Links housing spurs open space debate in Carmel

By BARBARA LIVINGSTON NACKMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: Nov. 20, 2001)

A debate over whether a developer should be allowed to claim open space from land used as recreation, such as a fee-based golf course, intensified with a recent decision by the Carmel Planning Board.

The board voted last week to recommend that the Town Board require homeowners associations to retain ownership of common areas in cluster developments.

The measure attempts to clear up confusion between open space and its ownership, and comes on the heels of a zoning board interpretation that gave tacit approval to a developer to consider a commercial golf course as open space.

"There seems to be some ambiguity on the use of open space, and we are looking to clarify the issue," Supervisor Frank Del Campo said. The Town Board will hold a public hearing on the issue next month, but has not set a date.

"I am open to public comment and anxious to hear the pros and cons," Del Campo said.

Town law requires that a cluster developer set aside 35 percent of the total property as open space. A cluster development, such as the one proposed for inside Centennial Golf Club, groups houses closer together than zoning would normally allow to leave more of the land untouched.

Debates have ensued over whether such a development's open space allotment must be deeded to the homeowners association or if it could come from neighboring recreational land. If part of the open space allotment would work well as a park or ball fields, the town could require the developer to provide recreational land within the 35 percent that had already been set aside.

If not, then the developer would have to pay a $3,000 per lot recreation fee to the town. In a conventional subdivision, the developer must either give 10 percent of the total acreage for recreational purposes or pay the $3,000 per lot recreation fee. The Planning Board determines which scenario the developer must follow.

The zoning board ignited the controversy in May when it interpreted the law pertaining to The Links, 100 units of luxury housing proposed for 93 acres inside the Simpson Road golf club.

To meet the open space requirement, developer Paul Camarda claimed the 320-acre, championship-caliber golf course, which charges $95 a round Mondays to Thursdays and $125 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the peak golf season. The owners of the golf club are in a partnership with Camarda to build The Links.

Current law does not preclude counting land set aside for recreational use, such as a golf course or horseback-riding facility, as open space, Camarda said.

The zoning board determined that the town's law defining open space and its ownership and use was ambiguous, forcing the board to rule in favor of Camarda.

Critics contend that open space should be undeveloped land with no commercial encumbrances.

A golf course or athletic field, they argue, could change the land, restrict access with fees and add a business aspect to the parcel.

Town Planner Patrick Cleary concluded that the same piece of land could serve to preserve open space as well as meet the recreational needs of the broader community. From a planning standpoint, he said, the proposed law offers the town options and ways to encourage recreation.

Camarda said the flexible interpretation of the law allowed him to donate land for a town park off Seminary Hill Road at the edge of his Willow Ridge subdivision to satisfy recreational requirements. The land is now being used as a town park, leaving no open space within the new subdivision owned by the homeowners.

"The (new) law is a step backwards. It discourages clusters," Camarda said. "It seriously restricts the creation of publicly owned and privately owned recreational facilities and limits the tax base."

Centennial, for example, would continue to pay taxes on the land even though it would count as town recreation. "Most towns ," he said, "are looking for ways to create recreation parcels."

It is appropriate for the town to clarify the law and its intent, said resident Jerry Ravnitzky. It should be clear, he added, that developers of each subdivision must set aside land as open space owned by the homeowners association with taxes due to the town.

"Don't subvert the intent of the law," he warned, "and allow a developer to use a loophole."