The proposed Fieldwood development would transform approximately 214 acres at 835–855 Sleepy Hollow Road into a private luxury community featuring:

• An 18-hole championship golf course 
• 75 residential homes 
• A private clubhouse with restaurant and spa 
• Tennis and pickleball courts 
• Swimming facilities 
• New roads, parking areas, maintenance buildings, and other amenities 

This isn't simply a housing development. It is a proposal to fundamentally change one of the largest remaining undeveloped landscapes in Mount Pleasant - a property surrounded by Rockefeller State Park Preserve, the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, established neighborhoods, and environmentally sensitive natural resources.

Forests cleared: This proposal raises questions that extend far beyond the boundaries of the property itself. The decisions made here will affect Mount Pleasant for generations. The applicant's own environmental documents acknowledge that approximately 90 acres of existing forest may be removed.

Those trees do far more than create beautiful scenery.

They naturally:

• absorb stormwater 
• reduce flooding 
• stabilize steep slopes 
• filter pollutants 
• cool surrounding neighborhoods 
• provide wildlife habitat 
• protect streams and wetlands 

A mature forest cannot simply be replaced by landscaping around fairways and homes. Once it is removed, the environmental benefits it provides disappear for decades.

Stormwater: The proposal would add roads, homes, parking lots, golf cart paths, and other impervious surfaces across a large hillside property.

More pavement means:

• faster runoff 
• greater erosion 
• increased pressure on nearby streams 
• additional flood concerns downstream 

Residents throughout Mount Pleasant have already experienced the consequences of development outpacing infrastructure. Before approving another major project, the Town should fully evaluate how this development will interact with existing flooding problems - not simply whether it meets minimum engineering requirements on paper.

Environmental concerns: While golf courses often appear green, they require intensive long-term management.

Residents deserve clear answers regarding:

• fertilizer use 
• pesticide application 
• irrigation demand 
• groundwater protection 
• runoff into nearby streams 
• long-term environmental monitoring 

Recent peer-reviewed research has found an association between living near golf courses and increased odds of Parkinson disease, particularly in vulnerable groundwater areas. While that research does not establish that any specific golf course causes disease, it reinforces the importance of careful environmental review, transparency, and precaution when approving new golf facilities near homes and sensitive water resources.

When decisions affect public health and drinking water, caution should come before convenience.

Fieldwood would generate traffic from:

• residents 
• employees 
• club members 
• guests 
• deliveries 
• maintenance vehicles 
• special events 

Those impacts would be felt not only at the entrance to the property but along Sleepy Hollow Road, Route 9, and surrounding intersections.

The project would also place additional demands on:

• police 
• fire services 
• EMS 
• roads 
• water infrastructure 
• sewer systems 

Any claimed financial benefits should be evaluated alongside the real long-term costs of serving a development of this scale.

Zoning changes: One of the most significant aspects of Fieldwood has received surprisingly little public attention. The current zoning does not permit the type of for-profit membership club being proposed.

To make this project possible, the Town would first need to amend its zoning law.

That raises an important question: Should the Town change its laws because doing so represents good long-term planning - or because one developer needs a different set of rules for one property?

Zoning decisions establish precedents. They should always be made with the interests of the entire community - not a single project - in mind.

Historic landscape: Fieldwood occupies land that has remained largely open since the Rockefeller family assembled the estate more than a century ago.

The property sits adjacent to:

• Rockefeller State Park Preserve 
• the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail 
• scenic easements 
• historic resources 
• established residential neighborhoods 

This is one of the most recognizable landscapes in Mount Pleasant.

Its character cannot be recreated once it is fundamentally altered.

Reasonable people can disagree about growth.

But every resident should agree on one principle:

Major decisions deserve major scrutiny.

Fieldwood is not a routine subdivision.

It is one of the largest and most consequential development proposals our town has considered in decades.

The environmental review should answer - not avoid - the difficult questions.

Residents deserve confidence that every potential impact has been thoroughly examined before irreversible decisions are made.

This decision will shape Mount Pleasant long after today's elected officials are gone. The question is not simply whether a development can be built. The question is whether this proposal reflects the kind of community we want to leave to future generations. A thoughtful environmental review, meaningful public participation, and careful stewardship of our natural resources are not obstacles to progress - they are the foundation of responsible planning.