Ecology a growing factor in land use

Developers strive to be eco-friendly

By Osei Helper | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – At a job site that Karin Ursula, an ecological landscape designer, oversaw, she witnessed a contractor excavate a portion of a hillside so that he could put in a stone stairway. It was a two-day job, so the contractor left for the evening after completing the excavation. That night, there was a heavy rainstorm that flushed all of the exposed soil down into a new ornamental pond, muddying up the water. While nobody was harmed, there could have been injuries if the project were near homes in an area of high flood risk.

The world is in the middle of a climate crisis. The preservation of natural resources, especially carbon-capturing forests, is of great importance. So the idea of the Livingston Farm project – a development formerly known as Broadacre Farm consisting of multiple homes, rental units, cabins and more planned for a sprawling but environmentally sensitive 117-acre former farm site at the top of Hoag Road in the hamlet – is, to many, a controversial one.

While the mudslide incident didn’t happen at the Livingston Farm site, that sort of outcome was on Ursula’s mind when she sat with Manor Ink to discuss the problems that developments often pose for the environment. She had previously worked with the Livingston Farm developers as an advisor for native plants and landscape schematics until they parted ways in 2021.

Starting in late March, residents will see Livingston Farm crews begin to plant trees at the site, transforming old fields into a forest, developers said. They hope to begin working on the houses at the site this summer.

But as things move forward, Ursula said she has many ongoing concerns about Livingston Farm, including how heavy machinery brought onto a job site will press down on the soil, causing compaction. In a high flood risk area, this becomes a huge problem.

“With the soil compacted, rainwater has nowhere to go, so the effects of flooding only become amplified,” she said. Residents on High Street, Hoag Road and Creamery Road, streets adjacent to the Livingston Farms property, already have drainage issues due to rainwater coming down the mountain. “Compact that soil and you have the potential for a real problem to occur,” Ursula said.

Planning with conservation in mind

For their part, the developers of the Livingston Farm project say they were already aware of the environmental issues and climate change factors at work at the former farm, and planned all aspects of the development with conservation in mind.

“We know the issues related to flooding,” said Stefan Martinovic, one of the partners behind the planned development. “If we’re going to build a $25 million project, the last thing we want to have is flooding that can cause an issue for residents and businesses on Main Street.”

Ursula, however, notes that though the developers have plans for reforesting and natural plants, there will still be roads built through wooded areas along with campsites and other developments in higher meadows filled with blueberries.

“I think we might have to change the definition of ‘ecological’ in this era of climate change,” Ursula said.

She is unsure, though, what that definition might be. In order to find one, she believes the community has to come together, not just on a local scale, but nationally. Environmental conditions have worsened across the world, with numerous countries devastated by floods, so older conservation techniques may no longer be adequate. Ursula emphasized that she doesn’t think that the people behind Livingston Farm have bad intentions, just that they along with other developers should work more closely with local residents.

When Ursula was hired as a consultant on the project, there were plans for 25 housing units. A few months later, that number doubled. Currently, the plan is only for 16 homes, but camping sites, farmland, an inn, a restaurant and other structures have been added.

Community input ‘helpful’

The changes in the Livingston Farm plan were made in direct response to local concerns. The developers say they have modified many parts of the project based on feedback from residents.

“Having that dialogue has been extremely helpful,” Martinovic said. He stressed that developers have brought in “thought leaders from around the world” to ensure a focus on conservation. Plans include planting thousands of trees, incorporating water mitigation, adding deep root systems and plants for natural flood prevention, and “natural construction” techniques for houses.

“We are hyper-focused on building something that is in harmony with the local ecology and community,” Martinovic said.

Another issue that has arisen is affordability. While developers told Manor Ink that their current pricing structures are being determined, the Livingston Farm website describes home prices starting in the $500,000 range, and earlier plans called for homes in the ​​$699,000 to $899,000 range – far above the $241,500 median sales price for a Sullivan County single-family home, as assessed last summer by realtor.com.

Those types of prices are ones that Ursula suggests are “marketed to New York City, probably where people in urban areas are earning higher wages that have the disposable income to have two homes.”

Martinovic said rental units were added in response. “Is there a demand for people to pay $800,000 and up for a new home? Absolutely,” he said. But “as there’s a growing population of people working in various businesses in town, there’s not enough rental supply.”

Reclaimed land for housing

Still, issues of affordable housing tie into the environment. The increase of homes for city dwellers, as well as the greater land usage that more expensive homes encompass, is by no means helpful for the ecosystem.

Ursula said that instead of this, she would like to see the redevelopment of abused lands to accommodate affordable housing and improve biodiversity. She acknowledged, however, that it would take some more digging on her part to find those suitable areas.

“It seems like a real opportunity for developers to try to do that, to try to build affordable homes that are more available to wider portions of the population, and at the same time then rewild the sites with native plants, create the ecology, and bring back the biodiversity,” she said.

She admitted that such sites would not be as profitable financially for developers as those with high-end homes, but there are many who are in need of homes, people that can’t afford housing in the high hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What’s extremely important, when dealing with issues like these, is the coming together of all involved. Ursula and the Livingston Farm developers both agree that consulting with local townspeople, neighboring home owners, businesses and especially the young people who will be most affected by development over the long term, is extremely important to the success of any project. That dialogue is in everyone’s best interest.

County-wide building boom

Development is on the rise in Sullivan County. Even before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many residents of New York City and other urban centers had sought second homes in the Catskill region. After municipalities instituted quarantining and lock-downs in response to the coronavirus, the demand wasn’t only for summer getaway properties but for year-round residences as families sought to relocate to the county’s safer rural environment. Here is a list of current projects, and a few older ones.

Large-scale developments

• Gan-Eden, Monticello | 885 units on 210 acres

• Chapin Estate, Bethel | Custom built homes on 2,500 acres

• Lost Lake Resort, Forestburgh | Planned 2,700 homes on 2,000 acres

• Keriland, Willowemoc | Planned resort on 750 acres

Townhouse developments

• Hemlock Ridge, Livingston Manor | 60 rental units and services

• Horizons, Wurtsboro | 49 rental units

• Liberty Commons, Liberty | 24 senior rentals

Eco-friendly developments

• Crest Lane, North Branch | 15 planned homes and lake

• Catskill Project, Livingston Manor | 11 planned homes on 90 acres

• Livingston Farm, Livingston Manor | 46 planned homes on 117 acres

Older developments

• Emerald Green, Rock Hill | 3,200 lots in two towns

• Smallwood, White Lake | 260 homes on 1.5 sq. miles