Lewisboro Planning Board cool to proposal for gate at Silvermine Preserve

By NEAL RENTZ

Lewisboro Planning Board members expressed strong opposition to the proposal from the owner of the 13-lot Silvermine Preserve subdivision to create a gate at the front entrance during the board’s Oct. 20 meeting.

Silvermine Preserve is located on Sachem Way, a private road located between Silvermine Drive and Lockwood Road in South Salem.

Silvermine Preserve was previously approved by the board, and work has begun on the development. 

Silvermine Group LLC, the project’s owner, was back before the Planning Board seeking a waiver of site development plan approval for a vehicular gate, pillars, lighting, a school bus turnoff with a canopy and shared mailboxes.

Tim Allen, a senior partner with Bibbo Associates Engineering, told the Planning Board the subdivision was approved in 2022. Since then, the developer has done work such as creating a roadway on the site, Allen said.

The major point of contention about the latest proposals from Silvermine is the plan for the entrance gate, which would normally be closed. Eric Moss, the owner of the Silvermine Group, said subdivision residents could use a typical driveway keypad, a garage door key fob or some other technology to open the gate, but the method has not been finalized. 

“This would be the first gated community in our town,” Planning Board Chair Janet Andersen said. 

There was much opposition from residents about a proposed gated community in another part of town, with residents concerned about its exclusivity, she said. 

Andersen said she was concerned about the coordination of the call box that would be used to provide access to the subdivision and questioned if there would be space for more than one car to move through the area. Moss said there would be enough space for one driver to activate the gate opening, while another car could exit the subdivision on the side of the road opposite where motorists would seek access to the property. 

“It would be so much easier if you just had decorative gates,” Andersen said.

“It’s a very small area for 13 houses to have that much activity in the mornings and then at night with a gate that has to be opened and closed,” Planning Board member Charlene Indelicato said.  

Gates can be programmed to be open during certain periods of the day, Moss said. “It can open automatically at any hour,” he said.

Potential purchasers of Silvermine homes like the “visual effect and security” of an entrance gate, Moss said.

Andersen said rather than an entrance gate, the developer could allow individual homeowners to place a gate on their individual homes if they fear for their security. The board needs more information about how the entrance gate would work, she said.

“All your questions are good questions,” Moss told the Planning Board, adding they would be answered. 

A potential idea could be to keep the entrance gate open five days a week until 6 p.m., and then have it automatically closed at other times, Moss said. 

Planning Board member Paul Fusco said timed entry to the property was “not a real solution.” 

“At night is going to be the worst time to have cars try to dodge people if people are coming in,” Fusco said. 

The date for when the proposal will be back before the Planning Board was not announced, but the application could return on the Nov. 17 agenda if the applicant meets the submission deadline. 

Cell tower vote delayed

The board postponed a vote to approve the proposal from American Tower Corporation to extend its stay at the Vista Fire Department at the request of the applicant. 

American Tower is seeking a five-year renewal of its special use permit that would allow it to continue to have its cell tower at the Vista Fire Department tower site, located at 377 Smith Ridge Road, South Salem.

Hailey Pedicano, an attorney representing American Tower, said her client sought the adjournment to allow additional time to “finalize and compile” information requested by the Planning Board at its September meeting.

No residents spoke during the week’s public hearing, which was adjourned until the board’s next meeting on Nov. 17, when the board could vote on a resolution to approve the renewal of the special use permit.