Judge Says Planning Board Must File Environmental Statement

MAMARONECK, NY — A judge recently ruled that the Village of Mamaroneck planning board has a deadline to file an impact statement on the proposed Hampshire Country Club development. State Supreme Court Judge Linda S. Jamieson said the planning board must file a Final Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed The Residences at Hampshire on part of the country club's golf course.

That has to happen within 20 days of receipt of the March 13 order.

After that, the judge said the planning board must issue a findings statement within 30 days of filing the FEIS.

Hampshire's developers sued the village planning board in November for its refusal to complete the state-mandated environmental review of the proposed residential development.

The planning board closed the draft environmental impact statement in May 2018 and, under the State Environmental Quality Review Act rules, should have filed the FEIS within 45 days.

David Cooper, partner at Zarin & Steinmetz, the law firm representing Hampshire, said they were pleased with the judge's decision, and they look forward to completing the SEQRA review process.

"This lawsuit brought to a head a record compiled by Hampshire and the village planning board that is extensive, exhaustive and complete," he said.

"Each and every issue raised by the comment letters relating to substantive planning and environmental topics have been identified and answered," Cooper said.

"The draft FEIS data has been vetted and accepted by the village's own engineers, and we are fully confident that our engineers' environmental data provides comfort to homeowners in and around The Residences at Hampshire," he said.

Patch requested a comment from Mamaroneck Mayor Thomas Murphy but did not receive a reply.

Developers said the proposal would not require any rezoning by the village. The plan is for 61 carriage homes and 44 luxury colonial-style homes on the golf course, which would be redesigned into a nine-hole course.

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