At the last Lloyd Town Board meeting, representatives from the Crest Group highlighted their proposal for a residential multifamily project called Highland on Hudson, located off Maple Avenue. Chrissy Passafiume filed the LLC for the Long Island based company.

The Crest Group indicated they will need a change of zoning for the parcel from the current single family Residential-2 [R-2] acre to a Planned Unit Development [PUD] so they can move forward with their multi-family project of 134 units.

Though the Crest Group said they have not yet filed an application for the project, an August 2, 2024 letter from their engineering firm Hayduk Engineering, to Supervisor Dave Plavchak, which was circulated to the full Town Board, states they submitted an Application Submission Letter as well as an Overall Site Plan, a Grading Plan, a preliminary Traffic Statement letter, Buildable area figures, a Survey and Slope Analysis and a rendering of the project.

Hayduk Engineering has calculated that traffic during the morning weekday Peak Hour will be 63 total trips – 15 trips entering and 48 trips exiting. During the evening weekday Peak Hour they expect 76 total trips with 47 entering and 29 exiting. On Saturday, the Peak Hour will generate 55 total trips. The developer indicated they consider the traffic impacts from their project will be minimal, stating that, “this traffic statement therefore adequately addresses the subject of traffic impact.”

The project will cover 9.8 of the 29.11 acre parcel and will include four, two and three story buildings with a total of 69,395 sq/ft and provide approximately 268 on-site parking spots. The units will be between 1,000 to 1,200 sq/ft in size After everything has been stabilized there will be 4.6 acres of impervious surface and the storm-water would be managed under the proposed parking area. The site will extend to the nearby sewer treatment plant.

At the meeting, the Crest Group’s attorney, William Caffrey, said this project will be a benefit to the town and now, after a 20 year ownership, is the right time to develop it.

Caffrey said the current and in-progress town Comprehensive Plan highlights the need for housing diversity, “and I believe the county may have even commented that multi-family is a particular need.”
Caffrey said the slave cemetery on the site will not be touched and would be permanently conveyed to the town along with an easement to get across the property to maintain it and for the public to see it.

Daniel Scarda, Crest’s Chief Investment Officer, said he has previously spoken with Supervisor Plavchak and Building Department Director Dave Barton, “reviewing this particular idea and I am thankful for all of the time they’ve spent with us looking at this. It is definitely a start and something that I think fits our vision of what can be used there.”

Eric Jeter, of Haydek Engineering, said their neighbor “already provided us a driveway on our property. So the feasibility is 100% [and] considering the topography in the area it’s a great slope to enter the site on.” He noted that it will be less than a 10% grade, “is plowable, drivable and very accessible.”

Jeter said the driveway will not have three lanes or side of the road parking but instead there will be dedicated parking slots.

Jeter acknowledged there is no mention of Residential 2 acre in the town’s Comprehensive Plan, “but what we do recognize is the proximity to Route 9W, less than a half mile drive to where we would be proposing our driveway.” He stressed that any concerns the town has should be on the table so they have the chance to address it, “and try to find a compromise.”

Attorney Caffrey asked the board what is the next step in the overall process, “and how do we move this application forward? At this point we haven’t even submitted an application fee.”

Town attorney Sean Murphy said the Town Board will be reviewing the packets the developer has submitted.

“I think it’s really to get everybody’s temperature and then probably get back to you in an informal way based on their discussions, which I think would happen fairly quickly.” He said the owners of the property would have to submit an application to request a zoning change of the property, “and if the Town Board wants to consider this, a local law would have to be proposed and that would require notices to adjoining landowners within a certain amount of feet and the Ulster County Planning Board and adjoining municipalities.” A public hearing would follow.

Caffrey said, “as far as we were led to believe, we’ve sort of initiated that application process and I didn’t see if there was a specific application form.”

Murphy said on October 16 the Town Board could set a public hearing on the zone change for their November 20th meeting.

Jeter then showed the board a number of slides, “and a grading plan that Mr. Barton had asked us to provide. We’ve done a full survey of the site, an assessment of the buildable area as per the [town] code that’s been prepared by a licensed land surveyor. We also looked at any of the deductions required for buildable land, including easements, cemeteries and steep slopes, so that’s the basis of the calculation for the 9.8 acres.” He also provided a picture of the view of the proposed site from across the Hudson River, pointing out two rooftops of the project, one at 220 feet and another at 180 feet.