Development's road specs in dispute

By Jeanne Sager
HORTONVILLE — A developer looking for leeway on a Town of Delaware project came away from Wednesday’s board meeting with a “we’ll look into it.”
Kenoza Lake Estates owner Marc Dubrovsky requested a place on the town board’s agenda to “open up a dialogue” about the shape of the roads in his private home community on the mountain.
The roads in Phase I of the project have been built – but town engineer Terry Kelly has so far refused to sign off on them.
Dubrovsky told the town board that Kelly’s expectations that the road sport 8 inches of crusher run is “unheard of” in this area.
What’s more, he said, Kelly approved roads similar to those built in Kenoza Lake in a development in the Town of Bethel.
Bringing with him reports by another, private, engineer that stipulate his 4 inches of crusher run is sufficient, Dubrovsky asked the town board to vacate plans approved by the planning board three years ago that call for a more substantial road.
Those plans, which spell out the eight inches, were approved by the planning board on Kelly’s recommendation.
Although the monies held in escrow by the town for the roads (an amount also approved by Kelly) will likely cover the cost of improving the roads to meet Kelly’s recommendations, Dubrovsky says he’d prefer not to waste the money if it’s not necessary.
“They didn’t do it deliberately to do it with insufficient material,” he said. “But 8 inches of crusher run is unheard of. It’s my opinion and my position – if it’s a mistake, can it be discussed?”
He said he’s willing to pay for the town to hire another engineer to review the roads.
Dubrovsky posited the future of the development rides on this issue.
“It might become cost-prohibitive to go forward,” he said, noting that Phase II of the development may be kept on hold.
The town agreed to look into the issue, but they’ll be calling on Town Attorney Ken Klein before even talking to Kelly.
“We are going to have some legal ramifications from this,” noted Councilman Harold Roeder.
Code Enforcement Officer Howard Fuchs cautioned the town against vacating a planning board decision lest it set a precedent for other developers to avoid following planning board plans.
“The planning board agreed to their specs,” Fuchs reminded the board.