The woman who wants to put a 22-stall horse barn on Sandy Valley Road says she is reworking her plans to address environmental questions raised by a town consultant. She insists her farm will be extra careful with the handling of manure neighbors fear could contaminate the area.
Polly Kornblith, who calls her barn/garage complex Wildstar Farm, said her clients will occasionally take their horses for a walk in the town-owned Lowell Woods, saying horseback riding is allowed there as a form of passive recreation.
Craig Foscaldo, a leading opponent of the project, said he and fellow Sandy Valley Road neighbors remain opposed to Wildstar. When townspeople spent taxpayers' money to buy the 68-acre Lowell Woods, "it was for the enjoyment of the citizens of Westwood, not for a for-profit business," Foscaldo said.
Whether the barn's horseback riders can go into Lowell Woods is "the million-dollar question," said Conservation Commission Chairman Joseph Previtera.
"She's correct, because horseback riding is passive recreation," Previtera said. "But there are several (town boards) concerned about the safety aspect of that, and we're going to have to look at that in a little more depth and get a little more guidance."
The woods are popular with hikers and dog walkers.
Wildstar Farm is planned as an elite dressage barn that will include an indoor 20-meter-by-60-meter arena and a similarly sized outdoor riding ring. Kornblith said she and her husband, Michael Newman, wanted to build a relatively small stable where they could board their horses, and the horses of several friends and equestrian colleagues. At most, 10 outside horse owners would use the barn, she said.
She said many dressage horses are extremely expensive, starting at $50,000 per animal. She stressed Wildstar will be a well-managed operation that will bring little traffic to the neighborhood.
The property, which includes some wetlands areas and neighbors others, now consists of a house and a two-stall barn garage, both of which date to 1936.
The Conservation Commission's next hearing on the project is set for Jan. 14.
Comprehensive Environmental Inc., a consulting firm hired by the commission, produced an 11-page letter in early December that listed potential problems with the site plan. Among other things, its review questioned how Wildstar would prevent erosion of a gravel driveway onto "adjacent wetland resource areas," it also said a long-term storm water pollution prevention plan and procedures for animal waste management had not been adequately addressed.
Kornblith said a revised site plan will be resubmitted before the Jan. 14 meeting.
Kornblith said her engineers are working with the Westwood conservation administrator to protect adjacent wetlands. She added that there will be no construction within 35 feet of a wetland boundary, and that the farm's plans will include a vegetative barrier.
She also said manure will be stored in a commercial metal receptacle within an enclosed concrete facility, and will be used as needed by a contractor.
"They come and they take the full Dumpster as it is and put a new empty Dumpster in. So they're not transferring or emptying anywhere on the property," she said.
Foscaldo said he remained concerned about manure getting into streams within Lowell Woods and eventually into the town drinking supply.
"You won't have someone walking behind these horses with a bucket. It's going to be laying on that ground for some time before it goes into the Dumpster," he said.
Kornblith said she and Newman expected "a very smooth ride" as they bought the property in July from Cynthia Egan, who received the Conservation Commission's approval in 2004 for a similar project. (Previtara says the newly proposed farm "is a much more sizable project," while acknowledging that Kornblith's engineers disagree and say her project is not much larger.)
Kornblith said they invited neighbors to the house when they bought it and informed them of their plans.
When the couple went to the first commission meeting in November, they were surprised to discover neighbors had many concerns.
Foscaldo's group has hired a lawyer, wetlands specialist and environmental engineer. "They're still as steadfast against it as originally, and we intend to fight it as vigorously as possible," he said.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
