TOWN OF ULSTER >> The Town Board has agreed to a four-year extension of town site plan approval for the proposed 46-unit Sawkill Meadows townhouse and apartment complex in exchange for $7,500 from the project developer to conduct a feasibility study on an extension of a municipal sewer line.
At a board meeting last week, town officials said the Washington Avenue Sewer District line is proposed to be extended from the Col. Chandler Drive overpass to Farm-to-Market Road, off Sawkill Road.
“The site plan approval extension for the Sawkill Meadows apartment complex will go from 2015 to 2019,” town Supervisor James Quigley said.
Officials said funding for the study would have to be provided within a month for the site plan to receive an extension.
Developer Ed Hill has proposed a mix of rental town homes and apartments on a site of about 9.5 acres at Sawkill and Farm-to-Market roads. He was initially given approval by the Town Board on April 18, 2005, with a year to meet site plan conditions.
Among conditions of the 2005 approval were approval of a sewage disposal system by the Ulster County Health Department, town approval for water system improvements, and not disturbing a section of the property until an archaeological study was completed.
Extensions of between six and 18 months have been approved for various reasons, including Hill in 2008 telling town officials that septic system plans were changed to include a surface water discharge system required by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Hill last year said the state agency had ordered that a sewage treatment plant be constructed if the project moves forward. He estimated it would cost about $650,000 to build a plant and told town officials that an agreement with the town for municipal service would be make the property more valuable.
Town Board members in 2011 adopted a law limiting site plan approvals to three extensions but said the Sawkill Meadows plan was not covered because it was first approved in 2005.
When an extension was granted in August 2012, Quigley said Hill had financial difficulties in getting started on the project, and then in 2013 said the developer wanted to preserve the property value by keeping the site plan viable.
