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POUND RIDGE, N.Y. After nearly two years of negotiations, planning and discussion, the Pound Ridge Planning Board has denied an application for a proposed conservation/cluster subdivision at Rolling Meadow Lane and High Ridge Road.
The plan, proposed by Oceanus Navigation Corp., which is owned by C.C. Hsu of Taiwan, had called for subdividing 105.68 acres into 12 residential lots, two open-space parcels and one stormwater parcel.
The process hit a snag when developers decided they didnt want the two open-space parcels to be accessible to the public for liability reasons and declined to let a third party manage them. Oceanus sought an extension in hopes of working out a compromise.
(The developers) didnt give us the documentation we needed stating that they had an extension of time for the decision, said Karen Taft, planning board administrator. We didnt have anything in writing.
Taft said that if the board had extended the decision process and it turned out the extension was not valid, the time lapse would have triggered an automatic approval of the plan.
We denied it without prejudice to protect ourselves, Taft said. The board members felt like the application had changed. The plans initially had walking trails and all of a sudden (the developers) decided they didnt want that. That confused the board.
Taft said the plan is now in limbo, but that officials from both sides will meet to discuss the next course of action.
We will see what happens, Taft said. It will either be a new application or amending the current one. It was going beautifully until the change by the applicant to not use the open spaces for public access.
The plan first came before the board in June 2010.
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