Help Save Shadow Pines As Open Space
 

A Quick Synopsis of the Issue

Shadow Pines Golf Course was put up for sale in 2016 and a large developer had plans to build more than 250 houses. A group of concerned citizens created Save Shadow Pines group to save this land as open space and many people joined. After overwhelming public support for open space at a hearing last year, the Town of Penfield implemented a moratorium on development of the land and created a Moratorium Committee to investigate options for the community. The Moratorium Committee recommended that the town purchase the land and issued a report that was strongly in favor of preserving the land as open space.

The Town is currently conducting its "due diligence" in respect to the purchase and future land use for Shadow Pines. Town Supervisor Tony LaFountain recently announced a hearing to extend the moratorium another year "because all the ideas on the table require formal steps that will exceed the remaining time of the original moratorium period." Supervisor LaFountain has said that at the end of this process, the town’s actions will be determined by the will of Penfield residents through public referendum.
 
The Save Shadow Pines group is concerned that in spite of the Moratorium Committee's favored recommendation to preserve all of Shadow Pines as open space, the Town has indicated it may still consider development of Shadow Pines as a large retirement community.

While this would have a smaller footprint than the original housing project proposed, it would still remove a significant portion of the last remaining open space in the heart of Penfield. This development would also add traffic to our already overburdened thoroughfares, especially Browncroft/Atlantic Boulevard and Penfield Road, which are about to get additional traffic from the new residential development currently under construction at the corner of Atlantic and Five Mile Line Drive.

Another reason for preserving this land is that there is a quarry across the street from Shadow Pines that will eventually close. The owner's reclamation plan says that when it ceases operations the quarry will quickly fill with water to become a 150 acre lake. The Town should think ahead and have a long term vision for Shadow Pines that incorporates the tremendous recreational and limited "smart-development" opportunities this lake will mean for Penfield. To provide maximum utility and value of the land bordering the lake may require future re-routing of Whalen Road. Shortsighted development of Shadow Pines land now would prevent that option and jeopardize many other options for recreation and smart waterfront development in Penfield's future.


Here are the core arguments for why the Town of Penfield should purchase Shadow Pines:

1. Penfield townspeople will pay one way or the other . . . purchasing Shadow Pines is the wise investment:

A) The school district estimates that the cost of new pupils from the 255 house development plan developers have shown them will cost $1 million per year more than the school property taxes that will be generated. We taxpayers will pay for this and the cost will likely increase every year . . . And we pay by losing Shadow Pines as open space . . . forever . . . And we pay with our time and quality of life because of increased traffic and congestion . . . And we pay by losing future options for the land when the quarry across the street eventually ceases operations – Oldcastle’s reclamation plan calls for the quarry to become a large lake suitable for recreation.

B) Alternatively, the town could purchase Shadow Pines for about $3 million, an estimated price discussed by the moratorium committee. This would cost the town less than $200k per year to service a bond for 20 years (which would be a fixed cost that doesn’t increase). This is a net savings to tax payers of more than $800,000 per year compared to development.

C) The lost property taxes from the golf course, about $55k to the school district and $25k to the town are trivial compared to the extra taxes we’ll pay every year if this development is allowed to occur. If Penfield purchases the land, it could leave it as open space or possibly lease it to a golf course management company to restore the golf course and generate income to the town. Either way, the value of the land, recreationally and financially, will increase for the benefit of the town.

2. In 2002, the town held a referendum to fund the preservation of open space that passed by 2 to 1. Most of the property that was protected thereafter was on the east side of Penfield where there is already plenty of open space. A much smaller portion was protected on the west side of town. Shadow Pines is a unique opportunity to protect land on the west side, in the heart of Penfield, and it fits perfectly with the objectives stated by the town in the Master Plan and the Open Space Plan.

3. Every description of Shadow Pines land use in the town Master Plan and Open Space Plan, and Oldcastle/Dolomite’s Land Use Plan for permitting the quarry has presented Shadow Pines as recreational land or as a buffer from the quarry. Dolomite’s land use plan submitted and approved for NY DEC permitting states that the Shadow Pines land “serves as a buffer zone, protecting adjacent land from quarry activities.” Furthermore, it says “population changes are not expected to occur in the immediate vicinity of the quarry until excavation operations cease. By that time the area will have been developed in accordance with a restoration plan . . . [the quarry will fill to become a] recreational lake . . . [that] will service the townspeople well, adding to the recreational opportunities in the town.”

Why should this plan be changed? Excavations (and blasting) have not ceased at the quarry and reclamation has not begun. There is no compelling argument for development in close proximity to the active quarry. And development only promises greater losses than benefits for the town.

The developers, of course, would profit, but at our expense.

Let’s Make the Smart Investment for Penfield’s Future!

Penfield Should Purchase Shadow Pines!
 
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Here's a link to important documents.

These provide information about the status of Shadow Pines, including the Final Report of the Moratorium Committee and communications from Supervisor LaFountain since then.

What's at stake?

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  • Shadow Pines serves as an essential buffer for the community from Dolomite's massive industrial quarry across the street. Neighbors further away from the quarry than the proposed development already complain about noise, dust, truck traffic, and dynamite explosions, which rattle their homes and sometimes break windows or crack walls.
  • Penfield does not have the infrastructure to support more development in the area. Do you want more traffic on Whalen, Browncroft, Atlantic, Five Mile Line Road and Huntington Meadow? Do you want higher school property taxes to accommodate more students than we can currently provide for?
  • ​Shadow Pines is an extraordinary and beautiful golf course. There are many who believe that it can prosper as a golf course with new management. Even if Shadow Pines doesn't remain viable as a golf course, it is a critical parcel of open space that should be preserved.
Picture
Click to see larger.


​Information

  • Click on the photo above and you can see the important role Shadow Pines and Shadow Lake play as buffers to the quarry/industrial site. There is an asphalt manufacturing plant within the quarry.
  • Here's a link to important documents.
    These provide information about the status of Shadow Pines, including the Final Report of the Moratorium Committee and communications from Supervisor LaFountain since then.
  • Shadow Pines and Shadow Lake are owned by the quarry company Dolomite/Oldcastle, a division of CRH PLC, a $30 billion building materials conglomerate headquartered in Ireland that has more than 90,000 employees in 4,000 locations around the world.
  • ​Oldcastle has put Penfield golf courses
    Shadow Pines and Shadow Lake up for sale. Shadow Lake is being marketed as a golf course, so it appears to be safe for now. Shadow Pines, however, is being marketed for residential development. Both properties were zoned as residential back in the 1920's. Although the town's 2010 Comprehensive Plan designated the future use of both golf courses and the quarry as "recreation and sanctuary," they were never re-zoned with this protection.


​News

Please let the Penfield Town Board know you want to save Shadow Pines as open green space!
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