SOMERS, N.Y. - The developers of Granite Pointe, a luxury housing project proposed near the Amawalk Reservoir in Somers, have been granted their 36th 90-day time extension request.
Suelain Realty, a Katonah-based firm owned by John Harkins, has been pursuing land use approvals there for more than three decades.
The 28.8-acre forested parcel is located on the east side of Route 118 (Tomahawk Street) near its intersection with Route 202 and is in an R-40 zoning district.
The Planning Board voted 4-1 on Wednesday, June 10, to approve extending the “re-grant” of the project’s final subdivision approval, wetland, steep slopes, tree preservation, stormwater management, and erosion and sediment control permits.
Critics have continued to demand that the town take steps to end the project, which would be located on a piece of land that juts out into the Amawalk.
Somers resident Fred Higham pointed out that those extensions now add up to nearly nine years.
Granite Pointe opponents claim the project is a threat to the reservoir, which, as part of the Croton Watershed, supplies drinking water to thousands of people in New York City as well as in Somers and Yorktown via the Northern Westchester Joint Waterworks.
They fear that leakage from the 23-home development’s septic systems, chemicals used on its lawns, and runoff from impervious surfaces such as driveways, roads, and roofs might leach into the reservoir.
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) took control of the site under the State Superfund program after it was found to have been impacted by lead from a recreational shooting range that had operated there from 1938 to 1968.
The cleanup was reportedly completed in 2024 to “unrestricted use standards” and cost an estimated $18 million.
The DEC issued the following statement on Monday, June 15:
"New York State pursues recovery of all costs incurred at State Superfund sites from responsible parties as expeditiously as possible. DEC considers the current owner of the Granite Pointe Subdivision site to be a responsible person that is liable for cleanup costs incurred by the State. DEC is working with the State Office of the Attorney General to recover costs and cannot provide further comment on ongoing legal action."
According to a report published by nysfocus.com, Harkins contends that Suelain isn’t responsible for that cost because it wasn’t aware of the contamination when it took title to the property in 1991.
Project Protested
A contingent of Granite Pointe foes had turned up at the Planning Board’s June 10 meeting but were not permitted to speak.
Chairwoman Vicky Gannon explained that it was the board’s “longstanding policy” not to allow public comment on “matters that were not before the board for a public hearing.”
(The resolution was an agenda item, but not the subject of a hearing.)
However, it welcomed written comments which would be “reviewed by the board in advance of the meeting,” she added.
Protesters still were able to make their concerns known by holding aloft signs that read “Deny Further Extensions of Approval,” “End the Sham Granite Pointe Project,” “Don’t Trade Trees for Concrete,” and “Water is Life. Don’t Pollute Our Future.”
Project engineer Tim Allen of Bibbo Associates, asked to update the board on the project’s progress, said that the Westchester County Health Department is requiring septic tests on the site’s remediated areas.
Suelain had had to wait for the state DEC’s go-ahead before it could get back on the site and do that.
Once those results are in, Suelain can again approach the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which owns and manages the reservoir.
“We will work towards the stormwater permit after that,” Allen told the Planning Board.
(In the 1990s, the DEP had approved the stormwater permit but later revoked it after the lead contamination was discovered.)
As for the DEC, “while I don’t think they’ve signed off on the cleanup, formally, they have said that this site is deemed clean and that we have access to it now,” he said, adding that the applicant will conduct all tests required by the various involved agencies.
The DEC documentation should be provided to the board “at some point,” noted the town’s planning consultant, David Smith.
“What do you think he (Allen) could reasonably expect to accomplish by the next time he’ll be here for his next renewal?” Gannon asked town engineer Steve Robbins.
By September, the results of septic tests required by the Health Department should be ready to present to the Planning Board, he replied.
Once the septic approval is obtained, the applicant can move on “with the required DEP reviews for septic and stormwater (systems) as well,” Robbins added, noting that Suelain is also in the midst of discussions with the state Department of Transportation (DOT).
Gannon asked Allen to continue providing the board with letters or other documents that are relevant to the proposed project.
“Keep us somewhere in the loop so we know how things are progressing,” she added.
Voting “yay” to approve the 36th time extension were Gannon and members Paul Ciavardini, Anthony Sutton, and Christopher Zaberto. New members Damien DeSantis and Rick Bohlander abstained.
Member Jack Mattes cast the lone “nay.”
“I think it’s gone on about as long as, uh, I mean I’ve never seen anything extend such a duration of time no matter what the reasons are. We’re talking about, what, 25, 30 years at this point? I’m opposed to letting it continue,” he said during board comment.
'Representative Democracy'
Higham took to the podium at the Town Board's June 11 meeting to expound on the purpose of a “representative democracy.”
Invoking the upcoming 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, he offered a quote from Credo, a book written by the late religious leader and civil rights activist, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr.: “I think we can say that democracy is a form of government that demands more virtue of its citizens than any other form of government, but I do not think we can say that democracy guarantees that the virtue will be exercised.”
“I think this quote has a lot to say about the current situation our beloved Town of Somers is facing regarding -- in my opinion and that of many others -- the ill-conceived, monstrosity of an idea of allowing 23 one-acre luxury homes to be built on the 28.8 acres of Granite Pointe, which slopes down and is surrounded on three sides by the Amawalk Reservoir,” Higham said.
He seemed incredulous that the Planning Board had just granted the proposed subdivision a 36th three-month time extension.
The town’s Planning Board is the lead agency for the proposed subdivision, meaning it, not the Town Board, is guiding the municipal review and approval process.
Higham repeated his demand that the Town Board “take back” lead agency for the project.
“Isn’t it the first duty of all government body members in our representative democracy to protect the health and safety of its current citizens?” he asked, referring to people who rely on the Amawalk, one of the area’s most shallow reservoirs, for drinking water.
He pointed out that within the past year, the Westchester Land Trust had acquired a 200-plus-acre forested watershed property in the Town of Southeast.
Named Lodestone Preserve, the $2.2M project borders the Croton Falls Reservoir and will ensure the permanent protection of “drinking water, wildlife habitat, and climate-resilient forests for generations to come,” according to the WLT.
“Why can’t Somers do the same thing?” Higham asked, claiming that Granite Pointe is “a far more critical resource.”
Supervisor Robert Scorrano thanked Higham for his comments.
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