At its July 1 work session, the Town Board received a new Cornwall Commons proposal.
Michael Zarin, of the White Plains law firm Zarin and Steinmetz, made the presentation. He was representing the developer, Joe Amato, for the first time. “In the long run,” he said to the Town Board, “I hope you view us as helping the process.”
Under the new proposal, the Commons would have fewer residential units (480 vs. 490), and more units that were restricted to occupants age 55 or above (168 vs. 108). The ratio of unrestricted to restricted units would be 65-35 rather than 78-22.
The developer would agree not to sell more than 80 unrestricted homes in a year, and would plan on creating more recreational facilities. A diagram displayed at the meeting showed a playground, a ball field, a basketball court and three pocket parks. The developer would also pay the Town approximately $730,000 to create new areas for recreation.
Mr. Zarin asked the Town Board to circulate for lead agency, refer the proposal to the Planning Board and to (hopefully) schedule a public hearing for September.
The response appeared to be positive. Supervisor Randy Clark was the first to react. “I appreciate this presentation,” he said, “to get the ball rolling on this project. I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
Town Councilman Peter Russell was also enthusiastic, “The developer made a lot of concessions,” he remarked. “I wouldn’t say it’s a step; I’d say it’s a leap. I’d like to see us start moving forward.”
Prior to the discussion, Doug Land spoke from the audience and commented that the previous board had promised to give the public as much as two weeks advance notice when the Commons proposal was due to be on the agenda. That didn’t happen on July 1, in part because the Town website was down, so the public was caught by surprise.
