Kenoza Lake development passes hurdle

By TOM KANE

HORTONVILLE, NY — The Town of Delaware Planning Board approved the environmental assessment review, called SEQRA, of the proposed Kenoza Lake Development.

Marc Dubrovsky, a developer from Pond Eddy, has purchased 390 acres around the lake and would build the development in two phases. The first would see 25 lots of five acres each around the lake. The second phase, to begin at an undetermined date, would see another 25 homes. The lake takes up 80 acres of the property.

The SEQRA review looks to establish whether the project will do harm to the environment. It is one of the main steps on the way to approval or disapproval of a development.

The board declared a negative declaration, meaning that, in their opinion, there were no aspects of the project that would harm the environment.

The review, as is the custom, was done by the developer and was submitted to the board, who examined it with help from its consultant, Tom Shepstone of Shepstone Management of Honesdale, PA.

The board also established itself as the lead agency for the project, meaning that it alone will have the right to approve or deny the project.

Earlier, the board members visited the site and at the meeting examined the site plan, looking at the location of the proposed building and the roads, noting the degree of slope that is allowed by the town’s zoning.

The board ruled that the slopes were consistent with town regulations.

On the issue of a possible eagle’s habitat at the site, Dubrovsky contacted Peter Nye of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), an eagle expert, who sent an assistant to examine the property, looking for nests. Dubrovsky presented a letter from Nye’s office stating there was no eagle’s nest at the site, although eagles may at times hunt for fish in the area.

Opponents of the project

The project is not without opponents, the most persistent being Barbara Hust who lives on the shore of Hust Pond which is contiguous to the site.

“I live right there next to the Hust Pond,” she said. “I look out at the mountain. The mountain will be devastated. It will impinge visually and economically on the area and will totally change our rural community. Fifty houses on the hill are enormous. There aren’t 50 houses in the entire community.”

Other residents who have opposed the development in the past did not appear.

Another resident, Susan Thomaz Chycho, who has done considerable research on the Lenni Lenape Indians who were native to the area, stated that the project must respect the Native American burial grounds that are in the area.

“I have researched a book written by Charles Hicks, former county historian who was an expert on the Indians,” she said. “There were at least two long houses behind what is now the Kenoza Lake Firehouse.”

Further research took her to the Lenape Historical Society in Allentown, PA and to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

The board argued that the area where she claimed the Lenape lived is not a part of the project.

The board allowed Dubrovsky to begin clearing trees to make way for the proposed roads, but not to build the roads.

The board also directed that notification of the project must be sent to the farmers in the immediate area. Other public hearings will be held as part of the approval process.