Friday, August 16, 2019
New tactic in Greens at Chester stalemate
The Greens at Chester developers are trying a new approach in their standoff with town officials: a direct appeal to residents, warning that the town's denial of building permits could saddle taxpayers with huge legal costs and still won't stop the 431 homes from being built.
The developers mailed a letter to town residents last week under the name "Better Chester," and have created a web site —
Standing on Thursday at the development site as construction vehicles lumbered past, developers Livy Schwartz and Joseph Landau said they started the outreach partly to present accurate information and dispel misconceptions, like the idea that the Greens at Chester would resemble the dense, multi-family housing found in Kiryas Joel. Their plans call for 237 single-family homes and 194 semi-detached homes on 117 acres.
Schwartz and Landau say they also hope to build pressure on town officials to relent so homes can be built and damages are kept to a minimum in their lawsuit, which they predict they will win. Their suit seeks $100 million in damages.
"We did not want to get to this point where we have to go to court and the Chester residents have to pay damages," Schwartz said.
Valentine, whose cell number was provided in the letter, said Thursday that he has gotten about 25 calls and a few emails in response so far, all of them supporting the town and snubbing the developers' campaign.
"They think the same thing I think — that it's a strong-arm tactic," he said.
The 101-page federal lawsuit filed last month accuses town officials of trying to block an approved housing project because of strident opposition to what people have expected will be an all-Hasidic community. The complaint quotes numerous comments from town meetings to demonstrate that sentiment and argue that the town's actions have been discriminatory.
The developers bought the property with approved housing plans in 2017 for $12.1 million, and have been steadily building roads, installing pipes and doing all other site preparation for the first construction phase. But they have not been allowed to build any homes.
One dispute holding up construction is home size. Town officials contend the houses can be no larger than 2,500 square feet, and say the developers are trying to exceed that. The developers argue the town invented that limit to deter Hasidic homebuyers with large families, and say their plans fully comply with the town's 2013 approvals. Their proposed model homes are 2,500 to 3,400 square feet.
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