Newport project in Irondequoit could get town OK

Monday
Alan Morrell • Staff writer • March 21, 2010

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The Newport House, now closed, sits on the west side of Irondequoit Bay with Route 104's Irondequoit Bay Bridge at right. The Planning Board i s expected to vote
Monday on redevelopment of the site. (SHAWN DOWD staff photographer)

IRONDEQUOIT — A project that has been in the works for years, to build condominiums and townhouses at the former
Newport House site, could get final town approval during a meeting Monday.

The town's Planning Board is expected to vote on final site plan approval during a meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. The
project is one of several big-ticket plans for Irondequoit, including the $260 million makeover of the Medley Centre mall
and the $200 million Lighthouse Pointe project near the Genesee River on the west side of town.

The $30 million Newport project, however, cannot move forward until RSM Development gets permits from the state
Department of Environmental Conservation for the environmentally sensitive area. Residents who live nearby, as well as
some environmental activists, have opposed the plans, saying the project is too big and could damage the bay.

RSM wants to build 45 condos and nine townhouses on the site, at Irondequoit Bay's shoreline, as well as have 165 boat
slips.

Mike Dana of Mooring Line Drive, a gated community that sits above the Newport site, said town officials have rammed
the project through without proper oversight.

"I want to see something done there, and I was originally 1,000 percent in favor of this," said Dana, a contractor who built
his house. "But (Planning Board members) are making things up as they go along. I changed my house design three times
to fit the lot, but they're not making (RSM) do anything. These clowns on the Planning Board don't have a living clue on
what they're passing."

Planning Board chairman Andrew Hintenach said he has been criticized for his handling of the matter at meetings, but he
said the process has been thorough and fair. Hintenach said four public hearings have been held about the project, and said
RSM has downscaled the project, at least slightly, in response to concerns.

One argument has revolved around the height of some of the buildings, which can be measured differently because of the
sloped ground on which they will be built. Those buildings, he said, will be 29 feet on one side and 49 feet at their highest
point.

"The developers took out docks and they've turned buildings (sideways)," Hintenach said. "There's more space now
between the buildings. It seems like a good project to me."

Tom Wolf of Webster, whose home is just southeast of the Newport site, said the bay is a neighborhood and that large
condos on the Irondequoit side would "significantly detract from the neighborhood feel." He also is worried that the
Newport project would lead to more, and bigger, buildings along the shore.

Steve Mancini, president of RSM Development, would not comment for this story.

Permits

The Newport House served customers on the bay beginning in 1840, according to the town's Web site. The restaurant
closed in 2006. Development along the bay is monitored by the DEC because the Irondequoit Bay perimeter is a state-
designated wetland, with a 100-foot "adjacent" around the entire bay and a 300-foot "adjacent" around a sensitive cove
protected by law, said Scott Sheeley, the DEC deputy regional permit administrator.

Numerous regulations have been placed on the bay and development there since it was a virtual wasteland in the 1960s, a
place where sewage from 13 local wastewater plants wound up.
That was before the revolutionary Monroe County Pure Water Master Plan, passed in the 1970s, which led to cleanup
efforts. The county closed most town wastewater treatment plants and routed most waste to the VanLare sewage treatment
plant on Lake Shore Boulevard next to Durand-Eastman Park.

In 1986, the county and the state DEC introduced aluminum sulfate, or alum, into the bay. That drew out the phosphorous
and further helped clean the water. In 1993, the county began pumping oxygen into the water through diffusers installed
near the bottom of the bay.

"Our permits and regulations regulate physical disturbances of wetlands and adjacent areas," Sheely said. "As far as
building, or clearing the site, that (work) is regulated, and work can't start until they get the permits."

The most recent correspondence from the DEC to RSM, on Feb. 11, indicates that the DEC wants more details about
issues such as grading, erosion controls and site restoration, as well as a dedicated area for boat maintenance and painting.
The DEC also notes discrepancies regarding the proposed disturbances of a protected woodlot and existing woody
vegetation.

The town's Conservation Board has sent three or four letters to the Planning Board about the proposal, but only acts in an
advisory capacity. Conservation Board member Charles Valeska said RSM made "minor, minor concessions" on the
number of proposed housing units and said the original stormwater management issue "definitely had its problems."

RSM has since proposed a stormwater filtration system and made other beneficial changes, said Valeska, of Birch Hills
Drive.

"At least on paper, they look like they're trying to address these issues," he said.

"They did OK. I'm not convinced it will have a negative impact."

Density and access

Some residents have also argued that public access to the site will be eliminated or at least severely restricted if the
housing project is approved.

Part of the town's master plan includes language about encouraging public access to the waterfront. Town officials said
the Newport site has been private property, even when it was a restaurant.

"The town should not be in the business of subsidizing restaurants just so people can eat by the bay," said Larry
Heininger, Irondequoit's new director of development services.

Cheri Evershed of Kennedy Circle, a former Planning Board member who has closely monitored the Newport project,
said the application has a lot of problems.

She said Planning Board members have not had one conversation regarding two documents that should pertain to
waterfront development in Irondequoit — the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program and the Irondequoit Bay Harbor
Management Plan.

Evershed said the Planning Board has given RSM a pass regarding the buildable area at the site and said board members
don't even know how high the proposed buildings will be.

"This huge thing they're putting just 25 feet from the water's edge," Evershed said.

"There's stuff going on here that's just not right."

Another Conservation Board member, Jim Compitello of Westchester Avenue, said he was disappointed that the Planning
Board did not look more closely at the "density," or number of proposed housing units. Compitello said he was speaking
in his capacity as president of the 300-member Friends of Irondequoit Bay, not as a Conservation Board member.

"The bay is in better shape now than it's ever been," he said.

"That's one reason we keep the momentum going."

AMORRELL@DemocratandChronicle.com