HELP PROTECT THE HEART OF PHILMONT
We filed our 2nd Article 78 lawsuit on May 26, 2023. With the support of local environmental organizations, we’re on the road to winning again. Read more on our blog…
Our fundraising campaign, The Lake Needs a Lawyer, seeks to raise the $30,000 needed to fund the continuing legal costs of defending Summit Lake and its natural habitats and throughout the next Planning Board review process. We are fighting for the heart of Philmont: a lake that has been the centerpiece of Philmont’s town fabric for decades.
Join the fight! Your contributions to The Lake Needs a Lawyer campaign will help preserve Summit Lake as a beautiful, historic, ecologically diverse resource for all to enjoy.
Summit Lake is the heart of Philmont: a reservoir that has offered recreational opportunities and a natural respite to residents and visitors for generations.
Home to eagles and wood ducks, brown trout and largemouth bass, dragonflies and dozens of species of native trees, flowers and water plants, Summit Lake is mere steps from Philmont’s Main Street: a public resource accessible to all.
On August 3, 2022, over strenuous community objections, the Village of Philmont Planning Board approved “The Woods”, a 16-home development on 22 acres above Summit Lake. If built, The Woods will deforest Summit Lake’s viewshed, radically alter the ecology and terrain of the lake environment, displace wildlife and deprive the community of its enjoyment of the lakefront by selling the viewshed into private hands.
Summit Lake Conservation Group, a coalition of concerned neighbors and property owners on and near the lake, sued the Village Planning Board, Board of Trustees and Clover Reach Partners LLC (developers of The Woods) to reverse the approval. Our fundraising campaign, The Lake Needs a Lawyer, seeks to raise the $30,000 needed to fund the continuing legal costs of defending Summit Lake and its natural habitats throughout the Planning Board review process. We are fighting for the heart of Philmont: a lake that has been the centerpiece of Philmont’s town fabric for decades.
The environmental impact of The Woods housing development will be extensive and irreversible. It includes felling 50% of mature trees, and up to 100% of smaller trees; the relocation of a beloved public nature trail leading to a secluded dock; and re-grading the steep hillside terrain to introduce municipal infrastructure, including sewers, a narrow non-compliant one-way loop road through the development, and driveways that are also non-compliant with town building codes. These construction elements pose a significant fire safety risk for firefighters and homeowners. The loop road approved by the Planning Board is significantly short of the width required by the NYS fire code for rescue and fire vehicles.
The law firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, representing Summit Lake Conservation Group, filed the Article 78 Petition in the Supreme Court of the State of New York Columbia County, holding the Planning Board, the Board of Trustees and Clover Reach responsible for multiple errors and lapses in the state-mandated environmental review approval process. To read the Petition click here.
How We Got Here
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Make a Donation.
Our fundraising campaign, The Lake Needs a Lawyer, seeks to raise the $30,000 needed to fund the continuing legal costs of defending Summit Lake and its natural habitats and throughout the next Planning Board review process. We are fighting for the heart of Philmont: a lake that has been the centerpiece of Philmont’s town fabric for decades.
*PLEASE NOTE: If you prefer to make your donation by check, you may send it to:
Summit Lake Conservation Group, LLC
PO Box 436,
Philmont NY 12565
Why It Matters
The Summit Lake Conservation Group lawsuit filed on September 2, 2022 claims that the Philmont Planning Board, the Village of Philmont, and Clover Reach Partners, LLC violated New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) Act, misrepresented the New York State Fire Prevention and Building Code, grossly mislead the public, and denied citizens the rights provided by the SEQR legislation to fully participate in the public hearing.
1. RISK TO HUMAN LIFE
2. ADVERSE CHANGES TO THE ENVIRONMENT
3. CREATING A CONFLICT WITH ADOPTED COMMUNITY PLANS OR GOALS
4. REDUCTION OF WILDLIFE HABITAT
5. IMPAIRMENT OF “COMMUNITY CHARACTER”
The January 14, 2023 Court decision to annul the approval by the Planning Board of the ill-conceived housing development was based on those violations of the required SEQR review process. The following five points summarize the Article 78 Petition claims against the Philmont Planning Board, the Village of Philmont, and Clover Reach Partners, LLC., all of which will be subject to further scrutiny when the housing subdivision returns to the Planning Board for further environmental review.
The following five points summarize the instances in which the Philmont Planning Board, the Village of Philmont, and Clover Reach Partners, LLC violated the required SEQR review, and asks for justice in overturning the approval of The Woods.
1. Risk to Human Life
Our volunteer firefighters protect us and our homes. The width of the development’s only access road puts them and us in danger.
Philmont’s Planning board approved the Clover Reach housing development with a 12-foot wide, one-way loop road. New York State’s fire safety code states that access roads need to be no less than 20 feet wide. The judge’s recent decision reverses this approval.
