By Ashley M. Casey

Associate Editor

The Van Buren Town Board will hold a public hearing on a zone change request for what is now the Seneca Golf Club at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 18. The board reviewed the Full Environmental Assessment Form and scheduled the public hearing at the June 4 town board meeting.

Town Supervisor Claude Sykes emphasized that the project is still in the beginning stages.

“A lot of people are under the [misconception] we’re approving this. We’re not. This still has to go back to the planning board for all the site review and everything, so these will all be questions that will be addressed by the planning board,” he said. “This is just the first step, looking at changing this from R-40 to a PUD to allow this type of development.”

Brolex Properties is proposing a development of 193 homes on what is currently a nine-hole golf course. The developer is seeking a zone change from Residential-40 (R-40) to Planned Unit Development (PUD), since R-40 requires homes to have one-acre lots.

According to Brolex Properties’ Full Environmental Assessment Form, lot sizes for the proposed “Seneca Greens Development” will range from a minimum of 60 feet by 160 feet to a maximum of 75 by 320 feet. The xoning and planning board will determine exact lot sizes during site plan review, according to Sykes. Development will occur across five to six phases slated to begin in October 2019, with a projected completion date of October 2024.

The project will be served by the Onondaga County Water Authority (OCWA) and Onondaga County sanitary sewer facilities. Two retention/detention basins will be built for stormwater runoff. To read the developer’s Full Environmental Assessment Form and the text of the proposed local law for the zone change, visit townofvanburen.com.

Residents expressed their concerns about the project at the June 4 town board meeting.

Andy Bowes said he expected the Seneca Greens homes would resemble the houses in Marion Meadows, a development near Van Buren Town Hall.

“A lot of the houses only have windows on three sides and that’s a problem. I think that’s an energy code issue. When you have a house with a blank wall, it’s not aesthetically pleasing,” he said.

Bowes said he was also concerned that the developer would skimp on the quality of the roads and the town would have to resurface them. “We have a set of specifications that the town engineer will make sure they’re constructed to,” Sykes assured him.

Bowes asked who would be responsible for maintaining the retention ponds. Sykes said while the town is responsible for Marion Meadows’ retention ponds, the homeowner’s association will have to maintain the ones at Seneca Greens.

Resident Jean Akers said she was concerned the development would generate a lot of traffic. Councilor Mary Frances Sabin said 72 of the homes will be “patio homes” marketed to snowbirds.

“They’re assuming that during the winter those homes might be empty,” she said.

Sabin said the development will have two entrances onto Route 48 and an emergency access road off Van Ness Road.