* Tuxedo Reserve approved for 1,195 housing units in 2004
* Supporters claim: high end desirable housing; new source of school children for Baker High School; positive tax revenues; improve sewage treatment plant
* Why has property not been developed yet? Steep slopes and rock outcrops in way of proposed road alignments; wetlands and vernal pools also in way (spawning areas for amphibians); none of these issues identified in 2004 Environmental Impact Statement
* Developer now requests amendment to remove difficult and sensitive areas, develop new sites previously considered off limits
* Developer proposes trading difficult land to PIPC (Palisades Interstate Park Commission) in exchange for land more easy to develop additional housing
* Asks for amendment to increase commercial development from 3,000 to 33,000 square feet, 1,000% increase; change from minimal support services to new town center
* Withdrew 2004 offer to perform roadway improvements that would have mitigated impacts from increased traffic
* Supposed tax benefits dependent on hard to believe assumptions: 500 of 1,195 tax generating residential units (almost 50%) valued from just under $1MM to $1.5MM; maximum of 4 bedrooms; no more than 1/3 acre lot
* Only 2009 sale in Tuxedo Park: 7 bedroom house, 1.5 acres, $950M
* Values for proposed 500 units should be reduced by at least 33%, thereby reducing tax revenue by proportionate amount
* Developer projects 998 unrestricted housing units with total of 2,805 bedrooms; average of 2.8 bedrooms/unit; generates 429 school children
* Projections are low: equates to .43 students/unit, or .15 students/bedroom; each student not accounted for creates additional cost of $21,849/student
* 197 (16.5%) of 1,195 units age restricted, no school children; supposedly adding to school tax district base with no demand for services
* Market Reality: Orange County age restricted housing backlog, 24.5 years
* Age restrictions being lifted in towns, converting age-restricted housing into housing available for school children; if one agrees that each housing unit only generates .43 students, conversion of 197 units into unrestricted housing results in 85 more school children; increase of $1.86MM in costs
* Massive land grading and blasting; 50 retaining walls, 45 feet tall, half mile long, 25 rock cuts
* Retaining walls and rock cuts are for roads that will be turned over to Town; maintenance costs will be high, even if built correctly
* 150 acres of paved and impervious surfaces; does not include acres of new retaining walls and newly exposed rock surfaces; rainwater will not seep into ground but will become stormwater runoff; pick up gasoline, oil, heavy metal from pavement, pesticides and fertilizer from landscaping; some will end up in Tuxedo Lake; most will flow into Ramapo River. Pocket ponds and swales are supposed to prevent runoff
* New plan proposes new residential neighborhood between Mountain Lake and large New York State regulated wetland; 2004 plan, this area remains open space, maintaining wildlife connection between 2 water bodies
* Major bedrock fracture runs along axis between Mountain Lake and wetland. Bedrock fracture acts like open pipe; perfect conduit to transport water quickly over distance; intersects with 2nd fracture within NYSDEC wetland, runs directly into Ramapo River
* Environmental Impact Statement, “wildlife surveys of the Project Site, including the area in the vicinity of Mountain Lake, did not identify any threatened or endangered species.”
* Fails to mention that when laborer was setting up fence on project site, spotted timber rattlesnake (protected endangered species), killed it, cooked it, and ate it. Rattle kept in pocket as souvenir
* Information purposely withheld from Town and State DEC (which applicant now admits), yet Town did not require follow up study
* What else was missed? Sterling Forest is one of two recognized habitats in NY State (Shawangunk Mountains other one) with high diversity of animal and plant species
* Tuxedo Reserve will not provide money for new sewer plant until after 80th certificate of occupancy. First phase is 75 units, not available until 2013. If they don’t sell, second phase will wait. DEC will not wait that long
* How long to build enough units to supply sufficient # of high school students? Full build out not projected until 2023, and likely delayed past that; Tuxedo Reserve will not save Baker
* What happens if they don’t get Amendment approved, and build according to 2004 plan? Unlikely. Lehman financing in bankruptcy. Land they have approvals for may not be buildable
* Effort started by Target Tuxedo has caught attention of Sierra Club, Audobon Society, Highlands Coalition, Torne Valley Preservation Association, Sterling Forest Partnership
* Tuxedo Land Trust has expanded effort with independent studies of Traffic, Storm Water, Sewer, Hydrology, Land Use, Fiscal, School, Historic, & Species.
* Common conclusion throughout all studies is that The Related Companies has demonstrated a pattern of “omission, errors, and material mis-representation.”