Here are some points regarding this project:
1. The project would put nearly 1,000 homes on 2,200 acres. It's too big and too suburban for the area, and it would destroy the rural character of our towns.
2. The project is incompatible with Milan's zoning and open space requirements; it is also incompatible with Pine Plains's comprehensive plan and proposed zoning.
3. The DEIS as written is deeply flawed and contains many inaccuracies and material omissions. Durst should be required to correct all the many problems that have been pointed out in the public hearing process before submitting the final Environmental Impact Statement.

For more information about the numerous significant flaws of the DEIS,
see http://www.milaninsider.com and http://www.pineplainsunited.org.

In addition, you may want to read: Scenic Hudson, March 3rd Press Release:
"Study Finds Important Habitat, Rare Wildlife Would Be Lost if Massive Pine Plains Development Goes Ahead"

Carvel developers 'starting from the beginning'
The would-be developers of the Carvel property are working to put "something else on the table" for the town Planning Board to consider.
Kingston Freeman (June 14)

Pine Plains planners tackle Carvel proposal
The Pine Plains Planning Board will be meeting with developers and hiring an additional consultant as it undertakes the review of public comments on Carvel's proposed large-scale housing and golfing community.
The Planning Board met recently to get feedback from planning consultant Nan Stolzenburg and discuss their next steps in the review process.
Daily Freeman (May 27)

Planning Board: Carvel plan just doesn't work
The Pine Plains Planning Board will be meeting with developers and hiring an additional consultant as it undertakes the review of public comments on Carvel's proposed large-scale housing and golfing community...
Register Herald (May22)

PoJo Editorial Urges Greenway Legal Support
An editorial in the Poughkeepsie Journal on May 16 urges the Greenway Compact to provide Milan with legal support in the fight against gravel mining...
Greenway gets legal support test
Read more

Planners review Durst proposal
The deadline to comment on the Durst Organization's draft environmental impact statement for its 951-unit luxury golf resort proposal passed on Monday. Now the planning board is working with its consultant and engineer to see what issues Durst needs to address with its controversial project. Read more...
Poughkeepsie Journal (May 9)

Town asks Greenway to pay legal fees
Among the selling points used by the Hudson River Greenway to encourage communities to adopt its guidelines was a promise that the state would protect Greenway compact members from the potentially crippling legal costs towns could face defending against challenges to their comprehensive plans or local laws stemming from those plans. Read more...
Register Herald (May8)

Board to review zoning draft
Read more... Register Herald (May8)

Milan will continue mine fight
On Monday, the town board voted to appeal the ruling state Supreme Court Justice James Brands made last month, which voided the town's comprehensive plan and many of the laws it generated. Officials are hopeful the state will pick up the tab in the town's ongoing legal dispute with Red Wing Sand and Gravel.
Poughkeepsie Journal (May 1)

Pine Plains may seek alternate version of Durst housing plan
The developer of a proposed second-home golf community straddling the Pine Plains-Milan border could be asked to develop an alternate plan to the one that has the communities and local environmental groups up in arms.
Daily Freeman (April10)

Resolution slamming Carvel project fizzles
A resolution asking the County Legislature to voice its opposition to the Durst/Carvel project in Pine Plains and Milan has been pulled from consideration due to lack of support. The nonbinding resolution, sponsored by Legislators Joel Tyner, D-Clinton, and Richard Keller-Coffey, D-Town of Poughkeepsie, was opposed by the Dutchess County Supervisors and Mayors Association.
Poughkeepsie Journal (April 10)

Durst project plan needs major revisions
Whatever happens next, a developer's plan for a sprawling, high-end golf community in rural northern Dutchess County must be scaled back.
The plan is too big for the area. The design plans would perpetuate sprawl. And critical environmental areas would be fragmented in ways that must be avoided
Poughkeepsie Journal (March 30)

Rural character remains factor for residents at fourth Carvel hearing
Residents and consultants continued to offer feedback to town planning board members last week during the fourth of five scheduled public hearings on the proposed Carvel property development, a large-scale housing and golfing community.
Register Herald (March 20)

Legislator seeks to stop Carvel project
Resolution would ask officials to oppose proposal
If Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner, D-Clinton, has his way, the county Legislature will be the latest group to voice its opposition to the Durst/Carvel project in Pine Plains and Milan. Tyner is trying to introduce a resolution asking officials in Pine Plains and Milan to oppose the 951-unit luxury golf and residential development being proposed on the borders of the towns.
Poughkeepsie Journal (March 12)

