Public comments positive on Village Pines proposal

About 50 people attended a public hearing in the Town of Ogden regarding the Village Pines senior housing complex proposal.

Village Pines, LLC member David Wohlers said he felt the comments were mostly positive. Wohlers and Paul Crowell, another member of the LLC, are requesting the town rezone the 33-acre parcel from single family residential to a senior citizen housing district. The project, as it came before the board, is for the construction of 78 single family homes for senior citizens.

"My observation was that people were positive to the project," he said "The biggest concerns people voiced were about whether their taxes or sewer usage fees would go up."

Because the project would be an out-of-district sewer user it would substantially contribute to the costs of the sewer and the cost in turn would be passed along to the number of units constructed. Wohlers said a question was raised on the need for senior citizen housing in the town.

"We've done our research and have found that there is a need for this type of project in Ogden," Wohlers said. "Demographics point to the need and we've had a number of people come to us and say they want to stay in the area but need to downsize. This project would fit their needs."

Town of Ogden Supervisor Gay Lenhard said the tone of the meeting was positive. "I had people come up to me after the meeting and tell me they felt this was a good project for the town," she said.

According to Lenhard, the board will likely vote on the rezoning issue at its March 9 meeting. If the Village Pines project receive board approval for rezoning, it will then go back to the planning board for fine tuning of the overall scope of the development.

If approved, the project is slated for construction on the north side of Route 531, west of the existing Timber Ridge community.

Jack Crooks, the town's building inspector, said if the proposal makes it through the board's re-zoning, planning board officials will begin the process of scrutinizing details such as drainage, density and road layouts. "The project would have to be fine tuned to make sure there is no adverse impact on the community or environment and if there is, the developer would have to look at ways to mitigate them," Crooks said.