Seeds of change Orchard owners look to develop without cookie cutter in hand By LYNN WOODS

Seeds of change
Orchard owners look to develop without cookie cutter in hand
By LYNN WOODS

A farmer struggling to make ends meet sells off his farm to a developer to cash in on skyrocketing land values. The result is predictable: a suburban-type subdivision or scattering of McMansions plunked down on the fields, with roads suddenly filling up with traffic and the countryside gone forever.

That’s the usual pattern of development. But in Marbletown, a still-bucolic township in Ulster County that includes the historic villages of Stone Ridge and High Falls, two landowning families are choosing a different path.

Dan and Susan Hauspurg, owners of The Inn at Stone Ridge, can’t make a profit off their adjacent 147-acre orchard and want to develop it. They considered selling to a developer who would put a subdivision on the property, but “it didn’t feel right,” said Dan Hauspurg. On a quick tour of the site, he points out both the spectacular views of the surrounding ridges and mountains from the top of a hill and the property’s direct access to Route 209 and adjoining businesses, including an upscale supermarket. Another benefit of the site is that it has ample fresh water, he said.

So the Hauspurgs came up with a radically different idea. They are partnering with architect Peter Reynolds, senior designer at Ashokan Architecture and Planning and also a local resident, to come up with an innovative plan that would extend the village from its current alignment along the highway into a dense, lively grid that would embody the essence of community. Because of the site’s unique access to the village, “this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the community to design its future development and progress,” Hauspurg said.

Before presenting plans to the town, which are due to be completed in the fall, the Hauspurgs and Reynolds are holding a series of public forums to address residents’ concerns and get their feedback on features they’d like to see in the expanded village.

About 75 people turned up for the first forum on a recent Saturday morning, held at the Ulster County Community College. Reynolds’ presentation emphasized a design that would utilize the “tried and true”: among the models he mentioned were the ancient Roman buildings in certain European towns that attract tailgate markets and performance events. “It would be the exact opposite of a cookie-cutter gated-community design, which I think of as dead,” said Reynolds, whose firm’s work, including several complexes at Bard College, have been highly praised. “We’d like to revisit traditional neighborhood design and do it right.”

Reynolds described a tightly knit, intimately scaled European-type village, centered on a green and preserving such attributes of the site as two ponds and a 250-year-old oak tree. It would combine residential, commercial and civic uses and incorporate green building practices, such as geothermal heating and cooling and use of sustainable materials.

The housing would mostly be a mixture of studio and one-bedroom apartments, which would fulfill a need for affordable housing, currently lacking in Stone Ridge, where the real estate market consists of single-family homes on multi-acre lots selling for very high prices. Small retail spaces would encourage the formation of artisan businesses, and the complex might include a new town hall and post office, given that the current structures are cramped.

Hauspurg said the development might also include remnants of the existing orchard, perhaps for the newer varieties of fruit that require fewer pesticides. Besides creating pedestrian access for shopping and other services, the project would also be linked to the nearby O&W Rail Path, a hiking trail that connects Kingston to Ellenville.

Marbletown Town Supervisor Vincent Martello, who was present at the forum, said the proposed project could be a model for the “incentive zoning overlay district” he’d like the town to draw up for proposals for denser developments than the current 3-acre-minimum-lot size allows. This might entail awarding a developer a bonus in density in return for providing affordable housing, recreational or other type of facilities accessible to the public, or green technology in the project.

He said that the Hauspurg project is “a perfect storm. You have local guys who get what the community is about, who participate in preservation and live here, who have land and the wherewithal to make it happen.” He added, “the old model of environmentalists and conservationists on one side and business people on the other is anachronistic. It behooves us to work together.”

Down the road from the Inn at Stone Ridge, on Route 213, retired farmer William Warren was all ready to sell his 90-acre hay farm to a developer, who planned to build 70 houses on the property. But the sale fell apart after the town, which was in the midst of formulating a new comprehensive plan, instituted a temporary moratorium on development. That was four years ago, and since then, the Warrens have had a conversion.

Having embraced the new “conservation subdivision” principles Martello has been pitching, and which have now become part of the town’s zoning code, they are developing an equestrian-center community. It will consist of 24 houses scattered on carefully sited lots averaging 2.5 acres and a horse farm. Bill’s son Michael got the idea from other equestrian-center communities he visited on his travels around the country as a partner in a software company.

The equestrian center, consisting of a new barn with stalls for 38 horses and riding arena, which will also house the homeowner’s association clubhouse, along with an existing hay barn, not only preserves the farm by providing a new agricultural use, but also has become an exciting new business for Michael. So far, 15 horses are being boarded at the center.

Southern white pine was used to construct the attractive barn and arena. A strong waterproof fabric called Twillium, similar to the dramatic canopy used at Denver Airport, serves as the roof for the two structures, letting in light and stabilizing the temperature, which saves on energy. A recycled crumbled rubber material is used for the footing in the arena, which is not only environmentally sound but gentle on the horses’ hoofs. To be less visually intrusive, the 400-foot-long, 35-foot-high arena is set 14 feet into the ground.

The first five lots have been sold to WFL Construction, based in Pleasant Valley, which was carefully selected by Michael on the basis of its quality work and reputation. He noted WFL Builders had taken options on the remaining lots. Construction should begin in the next month, with the houses starting at $500,000, according to the farm’s Web site.

In conformity with the conservation subdivision guidelines, no house will be visible above the rows of trees bordering the fields, Warren said. Each will have a front porch, with the garage placed in the back, and utilize natural building materials in their facades. A field bordering Route 213 will remain untouched, so as to preserve the vista of the Shawungunk Ridge. The plan also includes a natural storm-water drainage system, in which water will be filtered and channeled to wetlands at the edge of the site through the planting of special grasses.

The sensitive siting and design of the houses, along with the large lots--average size is about 2.5 acres -- has increased the value of the property by 20 percent, helping to pay for the $1 million equestrian center. “Less than halfway through the project, it’s economically feasible,” Warren said, noting that homeowners will also have access to trails on the property.

His familiarity with other communities of this type led him to separate the equestrian center from the homeowners association, which will only be responsible for maintaining the private roads, thus minimizing the impact of the development on the town infrastructure.

The conservation subdivision “has been a lot harder and more expensive than anybody ever dreamed, but it’s so satisfying to see a dream come true,” he concluded. “We’re doing the right thing.”

The only down side is the 400 percent increase in his property taxes over the past four years -- a shock, since preserving open space is a public amenity that should result in some type of property tax savings, he said. “Without property tax reform, the town’s plans will be frustrated.”

Martello agreed. While he noted that Marbletown has the lowest municipal taxes in the county, they only comprise a tiny proportion of the overall tax bill. School taxes are the bulk of it, and they’ve increased 65 percent over the past five years, he said. Martello is a founder of the state’s Property Tax Reform Task Force, which has been lobbying legislators in Albany for a change in how school taxes are funded.

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