By NEAL RENTZ //
The Lewisboro Planning Board on July 16 voted unanimously to approve the first phase of a project to make alterations to Double H Farm on Boutonville Road. The work, when completed, will enable the owners to covert the site into a private riding academy.
However, the board did not take action on the subdivision proposal from Double H Farm’s owners and Felicia and Kevin Reid, adjacent property owners.
The public hearing, which began in June, was continued July 16. Planning Board Chairwoman Janet Andersen noted at the meeting that the board conducted a site walk of the 37.2 acre property in April. The property is located in a R-2A Residential Zoning District and the Westchester County Agricultural District.
On the existing horse farm parcel, Double H Farm LLC is seeking initially to construct an outdoor riding ring and a grand prix riding field for horse owners to leave their horses on the property, where they would be trained. The applicant is also proposing asphalt and gravel driveway improvements.
The plan for Phase 2 would include a complete teardown of the existing barn and construction of a new barn and indoor riding ring in the same location. Double H Farm is also proposing the rearrangement and regrading of various paddocks, reconstruction of the existing maintenance barn, with housing proposed above the barn. This plan will be updated in a future submission.
Double H Farm, together with the Reid family, is also proposing a subdivision/lot line change, which would merge a total of 6.9 acres into the Reid family property located at 45 Cross River Road.
Andersen said the only issues in Phase 1 of the project are some improvements being sought by Double H Farm, including a reconfiguration of some paddocks. In addition, Double H Farm is seeking approvals for field regrading and handling runoff, she said. “There are no new buildings being considered now,” Andersen said.
Andersen said a future submission from Double H Farm will include proposals for buildings and a public hearing will be conducted on a future proposal once it comes before the board.
During the July public hearing, some neighbors expressed concerns about the proposals. Don Whitman, who said he has lived nearby for over 70 years, noted that his house is located directly across from the applicant’s maintenance building. “I’m very concerned about the increase in traffic on Boutonville Road South” if the project is approved, he said, adding, “Over the years I’ve had several incidents with the maintenance personnel” employed by various owners of the site. Among other issues, he said, workers have plowed snow and gravel across the road onto his property. He suggested the planning board encourage the applicant to create an access road or driveway from Route 121 before approving the project.
Andersen told Whitman that the planning board is not a code-enforcement body and the appropriate path would be to take his concerns to the building department. Charles Martabano, an attorney representing Double H Farm, told Whitman he would share his contact information with the farm manager. Martabano said he also heard Whitman’s concern about the main gate being locked and would relay the concern to his clients and the barn manager.
Another resident, Calixto Perez Galan, expressed concern that the proposed plans would lead to “changes in the character of the neighborhood.”
Martabano said that the farm would have a staff member at all times living in the barn to oversee the horses.
On the subdivision proposal, Andersen said she wanted to know what would happen to the site in the future if the subdivision were approved. Daniel Hollis, an attorney representing the Reid family, said his clients are spending $650,000 to purchase a nearly 7-acre property to buffer their current property. If the subdivision was approved by the board, the subdivision would not be developed but would be merged with the Reid parcel. If the Reids or another future owner of the land wanted to develop the property, they would need approvals from the town, Hollis said.
Hollis called on the board to close the public hearings on Phase 1 and the subdivision proposal. Andersen replied that she wanted to continue the public hearing on the subdivision plan at its next meeting Tuesday, Aug. 20, and would ask the planning board to schedule a site walk on the property being proposed for subdivision.
The board voted unanimously to approve Phase 1 of the project and to continue the public hearing on the proposed subdivision at its Aug. 20 meeting. It also agreed to schedule a site walk Saturday, Aug. 17.
ACME Market expansion
Also at the meeting, the planning board voted unanimously to approve the proposed expansion of ACME Markets, located in the Goldens Bridge Village Center on Route 22, Goldens Bridge. The board approved a change of use from a bank to a food store. The application was reviewed by the board in June, Andersen said.
Town Planner and Wetland Consultant Jan Johannessen said the plan is for the market to expand into the property that formerly housed a bank. The property is located in an RB zoning district (retail business) and the proposal is a permitted use, he said.
T-Mobile Wireless approval
The board also voted unanimously to approve the request from T-Mobile Wireless to renew its special use permit for the facility it uses at the Leon Levy Preserve, located on Routes 35 and123, South Salem. The facility is owned by American Tower.
Andersen noted the application first came before the board in March, with a public hearing opened and closed in June.
“There’s no proposed modifications or improvements,” Johannessen said. Because of changes made to the town’s zoning ordinance a few years ago, T-Mobile will no longer be required to have the permit renewed in the future, he said.