Bethel Woods Developers Addressed Concerns at Public Hearing

At a Planning and Zoning Public Hearing on Tuesday night, Developer Michael Blum presented his updated plan for the Bethel Woods condominiums.  Only a few residents showed up to offer their concerns, but their questions were answered easily and with the developers promises to cooperate with Planning and Zoning as the project was underway.

 Neighbor concerns included:

-Lighting from cars in neighbor’s windows

-Changing the zoning from an age restricted active adult community to an unrestricted community, which might increase the amount of children entering the school system,

-The effect of 50 more cars in the neighborhood.

Project developers answers included:

-The elevated height of the site and the height of the townhouses would most likely alleviate any car light problems.  If there are problems, Blum and Project Attorney Neil Marcus said evergreens could be strategically added.

-The project will continue to be marketed to empty nesters. 

-The intersection of Nashville Road and Nashville Extension will be redesigned to be safer and more efficient, alleviating traffic concerns. 

The original plan allotted for 3.5 acres of open space and now according to the plan’s “Earth Material Activities Narrative”, will have 5.3 acres. 

Developer Michael Blum said the group is seeking R-10 zoning with Design Conservation District “that will give us the flexibility to build two unit buildings that are built a little more densely.  This also gives us a way to propose open space, and we were able to conserve more than half the property.”

Blum said that there will be 37 homes, eight of which will be ranches, and the majority will be two story townhouse style.  They are expected to sell in the range of $350,000.

According to the plan, traffic should not increase dramatically during excavation as “material processed on site will be used on site and all processing of material will take place at least 300 feet from all property lines.”

Crushed stone from excavation will be reused as fill rather than having fill brought in by truck.  The equipment used to crush the stones will be the newest technology, with substantially reduced noise, the developers said.

The project is expected to be complete in three stages, over two years, with each stage lasting eight months.