CORTLANDVILLE, N.Y. — Last week, the Cortlandville Town Board narrowly approved a zoning change for a controversial 50-unit housing development on Starr Road, essentially paving the way for the project's approval.
The town board voted 3-2 at its Wednesday meeting to approve the developers’ Planned Unit Development application. Town supervisor Dick Tupper and board members John Proud and Greg Leach voted in favor of the zoning change; board members Ted Testa and Walt Kasperek voted against it.
“I would have voted yes if it was a lot smaller of a project,” Testa told reporters after the meeting. “In that small of an area … I thought it was a little too much.”
The project, dubbed “Starr Lite Ridge,” has been the object of public scrutiny since the developer, Leonidas Group of Virgil, LLC, filed a site plan review application last July.
The planned residential community dubbed "Starr Lite Ridge" is planned for an 11-acre parcel on the south of side of Starr Road, opposite the intersection of Abdallah Avenue (Photo: Google Maps)
Original plans called for a 66-unit development on roughly 11 acres of land on Starr Road, across from Abdullah Avenue. When the project was first proposed, dozens of local residents said the project was too large for the parcel of land and would exacerbate existing flooding problems in the area.
After hearing those concerns, the town board hired Albany-based engineering consulting firm Clough Harbor Associates to give the project a closer examination.
The firm’s report was highly critical of the developer’s plans, saying the project was not “conceptually sound.” The report also found that the project as planned would lead to “substantial stormwater runoff” and drainage and erosion issues.
That prompted the developer to scale back several aspects of the original proposal, including reducing the proposed 66 apartment units to 50 units.
The zoning change means the project will be sent back to the town planning board for approval before coming back to the town board for final approval. The planning board is expected to review the project at its August meeting.
