Dec. 21 --- A New Jersey development company made its first foray into Ridgefield politics today with a presentation to the Board of Selectmen about a proposed development plan for the old IBM property in Ridgebury. Despite impressive credentials and snappy graphics, the Selectmen seemed less than enthusiastic about the plan, and the public reaction bordered on the hostile.
Photo, right: Carl Goldberg,
speaking on behalf of Roseland Properties, described the development plans
for the old IBM property to the Selectmen and about 60 voters.
The obstensible purpose of the meeting was to brief the Selectmen and the Water Pollution Control Authority about the possible sewage requirements for the proposed development (the WPCA supervises the operation of the town water treatment plants). But the general public, altered to the agenda by the news media, assembled to listen and comment upon the whole scope of the plan.
Mr. Goldberg spoke for Roseland Properties, a development firm which Mr. Goldberg classified as a "developer of high-end luxury properties." They are developing the property, which they have renamed the Bennett Farm Property, on behalf of Eureka V LLC which actually owns the land. Their plan is to thoroughly develop the 680 acres. The plan includes an executive conference center with a 200 room hotel on 40 acres in the middle of the property, just north of Bennett's Farm Road. South of the conference center will be two office parks with 500,000 square feet of space on 100 acres. On the western edge of the property will be approximately 150 units of age-restricted multi-family housing; this will use about 30 acres. Lastly, the entire facility will be ringed with a "world-class" 27-hole golf course, which in turn will be ringed by about 100 private homes.
Photo, right: Mike Mandelbaum read a well-reasoned and detailed report about
three years of efforts to keep the land from development.
Photo, left: Ellen Burns
was very interested in the background of the companies which own the land.
In terms of sewage, the facility will generate about 100-120,000 gallons of sewage a day. This is in excess of the capacity of the current Rt 7 treatment facility, but not larger than that system could handle with some fairly straightforward expansion. However, the sewage probably is the simplest question facing the developers.
One big issue is the environmental impact of such intensive development, and Michael Petty, an environmental consultant at Sterns and Wheeler in Stamford, made a persuasive explanation that the facilties could be built with minimal environmental impact. They plan to survey and measure every inch of wetlands on the site, then prepare a "Values and Functions" wetlands survey. This will be followed by four wildlife surveys, one in each season of the year. Archeological and historical surveys will also be performed, along with a strom water survey, a utility survey and a detailed traffic analysis. But all the studying cannot minimize the huge amount of development this project entails.
Dozens of questions were asked during the meeting; a few are listed here:
Photo, left: Bob Kleinberg asked a number
of articulate questions about the plan.
A number of residents spoke, some at length, about their concerns for the development project. Mike Mandelbaum read a letter from his wife, noted environmental activist Debbie Mandelbaum, which described her efforts to get Sue Manning, Abe Morelli or the State interested in buying the land. Oddly, she reports, the State was interested and funding could have been available had Mrs. Manning pursued it more aggressively. Eric Kristofferson also reported his discussions with the State which claimed to be interested in the land because of the links to the adjacent State park. Ellen Burns questioned Mr. Goldberg about the composition of the LLC, but information was not forthcoming. Finally, after almost two hours, the meeting ended in disharmony, and no further meetings have been planned at this time. The next step for the developer is to file a formal zoning program with the town.
After the meeting, the reactions were mixed. "We moved to Ridgefield because there was still some wildness here, but it is being eroded quickly," Bob Kleinberg of Bennett's Farm Road noted. "This project confronts Ridgefield with a stark choice. We can either maintain those characteristics of the town that drew us here in the first place, or we can watch as our town comes to resemble a Long Island suburb."
Photo, right: Sarah Felice (pad in hand) and Janet Swift were very interested
in the details of the development plan.
Pete Stewart expressed many people's feeling when he stated simply "I'd like to save the whole piece of property." Sarah Felice felt "I'm really disturbed by the enormity [of the project] and the impact will be worse than we can imagine." Janet Swift is a volunteer ranger with the conservation society, and felt the whole parcel should be preserved in its natural state.
The next step? The developers do their studies and come back to Planning & Zoning for a detailed look at their concepts.
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