Quoted from 612

The nails in the wall board in some of them are popping already.  Again I say to you, there is only one house built there that is quality and it was privately built by a young couple.

Incidentally there is a huge drainage problem.  DVR you might want to note that only 2 of the show homes have any promise.  And no one so far has opted to build a replica of the show house.  Interestingly, the Post Office told the privately built home that they could put a post box up across the street because they were only going to make one pass down the street.  However, another house on the same side (the left) was permitted to put their box up on the left.

Quoted from 612

Yeah well see if you can get into the privtely owned house and see the difference.  

Quoted from 612

Have you seen those houses.  They are junk.  There is only one house on that street that is quality and it wasn't built by Helderberg meadows.  It was privately built.

Quoted from clubhouse

It's unfortunate that the owners of the privately built home didn't buy the surrounding property before the developers got their hands on it.   But that's Rotterdam...as Tippy would say "build, baby, build!"

Quoted from 612

The land around the privately owned home was not for sale.  Also the owners should hve been able to build two houses in the land space that they had but I believe it may have been the Town Super  who screwed that up for the owners.  The surounding homes look like shacks compared to the privately owned home.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Work at new development angers neighbors
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

Ghents Road was once a quiet deadend street that ended in a forest where it wasn’t uncommon to spot deer or wild turkey.
But then work began on the sprawling 314-acre Helderberg Meadows development. Heavy construction equipment carved Steeple Way through the middle of the land and began the arduous task of mitigating the inhospitable marshland wending through the 314-acre forest.
    Work associated with the 252 homes planned for the development has been ongoing for nearly three years now. And for the residents living nearest to the construction site on Ghents Road, the project has been an abject nightmare.
    “I can’t even open my windows to smell the fresh air because the dirt stinks,” said Carol Moore, whose home is nearly surrounded by construction.
    Moore and her husband, Dan, spent more than two decades living on Ghents Road. But conditions in their neighborhood got so bad that they decided to cash in their savings this summer and buy a new home far away from the almost cease- less cacophony of machinery.
    “It’s all day long, six days a week,” she said. “The only break you get is Sunday.”
    The noise and dust from the growing development is only the beginning. Some residents are claiming the builders are running roughshod over their property and excavating on land that is not rightfully owned by Development at Helderberg Meadows, the limited liability corporation that has taken ownership of the project.
    One couple — Claudine and Christopher Hodge — have fi led a lawsuit against the companies doing work on the project, claiming one of the homes under development falls on land that is a private driveway to their residence. The lawsuit filed in late June claims that plans for the home include a driveway that occupies a portion of their driveway.
    An attorney representing the couple also wrote a letter to the town last week warning of a forthcoming lawsuit if local ordinances aren’t upheld near the Hodge residence. In specific, the letter claims the lot near the Hodge residence lacks frontage on a public street, fails to meet setbacks approved by the town’s Planning Commission, lacks the proper drainage to be in compliance with site plans and has water lines that were placed underneath a driveway in violation of town code.
    “If the town fails to act on the request to rectify the violation within ten days of receipt of the notice, a group of at least three town taxpayers is authorized to pursue an action to enforce the applicable laws and ordinances,” Attorney Michael Moore stated in the letter dated last Monday.
    Supervisor Harry Buffardi was aware of the complaints from neighbors regarding the development. He said the issue regarding the Hodges’ property seemed like a “neighbor to neighbor” dispute over property line boundaries.
    Buffardi acknowledged residents in the area could be experiencing quality-of-life issues associated with the construction. Yet he said town officials regularly visiting the site haven’t found any actionable problems with the project.
    “There’s someone from the town there every day,” he said.
    An attorney representing the developer declined to comment Friday, saying he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the project.
    The controversial Helderberg Meadows was approved in 2007 after more than a decade of planning. Site work began in 2009, with construction continuing ever since.
    Ghents Road resident Del Pierce said the development has been nothing short of a disaster for an area that was once a quiet neighborhood. He said the dry spell that extended from late June through July created a dust problem that plagued nearby homes, while acrid odors continue to emanate from the construction.
    “When the wind shifts and comes from the south, you have to close your windows and doors,” he said.
    Pierce said construction also removed an existing bus turnaround that was used by the Mohonasen Central School District on Ghents Road and created a faulty one that is now on private property. The developers deeded the turnaround to the town in June.
    “Buses can’t turn around there,” he said. ............................>>>>......................>>>>...................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00103&AppName=1