Granite Pointe opponents make their case to Somers Town Board

SOMERS, N.Y. - Granite Pointe opponents are nothing if not persistent.

One day after the controversial project had secured its 37th 90-day extension from the Somers Planning Board – and after being stymied by that board’s public comment rules – they were back in action, trying once again to convince town officials of the folly and environmental danger of allowing 23 luxury homes to be built on a forested promontory of the Amawalk Reservoir.

The fact that the Town Board has no direct control over the issuance of land-use permits didn’t stop the intrepid troop from making their point, which was, as leader Fred Higham’s placard cheekily read: “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

(He was quoting Mets manager Yogi Berra, who had coined the phase prior to his team’s incredible comeback during the 1973 National League pennant race.)

The Town Board can, however, review and comment on major local projects.

As a governing body, it retains a broader legal authority over things such as the exploration of conservation easements, the requesting of state environmental reviews, and the utilization of eminent domain for environmental protections, as a last resort.

This summer, town Supervisor Robert Scorrano announced that the town is pursuing a $5 million land-acquisition grant via the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Water Quality Improvement Program (WQIP).

He pointed out that Granite Pointe’s owners, Katonah-based Suelain Realty, itself had sent a letter to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) expressing its “strong support” for the town’s WQIP application.

One of 12 in New York City’s Croton system, the shallow, 579-acre reservoir supplies water to thousands of residents in Somers, Yorktown, and Cortlandt through the Northern Westchester Joint Water Works (NWJWW).

Granite Pointe was first proposed in 1988. It was granted preliminary approvals two years later. The land on which it sits was the site of a trap and target shooting range from 1938 to 1968. Lead contamination uncovered caused the project to be delayed due to an $18 million state Superfund cleanup.

Scorrano emphasized at the Aug. 6 meeting, however, that whatever paths the Town Board might take, they would “in no way, shape, or form stop the process that is right before the Planning Board currently.”

“The developer has a right to continue with that process as we continue doing this so nothing is going to halt, nothing is going to stop on that end,” he said.

And it didn’t.

On Sept. 9, the Planning Board again took up the topic of Granite Pointe’s bid for a “re-grant” of final subdivision approval, and permits for watercourse protection, steep slope protection, tree preservation, stormwater management, and erosion and sediment control

(The site, earmarked for a 23-lot cluster subdivision, is located on the east side of Routes 118 and 202 in an R-40 zoning district.)

On Sept. 9, Suelain’s engineer, Tim Allen of Bibbo Associates, appeared before the Planning Board to explain the reasons for the project’s latest delay.

Although they weren’t allowed to comment verbally, project foes made their feelings known through signs that read: “Protect Amawalk Reservoir. Hands off Granite Pointe” and “Water is Life. Don’t Pollute Our Future!”

(Written comments were accepted for board review, however.)

Allen said that since Suelain was last before the board, it had conducted certain tests required by the county health department.

The scheduling of percolation tests to evaluate how quickly water drains and/or is absorbed through a piece of land’s soil, however, were delayed multiple times due to August’s torrential downpours and by scheduling conflicts, he explained.

They can determine if the soil can safely filter and absorb wastewater from private septic fields.

As of the meeting, those particular tests were still pending.

The state Department of Transportation is also involved because of the need to resubmit permit applications for infrastructure such as curb cuts.

Allen reached out to the DOT several times about the recently revamped process, but hadn’t heard back yet. “They’re not particularly responsive anyway,” he said.

Suelain isn’t necessarily “starting from scratch’’ with the state, but it does anticipate at least another three months’ wait.

Board Chair Vicky Gannon asked the town’s engineering consultant, Steve Robbins, for his opinion of the applicant’s progress, especially with the DOT.

Robbins agreed with Allen’s “characterization” of the sluggish way the wheels of bureaucracy turn.

“I spend a fair amount of my time trying to track them down as well,” he said, adding about the health department requirements, that it "was a wet August and we certainly can’t be scheduling perc tests when we’re having six inches of rain.”

Allen said that the applicant and the DEP would be revisiting the results of previously completed stormwater runoff tests.

He pointed out, however, that even though “nothing’s changed” Suelain still has to reapply to the DEP because the agency had rescinded its stormwater approvals “back in the day.”

(He did not explain why that happened.)

Allen appeared a little ruffled by Gannon’s asking for timeline specifics.

“I’ve told you from Day One that this is going to be a process,’’ he responded.

Board member Christopher Zaberto assured Allen that the board “didn’t doubt the regulatory hurdles you’ve had to overcome” and recognized that those have been “a big thorn in this project for a very long time.”

“We just want to make sure that when you have a window to operate, that you capitalize on it,” he said.

“Fair enough,” Allen allowed.

Noting that winter isn’t that far away, Gannon backed that up.

“I’m concerned that we take advantage of all the opportunities that the good weather is going to give us and make progress where we can in an orderly fashion and have clear expectations of what we can do,” she said.

