
But their outlook ''differs little from the town board,'' he said. ''We may disagree on how to get to certain places, but the results will be the same.''
Members from the organization, along with town and planning board members and select residents, will join a soon-to-be-formed zoning committee to lay the groundwork for legally enforceable zoning ordinances, something the town has never had.
''We've reached out to them (Pine Plains United),'' Pulver said. ''We certainly look forward to their support, energy and ideas.''

For information about Pine Plains United, visit http://pineplainsunited.org

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