“What is clear and significant is this (road) design is not in compliance with the NYS Uniform Fire Code… This is of particular importance because, upon construction completion, the responsibility of the public right-of-way passes from the developer to the Village of Philmont. The non-compliant roadway presents significant liability issues and may not be insurable since the opportunity to make it compliant was not taken…”
Community comment from January 20, 2023:
“...on 217 today…there was a Valley Energy truck parked on the side, delivering heating oil to a customer. A most ordinary sight, which is precisely what caught our attention. Our truck was able to pass easily and even share the road with a vehicle coming in the other direction…it struck us both that on a 12’ wide road this everyday occurrence (and many like it) would hinder an emergency vehicle from passing…a Ford F150 is 80-87” wide, that’s 6-3/4’ - 7-1/4’ wide, depending on the exact model. So even two common pickup trucks could not share a 12’ roadway, never mind an ambulance, fire truck, or other emergency vehicle. And given the driveway grades, a larger delivery/utility/etc. truck…would have to park on the roadway. If even a single resident of the Woods uses a landscaper, there can easily be 2 or more box trucks and trailers parked in a row…[We] come from the NJ suburbs where the landscapers can cause much wider roads to be almost impassable much of the year!”
2. Adverse Changes to the Environment
Predicted
Tree Loss is
60% to 80%
Clover Reach misled the public by hiding the extent of tree cutting. We are taking action to protect the lake and viewshed because our government is not.
Early in the approval process, Clover Reach Partners, LLC presented a schematic drawing that showed almost no impact on the viewshed due to tree cutting. Community members demanded a more thorough accounting of the trees to be cut down, and were denied.
The Restrictive Covenants allow future homeowners in the development to cut up to 50% of the larger trees on their purchased lot, and 100% of the smaller trees. The judge’s ruling requires these covenants to undergo additional review process, including proper representation to account for the viewshed impact of the full extent of tree clearing they will allow.
3. Creating a Conflict with Adopted Community Plans or Goals
We have been working as a community to plan for our future; this development is in conflict with that plan.
To assist with the “Summit Lake and Its Watercourse” BOA plan, the Village received over $700,000 in state grant funds. The Mayor and the Village Board of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of the BOA plan in March 2018; the state awarded the much-prized BOA designation in May 2019.
“State Designation of a Brownfield Opportunity Area affirms the commitment of communities and New York State to realize the vision and goals established during the BOA planning process.”
Summit Lake and its wooded environment are at the epicenter of the BOA plan as a vital municipally owned natural asset to revitalize the village.
4. Reduction of Wildlife Habitat
We all benefit from the rich wildlife habitat of the lake. The Woods development puts this wildlife at risk.
Clover Reach side-stepped the directive they received from the US Fish & Wildlife Service and misled the Planning Board and the public. They did not perform the 7-step directive to ensure no habitats would be destroyed of the listed Endangered Species expected to have roosting habitats in the trees proposed to be cut down.
Summit Lake provides residents and visitors to Philmont with an astonishing natural resource just steps off Main Street. Bald eagles, Blue Herons, osprey and kingfishers are regular seasonal inhabitants. Numerous native aquatic plants line the shores, and flowers like Dutchman’s Breeches and Jack-in-the-Pulpit are found in the woods. Butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies are abundant; largemouth bass and perch thrive. The deforestation of the hillside above the Lake, to accommodate the Clover Reach Partners, LLC The Woods development for 16 high-end homes, will not only impact trees, flowers and wildlife; it will deprive the village of the peace and beauty of a natural area that currently belongs to all who wish to enjoy it.
5. Impairment of “Community Character”
The Village Board turned their backs on the well-traveled Joshua Essig Trail by capitulating to the Clover Reach Partners, LLC when they threatened a lawsuit unless the Village supported relocating this trail to run through the development.
Their reason for moving the trail: it was too near Lot 16 and would negatively impact its high-end sale. We have been working as a community to plan for our future; this development is in conflict with that plan.
When put to the test, the Village failed its public duty to protect the trail. Clover Reach Partners, LLC, will relocate the trail, vastly diminishing the length of the trail by running it through the traffic median at the center of the housing development. The resulting trail will lack the canopy of trees and the native plants that contributed to its beauty.
Media Coverage
“The Lake Needs a Lawyer Fundraiser” (Register Star, 1/19/23)
“The Lake Needs a Lawyer”
(IMBY, 1/12/23)
"Summit Lake Wins in Court!"
(IMBY, 1/18/23)
“Why I Am Fighting a High-End Housing Development in Philmont (Part 1)” (IMBY, 1/6/23)
“Why I Am Fighting a High-End Housing Development in Philmont (Part 2)” (IMBY, 1/7/23)
“Why I Am Fighting a High-End Housing Development in Philmont (Part 3)” (IMBY, 1/8/23)
“Karen Schoemer on the WGXC Afternoon Show” (Radio interview, 2/16/23)
“Clover Reach can look forward to another lawsuit” (IMBY, 2/23/23
“Bizarre Night at Philmont Planning Board” (IMBY, 2/24/23)
“Developer Ordered to Resubmit Proposal” (Register Star, 3/1/23)
Donate Donate Donate
Donate Donate Donate
Make a Donation.
Our fundraising campaign, The Lake Needs a Lawyer, seeks to raise the $30,000 needed to fund the continuing legal costs of defending Summit Lake and its natural habitats and throughout the next Planning Board review process. We are fighting for the heart of Philmont: a lake that has been the centerpiece of Philmont’s town fabric for decades.
*PLEASE NOTE: If you prefer to make your donation by check, you may send it to:
Summit Lake Conservation Group, LLC
PO Box 436,
Philmont NY 12565
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