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Board hears updates on Elmwood Country Club plan as remediation increases excavation
Summary
At a Nov. 12 public hearing, town staff and the project applicant described DEC‑driven excavation that raises off‑site removals to roughly 120,000 cubic yards for the proposed 113‑lot conservation subdivision at the former Elmwood Country Club; town staff said DEC oversight, monitoring and a detailed remedial action plan will govern the work.
Supervisor Feiner opened a public hearing Nov. 12 on modifications to the approved 113‑unit conservation subdivision proposed for the former Elmwood Country Club at 850 Dobbs Ferry Road.
Gary Duquesne, commissioner of the Department of Community Development and Conservation, reviewed the town board's prior findings approving a conservation subdivision with 113 single‑family lots, roughly 25 acres of commonly owned open space and transfer of 14.2 acres to the town for inclusion in East Rumbrook Park after remediation. Duquesne said the plan retains lot lines, roadways and stormwater basins while adding safeguards tied to the DEC's cleanup requirements.
Diego Villareal, a planning and engineering consultant with JMC, told the board the changes are driven by testing and the DEC's remedial requirements. "A majority of the contaminants are located within the first six inches to a foot of the material on the site," Villareal said, and explained the project will remove contaminated soils rather than reuse them on the property. He said material to be removed increased from about 50,000 cubic yards to roughly 90,000 cubic yards from the residential portion and about 30,000 cubic yards from the park parcel, bringing the total removed to about 120,000 cubic yards.
Villareal estimated remediation would occur over roughly six to 12 months once approvals and final plotting are complete. He described required DEC steps including a remedial action work plan, periodic DEC site visits and consultant reports that will be packaged to close out the DEC process.
Residents asked where contamination is located and how the site will be stabilized. Villareal answered that the bulk of contamination is within former fairway areas of the golf course and that the DEC permit requires temporary sediment basins, stormwater management during construction and post‑remediation grading. "This site, as part of the DEC permit, is required to get coverage under a general permit," Villareal said, noting oversight and periodic visits.
The presentation also described landscaping measures and tree replacement: Villareal said the revised plan proposes about 1,300 replacement trees, which he characterized as "almost 10 times" the ordinance requirement by his calculation.
Former town clerk Judith (speaker 16) and other residents asked whether the project will include an affordable‑housing set‑aside. Duquesne said the town's local law under development would introduce a 10% set‑aside for single‑family districts to present to the board for future applications, and that existing applications that predate any new local law are typically grandfathered.
The board closed the hearing and left the record open for seven days to allow further submissions and questions.
What happens next: town staff said it will prepare amended findings reflecting the additional disturbance areas and reaffirm construction and post‑construction requirements; DEC and county health approvals remain conditions precedent to moving into full construction.
