New Yorker Matthew Klauer, who purchased the 27-acre property in April, has proposed an environmentally friendly, LEED-certified resort for the site. The property, empty for the past eight years, presently contains seven buildings, in various stages of disrepair that were in use when it was a school.
The buildings will likely be removed to make room for a main building housing a restaurant and spa, along with a number of smaller cottages, tennis courts and a swimming pool. But it is the project’s environmental aspects that have caught the attention of some.
The plan calls for platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which requires very specific design practices at four different levels, with platinum the highest rating in five green design categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality.
New construction that qualifies for this certification must pass a rigorous examination process to obtain it. The new Wykeham Rise project includes the use of geothermal and solar energy, native blue-stone, reclaimed materials, rainwater recycling technology, environmentally sensitive lighting and permeable surfaces. The plan calls for the restoration of two wetlands areas that have been impacted by a driveway, building and two tennis courts.
Existing drainage pipes that empty directly into the brook on the property would be removed and replaced with infiltration systems, rain gardens designed to handle the first one inch of roof runoff from all of the proposed buildings along with grass-lined swales leading to detention basins. Other wetlands areas will also be restored, according to the plan, with buffers added and increased and the new buildings moved further away from wetlands areas than those on the property now which will be demolished.
As appealing as the project appears environmentally, however, many Wykeham Road neighbors are not convinced. There are a number of concerns about such issues as increased traffic on what is a winding country road.
A number of residents attended the May 19 Zoning Commission meeting to share their concerns with commissioners but were not able to be heard. The commission has not yet scheduled a public hearing on the application and is not likely to do so before it has passed the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Inland Wetlands Commission.
Zoning Enforcement Officer Michael Ajello said the project is scheduled to appear before ZBA on July 17, where it must gain approval for additional lot coverage. Zoning Board of Appeals meetings are always considered public hearings, he noted, so members of the public can be heard. The existing buildings, said Mr. Ajello, comprise 10 percent additional lot coverage over the maximum allowable. This project will require 17 percent additional coverage or 7 percent more than the current buildings.
Should that application be denied, the project could be stopped or at least returned to the drawing board for revisions. The application, also currently before the Inland Wetlands Commission, will likely be referred to independent commission consultants for review this week, said Mr. Ajello, and a date for public hearing set. That process could take roughly a month.
The Zoning Commission also has an application for the project and could discuss it in June, but will most likely wait until its July 28 meeting following the ZBA hearing. No public hearing has been set for Zoning at this time. Although the project is environmentally attractive, Mr. Ajello said there are a number of issues still to be addressed such as traffic, noise, lighting, signage, fire protection and special events.
He predicts that this could be “a lengthy process.” The Wykeham Rise School for Girls opened in 1907 and closed in 1988. It became a Swiss hospitality training school shortly after, in 1990, for 10 years. It has been vacant since 2000. Mr. Klauer purchased the facility for $2.75 million.
By Ann Compton – Voices