Developers withdraw Navajo Street application

Before the Town Board could vote to decide whether to expand the Lake Osceola Overlay District to include the Hidden Valley project at 3000 Navajo St., developer Creative Living withdrew its application.

The vote was expected to take place at the Tuesday, Sept. 2, Town Board meeting; the application was withdrawn on Sunday, Aug. 31.

Town Attorney Adam Rodriguez said at the start of the Sept. 2 Town Board meeting that, although there had been an agenda decision on the law the applicant’s choice to withdraw made it a “non-agenda item.” 

Over several months, the proposal and the question of whether the 50-acre parcel should be included in the overlay district were hotly debated. At a July 1 public hearing, residents expressed both support for and opposition to including the parcel in the overlay.

Supporters — including local baseball coaches and business owners — cited the development's potential benefits for youth athletics and small businesses. Others noted that the proposed project, if approved, could provide access to the sewer system.

Opponents — including several residents of Jefferson Village — raised concerns about increased traffic and congestion, as well as potential impacts on emergency response times for police, fire, and EMS services. 

In exchange for inclusion in the district, developer C.J. (Charles) Diven had said he was offering to construct a sewer trunk line from the property along East Main Street to Hill Boulevard, where it would connect to an existing line tied into the county’s sewage treatment plant in Peekskill. 

However, even had the board elected to expand the overlay district, that alone would not have meant the project could move forward. The board would then have to vote to include Hidden Valley in that expanded district. Only then could the project—which calls for redeveloping the site into a mixed-use development with commercial, recreational, and residential space, including a 23,000-square-foot athletic facility, a 5,500-square-foot clubhouse, and 242 multifamily housing units—go through the rest of the planning process.

The resolution on the Sept. 2 meeting agenda outlined the Town Board’s intent to decline expanding the Lake Osceola Overlay District to include Hidden Valley — a decision the board would have formalized by resolution had the application not been withdrawn. The resolution cited the total number of units as “contrary to the intent of the overlay zone” and said it “will likely compromise the character of the hamlet,” reflecting residents’ concerns about overdevelopment. 

Other concerns cited by the board included the impact of other projects along the Route 6/Route 6N corridor, traffic flow, and the possibility that more than 100 units would be constructed on steep slopes. 

Unlike previous meetings when the project appeared on the Town Board agenda, there was no significant public opposition, suggesting relief among the project's opponents following the applicant’s decision to withdraw. Residents who support the project and its developers and believe it would revitalize the area expressed disappointment with town officials and the outcome. 

The application’s withdrawal means it can be resubmitted at a later date because it wasn’t voted down.

Addressing the board during the meeting’s public comment period, Diven said he wanted to “avoid a public rant on our disappointment in the process that was delayed and stretched by this board and its administrative staff since 2018.”   

He said he believed “the most effective way to communicate our frustration and our position—a move we had heartfeltly felt was a win-win proposition for the Osceola Corridor and ourselves” was an excerpt from an email sent on Aug. 26 to the members of the board from an elected member of the Jefferson Owners Corporation, whom he declined to name.

The email accused town officials of “concealing” facts, “misinformation” and misleading “individual Jefferson Village residents” about the project.

Citing the email, Diven said the “core issue” is that Jefferson Village suffers from stormwater flooding and health concerns related to the runoff from Lake Osceola, which is “worsened by our outdated infrastructure and upstream septic systems. "

He continued to read from the email, which went on to say that the proposal, “if executed as represented, has the potential to bring meaningful benefits to Jefferson Village through pollutant mitigation, improved drainage and long-term environmental stability.” 

The email acknowledged there were also concerns about increased traffic but said health and safety were paramount. 

Dan Strauss, a 59-year resident, thanked the Town Board for “declining to expand the Lake Osceola Overlay District to include Hidden Valley,” though the board did not make a vote because of the withdrawn application.  

“It’s my recollection that the overlay district was a concept, and it wasn't about a specific development,” he said, and suggested that the Town Board does a “thorough study” of the “whole Lake Osceola area—find out who owns what and then you come to some kind of agreement that that's where you are, and then if the developer wants to come in and offer a development position to say yes or no.”  

Joseph Eriole, the attorney for Hidden Valley, argued that the developers had asked for an adjournment to give the developers time to answer questions raised by the town’s advisory boards.  

“I did not get the courtesy of a response to that request for an adjournment,” he said. “At the 11th hour, we made the decision to withdraw the petition so that there wouldn’t be a rash action, but by then a resolution had already been posted, which includes a resolution to deny inclusion into the map.”  

He called the resolution’s content “contrary to a record” that goes back to 2018.  

“It specifically cites that the board doesn't think it has enough information on various environmental issues that were raised, which are the precise issues that we asked the board to give us a chance to answer,” he said.  

“We will not stop at this point,” Eriole said, adding that he believes the project would ultimately benefit the town and its residents.

When public comment closed, Supervisor Ed Lachterman said that there are still unanswered questions.  

“The applicant has had that time to bring them forward and there’s a lot that hasn’t been brought forward,” Lachterman said. “As things stand, that is where our resolution was.”