Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Town official: New Chester development aimed at Hasidic residents
Greens at Chester, the 431-home development that's being built on a 110-acre site west of the Whispering Hills subdivision, will be a predominately Hasidic community, and it could eventually be home to about 3,000 people, according to the Chester supervisor.
Supervisor Alex Jamieson said he has met with the developers, a Brooklyn group called Greens at Chester LLC, several times since site clearing began Jan. 30.
"They've been very nice, very upfront with me," Jamieson said.
"They understand that they're going to be building in accordance with the codes of our town."
The project includes 237 single-family houses and 194 semi-attached homes, with a total bedroom count of about 1,290.
Plans on file with the town call for the development to be built in three phases.
Five onsite wells will provide the water, and sewer lines will be connected to the Harriman sewage treatment plant.
It will have entrances on West Avenue and Conklingtown Road.
Jamieson said the town has written to the state Department of Transportation asking it to lower the speed limit to 40 mph from 55 mph on the portion of West Avenue that runs from Brookside Avenue west to Glenmere Road.
Grading is underway. Jamieson said the developers will focus on infrastructure this summer, including roads, curbs, sewage lines and storm drains.
He said he doesn't expect houses to start going up until September at the earliest.
Greens at Chester will include a community center, which may be used as a synagogue.
The development has been on hold since the 1980s.
Once tree-clearing started, many town residents started expressing concerns about increased traffic in the busy area along West Avenue, which runs between the Chester Mall and Conklingtown Road.
Jamieson said that most families will probably have just one car.
Jamieson said a group of town residents has approached him, asking the town to explore the possibility of switching to a ward system for electing council members.
The issue will be on the agenda for the next Town Board meeting at 7 p.m. April 25.
The neighboring Town of Blooming Grove switched to a ward system in a November 2016 referendum.
The Town of Mamakating in Sullivan County approved a ward system in a November 2015 referendum.
Each town has seen an influx of Hasidic home buyers in recent years.
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