WHY IT MATTERS
The Five Reasons
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.
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.
These five points are the heart of why this lawsuit matters.
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.
In the case of a fire or natural disaster, our volunteer firefighters will be operating the Philmont Fire Company’s pumper truck which has a width of 8.33 ft. If more than one emergency vehicle is called for, there will be no room to pass. In the event of a serious emergency, with several vehicles present, access to emergency points could be blocked, and homeowners trying to flee in their cars can potentially be trapped and unable to escape. The Philmont Planning Board acted in a reckless and non-transparent manner by approving this reduced-width access road--the only access road to the homes in the development--from the required 20 ft. to 12ft.
A single member of the Philmont Planning Board objected to this variance. Here is an excerpt from the letter written by a sitting Planning Board member, a professional architect:
“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… I am concerned that the added risk is beyond what the Village can handle and is, therefore, unacceptable… I strongly recommend that to protect the Village and its residents from future liability, we have the applicant, Clover Reach Partners LLC and its consultant, Tighe & Bond resolve this issue…”
His objections were ignored by the rest of the Planning Board.
Philmont, tragically, has a history of devastating building fires. Fire destroyed all but two of the original seven mills which powered the town and upon which its prosperity was built. A fire in the Summit Heights development in the summer of 2022 required numerous emergency fire mutual aid apparatus from surrounding towns. The Planning Board’s decision to override New York State fire safety regulations and place the entire community at risk is particularly egregious.
In addition, driveway grades in The Woods exceed current Philmont Zoning requirements. All but one of the 16 home driveways in the development exceed the maximum 10% grade allowed under current zoning. Driveways for 15 of the 16 homes range from 11% to 16% grades—an additional concern for fire safety, particularly in inclement weather. No street lighting is required in The Woods housing development; the Planning Board shunted responsibility for these treacherous driveway grades to the homeowner and Building Inspector.
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
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.
Predicted
Tree Loss is
60% to 80%
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.
Months after the public comment period had closed, and literally hours before the approval of The Woods, Clover Reach submitted “Restrictive Covenants” that outlined in more detail the extent of tree cutting. By withholding the Covenants until the morning of the approval, Clover Reach, the Planning Board and the Village Trustees prevented residents from fully accessing their contents and voicing dissent—violations of New York State’s SEQR public hearing review process.
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. The total allowable tree loss could be 60 - 80% as homeowners of high-end properties will potentially want swimming pools, sheds, patios, and sun-drenched gardens.
Once again, one member of the Planning Board objected to having only received the Restrictive Covenants 45 minutes before the August 3rd meeting to finalize the Planning Board approval. His request to postpone the meeting in order to allow time to read and discuss the Covenants was denied by the Planning Board Chair.
Summit Lake Conservation Group believes that this is the wrong approach to our environment at the wrong time. Given the need for a reduction in fossil fuel usage and greenhouse gasses, the construction of large, single family homes sited on previously natural land removes plants, wildlife and trees that contribute to our region’s biodiversity and support the strength of native species.
Our climate-challenged environment needs smart solutions to our housing shortage—not high-end homes for upper-tier and weekender demographics.
It is no longer appropriate to pass down responsibility for our natural resources to our children and grandchildren. The time is now to act on behalf of the waterways, plants and wildlife that have sustained our community for hundreds of years. Summit Lake is fed by the Agawamuck Creek, a Native American name that means “creek of many fishes.” It is the feed system for High Falls, the highest waterfall in Columbia County, a popular tourist destination, and a Columbia Land Conservancy jewel.
Philmont was once a vibrant and productive mill town. The loss of the mills and the economic activity has hit the town hard. Summit Lake Conservation Group envisions development that strengthens and aids our working families and provides opportunities for economic stability among those who are already here—and in danger of being priced out of our area.
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.
In 2019, after years of work, the Village of Philmont, won designation as a New York State Brownfield Opportunity Area.
“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 planning process.”
This designation prioritizes New York state financial resources to assist post-industrial communities with revitalization. In Philmont’s case, the Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) is a 247-acre village area with Summit Lake as its centerpiece. The BOA designation specifically identifies Summit Lake as a critical public amenity and natural catalyst for Philmont’s continuing revitalization.