FOR 2 CONTRASTING OPINIONS ON THE CARVEL (DURST) DEVELOPMENT:

Face to Face: Portrayal of plan downplays drawbacks
By Ross Williams (Milan Town Board Member)
Amid the Durst Corporation's glitzy marketing barrage in Milan and Pine Plains, it is important to step back and examine the planned golf resort community proposed on the 2,200 acre Carvel property. As one of Milan's representatives to Pine Plains' environmental review process for the last four years, I would like to provide a different perspective than is being marketed by this deep-pocketed Manhattan developer.
Poughkeepsie Journal (March 5)

Face to Face: Project would be beneficial to towns
By Alexander Durst (Durst Organization, project manager for the Carvel Development)
Over the past five years, my family has worked to create a premier master planned second-home golf community in Dutchess County. The 2,200 acre Carvel property in the towns of Milan and Pine Plains presents a unique opportunity to create a model community that will set new environmental standards and deliver significant financial benefits to the surrounding community. The property has been in a state of partial development since Tom Carvel's plans stalled 30 years ago. The golf course, existing subdivision, roads, sewer system and surrounding land need to be upgraded.
Poughkeepsie Journal (March 5)

MORE ON THE CARVEL DEVELOPMENT
Would you like to read a lot more about the background of the Carvel developers and their plans for a 951 unit development in Pine Plains and Milan, guaranteed to radically change the nature of these two neighboring communities?

CLINTON UNITED recommends you spend time visiting the following website on a regular basis to read James Sheldon's "Durst Watch":
www.LittleTownViews.com.

Sheldon has written: We've posted another installment of our "Durst Watch," focusing this time on the key players involved in the proposed Carvel development, including a profile of Durst's little-advertised but controversial partner, Landmark Land Company, Inc. We've also reprinted a letter from the Dutchess County Planning Department which takes the project to task for "greenwash," and its misleading claims about environmental sensitivity.

Please attend the next public hearing on the Carvel proposal at the Pine Plains High School on February 29th at 7:00 PM.

This will be your only chance, along with a similar March 12th hearing, to contest in public the wildly inaccurate projections Durst is making for his Carvel Property Development as an upscale, "green" golfing resort that will bring untold economic benefits to the community.

Planner critical of luxury homes idea
N. Dutchess project is 'greenwash'
Robert Wills, a planner with the County Department of Planning and Development, wrote a four page letter to the Pine Plains Planning Board critical of the Durst Organization's draft environmental impact statement for a proposed luxury golf and second-home community on the Carvel property.
Poughkeepsie Journal (Feb. 14)

Downstate developer meets upstate resistance
...the reputation the family enjoys in and around midtown Manhattan seems to be carrying little sway with the residents of two Northern Dutchess communities. Here, the Durst Organization has met opposition over its proposal to create a massive golf community geared toward Manhattanites looking for a retreat from the downstate metropolis.
Daily Freeman (Feb 10)


N. Dutchess luxury housing proposal touted
Hearings begin on ex-Carvel site
More than 100 people attended a public hearing at Stissing Mountain High School Wednesday night, February 7th, to learn more about the Durst Organization's plans for a proposed 951-unit luxury golf community in Pine Plains and Milan.
Poughkeepsie Journal (Feb. 7)

Steinhaus looks back and ahead in State of the County report for Dutchess
Among his plans for the upcoming year, Steinhaus said, is asking the county Legislature to approve a $2.5 million bond to complete the purchase of development rights of several properties throughout the county. If approved, he said, the county will have protected almost 3,000 acres of prime agricultural and open lands. The article reports several other "green" initiatives that Steinhaus is proposing.
Daily Freeman (Jan. 26)

Housing proposal gets early approval
Beginning this week, Pine Plains residents will be able to read more online about a controversial 951 home development, and then next month, comment about the proposal at public meetings. These next steps were triggered when the Pine Plains Planning Board ruled the draft environmental impact statement for development of the former Carvel property was complete. This project could become one of the largest private developments in Dutchess County history
Poughkeepsie Journal (Jan. 15)

Vision may be reality for golf homes
Development in final plan stages
In 2003, the Durst Organization, a New York-based real estate developer, and Landmark National, a golf resort and residential development company based in Maryland, bought 2,200 acres near the northern edge of Dutchess County for $12 million. About 1,650 acres are in Pine Plains; 550, in Milan.... The developer wants to build a golfing community, with 951 homes of varying size and an 18-hole championship golf course. The size of the project has some local residents concerned because it could nearly double housing in the area.
Poughkeepsie Journal (July 24)