Victoria
T.Brown
10
Springbriar Lane
Kings
Park NY 11754
631-721-6421
May 28, 2008
Ted Sanford, P.E.
Smithtown Town Engineer
124 West Main Street
Smithtown NY 11787
Re: Development
of Glenridge Estates and Its Impact on the Glenridge Lane
Dead
End at Springbriar Lane
Dear Mr. Sanford:
Description of Glenridge
Estates
Glenridge Estates is a 3.7 acre
development on the property of a former horse farm adjacent to my husband’s and
my home at 10 Springbriar Lane, Kings Park.
The horse farm property started at the former residential property of
Barbara Mangercina at 474 Meadow Road, Kings Park and ran somewhat parallel
between Melody Lane and Springbriar Lane.
The horse farm property ended behind 18 Springbriar Lane. Prior to development of the site, the horse
farm property intersected Glenridge Lane, resulting in 2 dead end streets on
either side.
Approval of Subdivison Map on
5/19/04 (Copy of Map Attached)
On 5/19/04, the map for Glenridge
Estates was approved by the Smithtown Planning Board at a preliminary
hearing. The map showed that the
section of Glenridge Lane on the Melody
Lane side would be extended into the horse farm property as a
cul-de-sac. The map also showed that
the dead end section of Glenridge Lane by Springbriar Lane would be abandoned
with curb and asphalt removed and dedicated to the adjoining property owners. I was one of the adjoining property owners
since my property is located at 10 Springbriar Lane at the corner of
Springbriar Lane and Glenridge Lane. On
the map it is shown as Lot 6.
Receipt of Petition for
Abandonment (Copy of Petition Attached)
In September 2004, Mr. Heldberg’s
wife Lisa gave a copy of a “Petition for Abandonment of Town Highway (Pursuant
to Section 205 of the Highway Law)” form to
to my husband and myself. The
form petitioned for the abandonment of the section of Glenridge Lane between
the my neighbors at 12 Springbriar Lane and my husband’s and my property at 10
Springbriar Lane. In the section of the
form titled “Information Relating to Abutting Property Owners” my husband Randall and I were listed as the
10 Springbriar Lane property owners.
The form had been signed by Matthew K. Heldberg on 9/10/04 and Barbara
Mangercina on 9/12/04. According to the
form, the petition for abandonment was being made based on “The maintenance of
the highway is a waste of public funds.”
Within a week or so after
receiving a copy of this form, I spoke with Smithtown Town AttorneyYvonne
Lieffrig about the tax identification information requested on the petition for
abandonment form. She promised to call
me back to arrange a date and time when I could visit her office to provide the
requested tax identification information.
I never heard anything further from Mrs. Lieffrig with regard to this
matter.
Final Hearing on Glenridge
Estates (Application #1073) on 10/6/04 (Copy of Minutes Attached)
On October 6, 2004, I appeared
before the Smithtown Planning Board and spoke with regard to the impact of the
Glenridge Estates property on the section of Glenridge Lane running between my
husband’s and my home at 10 Springbriar Lane and that of our neighbors at 12
Springbriar Lane. Glenridge Estates was
on the agenda that night for a final hearing on the map for the project, which
involved the redevelopment of a former horse farm property of 3.7 acres into 3
lots of one-acre residential housing.
At the hearing, I testified against opening up Glenridge Lane as a
through street. Also, I informed the
Planning Board that I would be more than willing to execute a covenant that
upon received of one half of the abandoned portion of Glenridge Lane, I would
not pursue any subdivision of my property into additional housing.
