Developers say too many roadblocks

DINGMAN - Sunrise Lakes owner Robert Ramagosa voiced his complaints to township planners Tuesday. Ramagosa wants to develop additional lots at the 850-home subdivision on State Route 739. Township Engineer Mike Weeks has questioned the lack of required open space in the plan. Dingman’s ordinance mandates that a subdivision allocate 10 percent of its acreage as “open space.” “The area I am subdividing is 82 acres. Do I have to add an additional 8.2 acres to this, making it 90.2 acres, which will make the subdivision bigger? If this is the case I’ll have to have nine acres of open space. Where does it end?” asked Ramagosa. Mike Ciancitto, planning commission member, told Ramagosa he was doing the math wrong. “You don’t add to the size,” he said. “You start with the total size and subtract to determine town requirements.” Ramagosa didn’t appear to understand. “Block length” in a subdivision is the distance from the beginning of a road to the last residence. “Block length has changed from 1,600 feet to 1,200 feet and I was wondering why? I have been doing subdivisions for a long time and I never saw a problem with 1,600 feet,” stated Ramagosa. Solicitor John Klemeyer told Ramagosa this was part of an amendment to the subdivision ordinance. The change was recommended by the planning consultant and reviewed by the planning commission, the town engineer, and the supervisors. “This is law,” he added. Based on the new traffic study ordinance it is going to require a zoning conditional-use permit. Ramagosa questioned why he is going to have to apply for “conditional use” since the land is zoned R1 residential, an existing residential community, and all he is doing is adding lots. “If you read through the traffic study ordinance, everything requires a conditional-use permit. Why bother setting up zoning in the first place?” commented Ramagosa. “That’s the law,” Klemeyer repeated. Ramagosa complained that anyone purchasing a piece of property and expecting to use it as zoning allows can’t be guaranteed that. They’ll have to apply for conditional use, and there is the possibility that they can be turned down. Complaining of development roadblocks, Ramagosa appeared before the board after resident Vito DiBiasi, who has argued that the township has been overly lenient with the developers of Eagle Ridge Estates.