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Orchard owner Dan Hauspurg said on Tuesday that he was abandoning his proposed Marbletown Green project because he had received too much negative feedback from the community.
Hauspurg's plan was to create an environmentally friendly, or "green," project, comprising 350 or more houses, that would incorporate the ideas and concerns of citizens. But the response from opponents was to place green signs throughout the town that condemned the proposal. Hauspurg said he didn't want to engage in a fight with the community.
"I think people would like to have a green community," said Preserve Marbletown member Ferris Cook. "But we don't want a huge community that's not in proportion to the rest of town."
Jeff Mishkin, also a member of Preserve Marbletown, said he believes the project is only on hold and has not been scrapped. He contends Hauspurg wanted to avoid an election-season controversy that could hurt town Supervisor Vincent Martello's chances of winning a third two-year term and will reintroduce the plan after the November vote.
"They announced at a meeting last Wednesday that they were only putting it on hold temporarily," Mishkin said. "It is now obvious to them that there is very deep opposition to the project. They did not want it to be an issue during elections, but it's clearly going to be a critical issue."
Hauspurg denied this.
"We are not bringing the project back to the table," he said, though he added: "If someone wants to bring it back, then we're willing to listen and consider that."
Martello, too, said the proposal has been dropped.
"As far as Marbletown is concerned, it's off the table," he said. "In fact, it was never on the table. It was never a formal proposal presented to the town of Marbletown."
Martello noted that at no time did he endorse the housing proposal and said town leaders would have had "a hundred times" more questions than community members if a formal application had been made.
Preserve Marbletown member Peggy Marble said she "would like to believe that the supervisor has more neutrality on a project of this size and nature, but I'm yet to be convinced completely."
Preserve Marbletown member Barry Berke said a community meeting on Aug. 25 at which the housing project was discussed drew nearly 300 people.
"The extraordinary community participation reflected, in many people's minds, the breadth and depth of community opposition to the proposed development," Berke said.
Among the concerns of Preserve Marbletown were the proposal's size and whether a development so large could be environmentally friendly.
"I really think the question of being eco-friendly and green when you're talking about 350 to 400 units is a secondary issue," Mishkin said. "The principal issue here is size and scale and how inconsistent it is with the rural character of Marbletown."
Said Marble: "Certain aspects that were initially tantalizing, such as community gardens and an intimate pedestrian strolling atmosphere, sounded really nice. The bottom line is the density of the project. In some other place, it might be a wonderful experiment, but not in Marbletown."