In order to win the designation, the Village produced “Summit Lake and Its Watercourse,” an in-depth, 173-page economic development planning document that places the restoration of Summit Lake as a centerpiece of Philmont’s future. The document also emphasizes the reuse and redevelopment of sites like Summit Mill, the Canal Street mills, and selected historic buildings downtown. The BOA plan envisions a reversal of the disinvestment and decay that have dogged the village in the decades since the mills shut down. It anticipates using Summit Lake as a spur for housing stock restoration and improvements in retail, commercial, and public amenities. The central amenity is Summit Lake itself: to restore it and develop lake-side parks and recreational opportunities that will boost quality of life and economic standing in Philmont.
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.
However, the Village Board chose to totally ignore Philmont’s much prized BOA designation and the Summit Lake and Its Watercourse BOA designated plan for its economic development future when it approved The Woods housing development
During public meetings, the Village attorney made misleading statements that the development area was outside the BOA, and that therefore the development had no relevance to the BOA.
Clover Reach Partners, LLC compounded this falsehood for 10 months in the same public meetings by using decontextualized maps of the Summit Lake and Its Watercourse BOA plan, intending to show that The Woods was outside the perimeter of the BOA plan boundary The full and correct map shows that The Woods is indeed inside the BOA 247 acre area.
The BOA boundary description makes explicit mention of the importance of the Summit Lake viewshed, i.e. the hillside Clover Reach wants to develop:
“The southeast quadrant of the study area is principally defined by the steep sloped areas that border Summit Lake. This area was incorporated for both its special visual character and the need to protect the hillside from deforestation.”
Yet the Planning Board and Board of Trustees willfully ignored this in approving The Woods.
Summit Lake and its wooded environment are at the epicenter of the BOA plan as a vital municipally owned natural asset which can be used to revitalize the village. The goals of the plan are to enhance water-dependent uses; identify existing catalytic sites for redevelopment and re-adaptive use such as Summit Mill, the Community Center, the lakeshore park and lakefront; revitalize existing vacant buildings to strengthen the downtown's commercial core and tax base; and connect and integrate several key sites, including Summit Lake, the High Falls Conservation Area and Downtown.
Nowhere in the BOA plan does it support new construction or housing subdivisions or deforestation for those purposes. As a plan that utilizes conservation of village historic assets as the preferred principal planning tool, it aims to revitalize, readapt, restore, and redevelop existing buildings and natural assets. Summit Lake is at the core of the plan.
The Village Board, the Village attorney, the Planning Board, and Clover Reach Partners, LLC turned their backs on the BOA plan, ignoring 668 public comments gathered over four years in the community (2014-2018), multiple Village Hall presentations and open houses supporting the Summit Lake and Its Watercourse BOA plan, and the Village of Philmont agreement with the state.
4. Reduction of Wildlife Habitat
We all benefit from the rich wildlife habitat of the lake. The Woods development puts this wildlife at risk.
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.
Clover Reach misled the Planning Board and public by submitting an auto-generated letter from the US Fish & Wildlife Service website regarding the need for Endangered Species studies to be conducted. Contrary to what Clover Reach told the Planning Board, the US Fish & Wildlife Service letter provided the guide for 7 environmental steps to be taken to ensure the Northern Long-eared bat is not roosting in the 60-80 % of trees proposed for felling. This habitat fragile animal is classified as an Endangered Species.
… "The enclosed species list identifies threatened, endangered, proposed and candidate species, as well as proposed and final designated critical habitat, that may occur within the boundary of your proposed project and/or may be affected by your proposed project."
The Lawsuit asks the court to direct Clover Reach to perform the necessary field studies.
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.
Both the Village of Philmont and Clover Reach Partners, LLC acknowledge the Joshua Essig Trail has been used by the public since the 1980s.
Indeed, the Village admits that “It was completed with Village Board approval as it provided access to a dock at the reservoir.” During that time, the Village has maintained the trail and advertised the trail as a means of accessing Summit Lake.
In fact, The Village identified the trail as one of its “environmental and recreational assets” in its BOA plan. And more recently in 2022, the Village has sought and received grant funding from a Municipal Grant program administered by Columbia Land Conservancy to maintain the trail.
However, 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.
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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