Sample Letter Templates
Please feel free to use these templates as inspiration for your own letter to the Town Planning Board.
Providing a written record of your opinion is very important, as is attendance at the next meeting on March 8.
If you have previously written a letter you may write another if you have additional thoughts on the updated developer materials posted on the Amenia Planning Board page online.
If you previously attended a meeting please continue to join and make sure the your views are adequately represented throughout this process.
Please submit your letter prior by March 8, 2023 for your views to be considered, per direction of the Planning Board. New materials were submitted by the developer in early January and are available for public review on the Planning Board site.
Thank you.
Sample Letter Template A
Dear Chairman Robert J. Boyles, Jr., Secretary Judy Westfall and members of the Town Planning Board,
I, along with the majority of my neighbors, are strongly opposed to the Troutbeck nine-phase Adaptive Reuse development plan. This plan would bring an additional ~1000 hotel, cabin, restaurant and club membership guests to what is currently a rural residential neighborhood of first and second homeowners who purchased their properties with the expectation of quiet enjoyment of their homes. This development would take place within a small portion of the historic Troutbeck Estate, with additional lands owned and co-owned by surrounding neighbors.
I oppose allowing the special permit requested to demolish and build structures within a this Rural Residential Zone that does not have the water resources, roads, or safety and security services available to support an expansion at this scale.
This site has a Historic Overlay to protect its cultural and historic significance for future visitors to Amenia and is not intended to preserve the land for visitors who can afford the $600+ per night room rates at the Inn.
The Inn already functions as an event space and the addition of a second restaurant and facilities would impact the fragile characteristic of this area - already stressed with gravel trucks, logging trucks, and seasonal civilian traffic. We already have to accept this existing traffic as "necessary" noise and pollution.
We don't see any benefits to this proposal, but we do see a lot of negatives. Here is a list of just what I can think of:
1. Disruption to the natural environment People don't live or visit this area to hear construction Mon-Sat from 8-5pm for a period of six years.
2. Displacement of wildlife. Two endangered species and one species of concern consider this area their habitat.
3. Noise pollution. During and after construction noise would destroy the very nature of this peaceful area that has attracted first and second-homeowners.
4. Degradation of water supply. The additional 25,000 gallons of water required per day of the proposed development is of great concern to the residents who share this aquifer
5. Physical pollution. The 8 tons of garbage per week generated during the six-year construction and 3 tons a week of garbage generated thereafter are of concern.
6. Potentially unsafe. I have concerns that the existing volunteer fire department of Amenia and the EMS services we contract from Wassaic may not have the capacity to care for residents as well as 1000+ rotating visitors who have access to the hotel 24/7, 365 a year.
7. Privacy. Guests of the current in are already wandering onto the property of surrounding neighbors, trespassing, collecting items off lawns and allowing their animals to run off leash to the detriment of residents and their pets.
8. Minimal economic impact to the community. The planned resort is designed to keep customers on the property with the additional amenities. The additional foot traffic would be of little benefit to the family businesses that exist in Amenia.
The current zoning should remain as is, and not modified to accommodate special interest groups. Rezoning would forever alter the characteristic of the larger historic Troutbeck region surrounding the proposed development.
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Address or Town, State]
Sample Letter Template B
Dear Chairman Robert J. Boyles, Jr., Secretary Judy Westfall and members of the Town Planning Board,
I am writing in response to the application submitted by Troutbeck Holdings for an Adaptive Reuse Plan that would provide them with a special permit to develop within a current Rural Residential with Historic Overlay zone.
I object to this plan for the following reasons:
- It will have a negative environmental impact on local Amenia residents, raising traffic, community safety and water use concerns.
- It will negatively impact property values in the area during the six years of construction as homebuyers are not generally interested in purchasing near construction sites
- The facility does not provide affordable housing for local Amenia residents. The staff housing proposed will be reserved for managers recruited from NYC and international markets.
- It increases the threat of pedestrian and vehicle accidents with the addition of almost 1000 people to a small neighborhood with narrow dirt roads (this amount of people is nearly 1/4 of our 4400 residents)
- It increases the threat of physical safety of residents who will have unmonitored visitors on or near their property during hotel hours - 24/7, 365 days a year.
- [Include any other concerns you may have]
I, along with concerned neighbors, have legitimate concerns about the scale of development proposed. We ask that you take our concerns seriously and ask Troutbeck Holdings to seek better suited areas for their expansion. Within Amenia there are areas with the better infrastructure, roads and access to local businesses so that the proposed development would benefit the larger community of Amenia.
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Address or Town, State]
