By CHRISSY PRICHARD

Express News Staff

The Town of Webb board held a public hearing on Monday, Sept. 17, to hear public comment on an application made by Mike Mitchell of Adirondack Homes to establish a Planned Residential (P-R) district, as well as an amendment to the local zoning map reflecting the district’s establishment. The district is to be located on a 3.71 acre parcel located on Route 28 between the Strand Theatre and Adirondack Pizzeria.

The town board, as well as about 10 community members listened as Mitchell explained his plan for a new residential area in the heart of Old Forge.

In his presentation, Mitchell described a close knit neighborhood consisting of 19 homes as well as a common space shared by residents. The neighborhood would be close to the amenities and activities in downtown Old Forge, and would be able to utilize existing infrastructure.

The neighborhood is designed with the homes clustered fairly close together, in order to maximize the amount of wooded “buffer” space around the neighborhood, which will create some natural separation between the residential area and the surrounding properties. The single access point to the neighborhood will be just downhill from the Strand Theatre parking lot.

The neighborhood will consist of modular homes averaging 800 to 1,200 square feet in size, with one or two bedrooms. The average lot size is 4,000 square feet. Mitchell anticipates the average purchase price for a lot with a house on it will be $139,000.

Rather than selling vacant building lots, Mitchell will have the homes built for the buyers so he can have more control over the size and type of houses in the neighborhood. Within certain parameters, buyers will be given options as far as square footage, layout, and number of bedrooms in the homes.

Although the homes will be fairly similar in size and price range, Mitchell says efforts will be made to avoid a “cookie cutter” look. The plan is to use greens, browns and earth tones for the houses to follow an “Adirondack” color scheme and to allow them to blend in with the natural environment.

He anticipates that a homeowners association will handle snow removal in the winter as well as mowing and landscape maintenance in the warmer months. This will include maintenance of the shared common area.

Mitchell hopes to have all the necessary approvals, permits, and variances in place by next spring. He would like to have the houses built four to five at a time, but it depends on sales. He anticipates funding the building of between two and four homes next spring to give prospective buyers something to look and to get the ball rolling on the project. Buyers will then have the option to buy a home that is already built, or select plans for one to be built on a lot of their choosing.

The town board did not make any decision at the hearing about whether or not to approve Mitchell’s application.

This is just one of many steps involved in the development of this neighborhood. According to Mitchell, he has already received the planning board’s recommendation for a variance, allowing for 3.71 acres instead of the required 5 acres for a planned district. Based on this recommendation, the variance was approved by the zoning board of appeals.

According to Town Supervisor Ted Riehle, the current task of the town board is to consider the approval of the application to create the district, not necessarily all the details in the proposal. He says this conceptual approval will allow Mitchell to move on to the next step, which is to submit a formal application to the Planning Board to develop the district. It is during this step that the details will be more closely scrutinized.

Besides the approval to create the district from the town board, and the final approval from the planning board to develop the district, Mitchell is waiting for non-jurisdictional status from the Adirondack Park Agency, storm water plan approval from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and driveway entrance approval from the NYS Department of Transportation.

Town Supervisor Ted Riehle said he anticipates that the board will be able to reach a decision at their next regular meeting to be held on Tuesday, Oct. 2.