Home developer sues over Clifton Park’s rejection of subdivision
CLIFTON PARK - A home development company is suing the Clifton Park Planning Board after the denial of an application to build a 24-lot subdivision on Droms Road, a rural area of the town zoned for land conservation.
Erik Kohler Homes LLC, along with Albert Dingley and Suzanne Dingley, who own the 100 acres that would be developed, filed the petition on Oct. 15 with hopes of reversing the Planning Board's decision.
The plan was rejected last month by the board in a 4-2 vote, with board member Mario Rantini saying it fell through due to shallow setbacks to Riverview Orchards and not having two entrances. The subdivision was set to be built 100 feet away from Riverview Orchard's trees, which are treated with pesticides.
The petition states that despite "finding no impact to agriculture or community character, and the Planning Board engineers and professionals finding that the Project met the town code...the Planning Board nevertheless denied the subdivision based on speculative fears related to agricultural operations and pesticide use by a neighboring apple orchard."
Kohler Homes applied to develop the 24-lot subdivision on Feb. 20, with the project raising concerns throughout the community.
The development company said it implemented efforts to respond to concerns, agreeing to upkeep a 60- to 150-foot barrier of vegetation between the boundary of the subdivision and the apple orchard, and offered a 100-foot deed restriction to increase the distance between the orchard and subdivision to 275 feet.
Lisa Westrick, along with other Planning Board members who voted no, expressed in a written resolution that though "the project appears to be heading in the right direction, the project did not evolve far enough to address significant concerns about policing and enforcing the buffer through deed restrictions."
Kohler alleges that the Planning Board "arbitrarily and capriciously capitulated to speculative fears raised by the public, lacking in expert or any professional report."
The Kohler project is on hold until a resolution is reached, though the company is continuing an additional subdivision development project on Moe Road in Clifton Park.
This story was originally published October 18, 2024, 3:32 PM.
