Land Use Projects
Dover Knolls is the largest planned development in Dutchess County, and is sited in the Great Swamp, a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Critical Environmental Area. Smart growth best practices would suggest a plan with the majority of housing clustered around the train station on the original Harlem Valley Psych Center campus footprint, leaving relatively untouched the existing open space to allow for greater bio-diversity; best practices would suggest less building on steep slopes to protect against flooding and erosion of clay banks, and to protect the viewshed.
The site sits above the Harlem Valley aquifer from which many residents and neighbors get their water; the wastewater treatment facilities required to service the proposed 1376 units, which we estimate will eventually house families of 2-3 people, will be sub-surface and will require engineering and construction skills of the highest order. In addition, future plans for the fiscal and operational responsibility for this facility must be carefully addressed so as not to burden the current residents of Dover.
We would like to see this project create a net positive economic gain for our residents and neighbors in the way of lower taxes and more jobs. Dover Knolls has tremendous potential to lower taxes if phased properly, but greater potential to raise taxes if not balanced with adequate commercial/retail space.
For these reasons, and because the current Town Board voted 3-2 to remove Dover Knolls site plan approval from the more experienced Planning Board, in favor of expediency, the Coalition for the Responsible Growth of Dover was formed to concentrate its resources to monitor the Dover Knolls project, first and foremost.