At this final hearing on the
Glenridge Estates Map by the Smithtown Planning Board, a memorandum dated
9/29/04 from then Smithtown Highway Superintendent Ed Lynch was produced. In this memorandum, Mr. Lynch stated that
the Town of Smithtown does not abandon "paved and maintained" roads
and he was, therefore, reversing his decision and wanted Glenridge Lane to be
connected. Mr. Lynch had previously
approved this map as did Deputy Highway Superintendent Mitch Crowley. Planning Director Frank DeRubeis appeared
stunned and cited McKinney's saying that "absent extraordinary
circumstances, preliminary plat approval takes precedence over arbitrary
information". Chairman Robert
Martin of the Planning Board said that this had never happened before. Mr. Martin said that the Planning Board
would have to look into why Mr. Lynch had changed his mind and, therefore,
could not give a final approval on the map for Glenridge Estates.
Amended Map for Glenridge
Estates Filed without Notification
During the summer of 2007, I visited
the Smithtown Planning Department and reviewed the file for Glenridge
Estates. At that time, I saw that an
amended map had been filed which included the extension of Glenridge Lane as a
cul-de-sac from the Melody Lane side of the property. On the amended map, which was filed in 2005, the Glenridge Lane
dead end adjacent to my home was left as a dead end street.
Please be advised that I received
no notification from the developer or the Town of Smithtown on a new hearing
for an amended map. I would have
greatly appreciated an opportunity to be heard at such a hearing so that I
could have addressed the impact of the development of Glenridge Estates on my
property if the dead end of Glenridge Lane by Springbriar Lane remained a town
roadway.
Problems Caused by Glenridge
Estates Construction and the Town of Smithtown
Please note that I had not given
up on the abandonment of Glenridge Lane adjacent to my home and had met with
the new Smithtown Highway Superintendent Dan Ryan. In my meeting with Mr. Ryan, he stated that the Glenridge Estates
cul-de-sac should never have been approved with the Springbriar Lane section of
Glenridge Lane left as a dead end. He
informed me that at this stage, the Town of Smithtown would be required to
incur the cost of turning the curb and asphalt into grass prior to abandonment
of the street.
At present, due to 3 years of
ongoing regrading and construction at the Glenridge Estates site, the fence
across the dead end of Glenridge Lane by my property, is half down. The portion that is still standing is being
held up by debris, weeds, and other wild vegetation. Pieces of the fence and debris from the construction site have
spilled over into the dead end and clogged the storm drains at the base of the
dead end. Weeds and vegetation have
also made it difficult to read the signage at the dead end.
There is no street lighting on the
Glenridge Lane dead end by Springbriar Lane.
I would have liked to have had the opportunity to inform the Smithtown
Planning Board that development of a cul-de-sac on one side of Glenridge
required that the developer provide the means to have street lighting installed
on the dead end by my home. However, as
stated above, I received no notification on the amended map or opportunity to
be heard on it.
Apparently, the amended map was
approved with the Town of Smithtown reserving the right to connect Glenridge
Lane. I think this would be very
difficult to do since the cul-de-sac is apparently 2 to 3 feet higher than the
Glenridge Lane dead end by my home.
Recommendation for Resolution
of Problems Caused by Approval of Glenridge Estates
In order to resolve the issues
cited above, absent abandonment by the Town of Smithtown of the section of
Glenridge Lane by my home, I recommend that the Town of Smithtown take the
following actions: (1) Have the fence
between the cul-de-sac and the dead end of Glenridge Lane either replaced,
repaired, or removed; (2) Have the debris and overrun vegetation cleaned out of
the dead end and the storm drains; and (3) Have street lighting installed on
the dead end side of Glenridge Lane by extending the new electrical lines from
the cul-de-sac to the dead end.
Very truly yours,
Attachments 3
CC: Patrick Vecchio, Supervisor
Tom
McCarthy, Councilman (Liaison to Planning Department 2003 – 2006)
Ed
Wehrheim, Councilman
Yvonne
Lieffrig, Town Attorney
Frank
DeRubeis, Planning Director
Robert
Martin, Chairman, Planning Board
Dan
Ryan, Superintendent of Highways
Mitch
Crowley, Director, Traffic and Safety
Russell
Barnett, Director, Environmental Protection
ADA
Chris McPartland