In anticipation of the workshop, I wrote a letter attached to Supervisor Munday and the Town Board urging that the code include major additions and revisions.  

PUTNAM COUNTY COALITION TO PRESERVE OPEN SPACE
(Protecting land, water and communities)
P. O. Box 122
Carmel, New York 10512

August 29, 2007

Hon. Connie King Munday, Supervisor, Town of Carmel and
Hon. Members of the Town Board
Town Hall
60 McAlpin Avenue
Mahopac, New York 10512

Dear Supervisor Munday:

Tonight the Town Board will discuss various changes to the Town of Carmel's Zoning Code. There can be no doubt that recent deplorable experiences re: several development projects, have demonstrated that urgent changes are essential to protect Carmel's integrity and to protect the health, welfare and safety of its residents.  In addition to those codes previously submitted and discussed by the Board to buffer residents and their properties from the effects of exposure to blasting, noise and vibration, as Chair of the Coalition to Preserve Open Space, I am also recommending "Hillside and Steep Slope Protection" be included in your deliberations and have attached representative codes from the Town of Cortlandt, Bedford and West Meade/Bellevue Communities and the Putnam Valley Tree Conservation Law.  

This is not the first time that the Coalition has strongly urged strict regulations concerning protection of steep slopes and conservation of trees.  In a letter dated October 4, 2004 addressed to then Supervisor Pozzi, I made the following statement.  "Restraint on development on slopes, protection of ridge lines, tree removal will do much to maintain the "rural charm and allure" enabling Carmel to continue to be a magnet for visitors and future residents. Inquiry of residents have consistently supported the assertion that the aesthetics of a town - its vistas and landscape - were powerful inducements to select Carmel as their home.  Currently, there are developments such as the Carmel Senior Housing Centers with homes proposed on slopes of 25% and over that would seriously compromise this vital asset." (Parenthetically, in three years time, we have seen the degradation wrought by neglecting to enact stringent steep slope regulations).  Tree-lined slopes frame Carmel like a precious necklace of multicolored jewels.  The Master Plan and the Town Code should clearly enunciate the Town's commitment to maintaining that vista."

We must preserve not only our historical heritage but our natural heritage so vital to the environmental and ecological health of our town.  And I may add to the health of its residents. In a written to introduction citing the Cortlandt code, Professor John Nolan of the Land Use Law Center of Pace University School of Law states the following: "Steep slopes are valuable resources and sensitive land forms that create microclimates where a diversity of organisms can thrive." And the Cortlandt Code recognizes that "steep slopes in the municipality are valuable natural resources, which are of benefit to the entire municipality and to the surrounding region.  And most telling is the statement that "The establishment of regulatory and conservational practices in this critical area is needed to protect the public health, safety and general welfare."

Similar to Carmel, Cortlandt experienced the consequences of neglect before enacting the code, admitting that the "municipality's experience with past development has shown that inadequately controlled disturbance of certain steep slopes can lead to the failures of slopes and the mass movement of earth, rock slides and landslides, damage to the natural environment, threats to man-made structures and personal safety, and the degradation of aesthetics."  In response, the Town categorized several degrees of slope, permitting construction on slopes of 0 to 3 percent while seriously discouraging any construction of slopes of 15-25%, adding the cautionary note that "slopes greater than 25% present extremely serious problems for any type of development.  

Three development projects are currently underway in Carmel: Stoneleigh Woods/ The Retreat," a senior housing project totaling 381 units; Hillside Commons (150 senior housing units) currently under review by the Planning Board as a result of the Coalition's lawsuit and Gateway/Summit, a mixed use development of hotel/conference center and 300 units of senior housing.  Each of these bear a single characteristic: all are located on slopes of over 15%, with a significant portion of the developments on slopes over 25%.  Each entailed or will entail vast disturbances of natural landscape, crushing bedrock, grading and filling, clear cutting of acres of trees, destruction of wildlife habitat and degradation of vistas.  None of which could be accomplished without the use of explosives.  Therefore, steep slope protection and a stringent blasting code must be enacted in tandem.

Ann,

One might expect Paul Camarda to look out for Paul Camarda's profits, but one is truly bewildered when Town Councilmen also look out for Paul Camarda's profits.

I have a copy of Paul's letter to the Town and cherish it as a true pen and ink representation of who the man really is, for admittedly during five or six months of various interactions with Mr. Camarda, I did at times trust him and like him - I also questioned his motives.  If I had any doubts about him, his letter says it all....

There is no apology, only concern over profit and idle threats re the hotel to address the very real danger of blasting to people and property.  As you said Ann: "Profits over safety" - Profits over People.

While this attitude may be acceptable to Paul Camarda and his ilk, it is unacceptable for elected officials - some of whom I voted for.

Not feeling very safe these days,

Lori