At the end, the vote for the 37th 90-day extension was unanimous.

The previous two had not been, with Planning Board member Jack Mattes then casting the lone “nay.” He has declined to explain the reasoning behind his latest vote.

Making their case

Resident Bruce Woogan was the first to speak at the Town Board’s Sept. 10 meeting.

He accused the Planning Board of “rubber-stamping” Suelain’s latest extension request, the first of which occurred approximately 3,330 days ago.

“It’s been nine years, things change; not only the climate, but the regulations,” Woogan said, claiming that Granite Pointe’s approvals have long reached their expiration date.

“It’s like a car company trying to build a car now based on a nine-year-old design,” he said, explaining that projects have “to meet current standards.”

Woogan urged the town to get New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) “more deeply involved in this approval process.”

He and his wife, Julie, raised their two children in Somers.

“We love this town, but we’re unhappy we weren’t allowed to speak at last week’s Planning Board meeting where the 37th three-month extension was granted,” Julie Woogan said.

(The Somers Planning Board only allows public comments on matters that are officially before the board for a scheduled public hearing.)

“I know that some of it is beyond your control and it’s difficult to remedy but if you’re approving this project and enabling the pollution of our water, that’s even more important to us, our children, and our grandchildren,” she told town leaders.

Project opponents fear that runoff from road salt and lawn fertilizers or herbicides will get into the reservoir. They also worry that the removal of nearly 100 mature trees will increase erosion during heavy rainstorms, which, due to climate change, are becoming more and more frequent.

Resident Douglas Abedelnour, a professional photographer, called the Amawalk a “beautiful place” that’s home to wildlife such as bald eagles.

“It’s fragile. These days it seems like everything’s fragile and I don’t say that lightly,” he said.

Pointing to a recent New York Times article on the high costs of keeping public water supplies safe, Abdelnour said that “watershed protection is a more affordable strategy in the long run.”

“The NYC DEP has come to a new understanding that’s it much more cost effective to spend money to protect land from development around its reservoirs in Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester counties than to have to pay for additional filtrations plants after the fact,” he said, noting that local governments and certain organizations had banded together to purchase 48 acres near the Kensico Reservoir in Valhalla and 200 acres adjacent to the Croton Falls Reservoir in the Putnam County Town of Southeast.

Abedelnour wondered if Somers could “consider” doing something similar.

Higham, as usual, didn’t mince words.

The project is, he asserted, “wrong and should never be built. It’s not rocket science, it’s just commonsense.”

According to Higham, governments have a moral imperative to protect the “health, welfare, and safety of its citizens.”

Citing a media report that had quoted Matthew Geho, NWJWW’s operations manager, as saying that the housing project could “put more strain” on the public water supplier’s facilities.

In an article published in February by nysfocus.com, David McKay Wilson wrote that in 2024 NWJWW had reported levels of PFAS (aka forever chemicals) in the Amawalk that exceeded federal standards but were still under the limits posed by state law.

The article also noted that NWJWW had won a $1.5 million settlement against the companies that made the chemicals. The lawsuit traced the source of the contamination to firefighting foam used by the Lake Mohegan Fire Department and the Katonah Fire Department in the 1970s.

According to the report, the NWJWW has until 2029 to install a PFAS filtration system at its treatment plant in Somers. The only other alternative is to find a new water source, it said.

Concerns about the reservoir’s salinity levels were raised in a recent study by the New York City DEP, Wilson reported, adding that the NWJWW had feared that the water would be too salty to drink by 2050.

Higham wrapped up by thanking the Town Board for its decision to pursue a WQIP grant.

“Hopefully that works. If not, there’s got to be other ways of getting around this and making sure this development never gets built,” he said. “As Yogi Berra said a long time ago, ‘It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.’”

Board members weigh in

“I think this town board is committed and hopeful of the same things that you’re just saying there Fred. And that is, that at one point it will be over and it will be saved, that would certainly be the goal,” Councilman Richard Clinchy told Higham.

Scorrano jumped in to say that it could be a month or two before the town hears about the status of its WQIP grant request.

“But we’re working on certain other things and that’s one step that we’re working on, but as I said before, the process still has to go forward,” he said.

The applicant has certain steps it has to take as well.

“Currently, it’s before the Planning Board,” Scorrano said, promising that the town is “keeping an eye on this.”

Once it has more information on its bid for WQIP funding, “we’ll see where we’re at and go from there,” he added.

 Returning to the podium, Higham raised the subject of the town’s recent battle against the building of a 116-megawatt lithium-ion battery storage facility (BESS) just across the town’s border with Putnam County’s Mahopac.

Town officials updated zoning laws to explicitly state that BESS facilities are not considered public utilities, giving the town tighter control over future proposals.

He wondered if it could take a similar approach with Granite Pointe.

Town Attorney Roland Baroni swiftly cut that line of questioning off by interjecting that public comment was not supposed to be a give-and-take between residents and board members.

The board then moved on to the next item on its agenda.