While default may be unlikely, former credit surety officer John A. “The townspeople have tended ‘as a whole’ to say otherwise…To us (the landscape) is a historic treasure that has been described as beautiful since the time of the Indians and first settlers until today."Īnother concern is that the town has not insisted developers bond the project to protect the municipality from having to pay for costly completion or removal of partially built infrastructure if the plan falls through. “(The Developers) have claimed that their community will have minimal visual impact," wrote Amenia Town Historian Arlene Juliano, in her public comment. And the local viewshed, lovingly referred to as “The Gateway to the Berkshires," will be affected. There are issues regarding water facilities and wastewater mitigation from the homes and golf course. Then in 2013, the project roared back to life when mega-resort community developers Discovery Land Company bought in and took the lead, turning the plan into a retreat for the super-rich family looking for a second, third or fourth home close to Manhattan as well as the cluster of prestigious private schools in the Southern Dutchess area.Īmenians do have some legitimate and specific concerns. The original plan for a golf community, including a 300-room hotel and a five-story parking garage, stalled during the recession. To be set on 800 acres of a southeast Dutchess County ridgeline, across the street from the Wassaic Metro-North train station, Silo Ridge has been a hotly contested issue for over a decade. This is (a) proposal for a level of leisure that is not what this small town is all about."Ĭonstruction progress on the golf course last fall. It is obvious that the applicant has done very little to understand the real cultural heritage of Amenia. There are generations of people here who have worked on the land.
“This development is going to bring a more suburban quality to our area and our historical heritage is agricultural.
Smithfield landscape designer Liz Faulkner well encapsulated the discontent in her public comment, quoted here from an article by Antonia Shoumatoff in The Millbrook Independent: The gated, Hudson Valley-themed, millionaires-only, private golf course community has been taken to task for its impact on the area, its scale, and for some, its tone-deaf approximation of regional authenticity.įor years concerns about the plan stayed insulated in the general area of Amenia, but after a glowing article about Silo Ridge appeared in the New York Times on March 8, groans of disapproval echoed through the valley and across social media (including RI’s own) denouncing the project, which will likely receive final approval in the next few months. Over the past few weeks, the impending development of Silo Ridge Field Club, in Amenia, NY, has come under increased scrutiny.
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