HYDE PARK — Town planning officials don't want to see another cookie-cutter subdivision on a wooded parcel off Route 9G.

That's what the Hyde Park planning board is telling a Rockland County developer who wants to build 38 single-family homes on a 112-acre parcel just north of Fallkill Drive.

"If you do an aerial (snapshot), it looks like pretty much every subdivision in our county," planning board member Anne Dexter said of the proposed layout.

JAB Associates LLC of Congers, the developer, is seeking planning board approval to subdivide the land and build Creekside Estates.

Without venturing what the sale prices of the homes will be, the developer's consulting engineer, Joseph Pini, said the homes will be upscale, two-story and have four to five bedrooms.

More than 17 acres of the parcel is wetlands.
Dexter told the developer's representative, Brendon Burke, at a recent town hall meeting Hyde Park abides by the state and county Greenway Connections principles, which encourage smart growth and development that integrates the existing landscapes.

'Contours of the land'
That means, she said, going beyond just complying with the zoning regulations.
Board member Michael Dupree agreed: "This subdivision doesn't respect the contours of the land."
Besides the wetlands and woods, the parcel is hilly and has some rock-outcroppings.

The developer's engineer said he has taken care to adjust the location of the homes to the wetlands and some steep slopes. And the clustered subdivision preserves open space on the perimeter.

"The houses aren't all in a row. Some are set back," Pini.
The board is asking the developer to come with some alternative subdivision layouts.
"It looks like they could do different configurations that can be more sensitive to the contours of the land," Dexter said.

Planning board Chairman George McGann told Burke to make sure the plan identifies trees that could provide visual screening of the homes.

Town Zoning Administrator Kathleen Moss said the developer should consider a request by the town Recreation Department to extend the Hyde Park trail for hikers through the rural parcel.

John Davis can be reached at jpdavis@poughkeepsiejournal.com

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