Town's Smart Growth Vision Remains Unrealized

"The remains of the state mental hospital languish in this bucolic stretch of the Harlem Valley like a ghost town, an eerie compound of empty dormitories and overgrown fields that was once a community of 10,000 with its own bowling alley, baseball diamond, ice cream shop, fire company, farm and train station two hours north of New York City.

When the state closed the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in 1994, town officials set out to turn the 850-acre campus into a model of enlightened development. With a compact town center a short walk from the train, the new neighborhood would be an antidote to sprawl, the sort of "smart growth" that planners say the region must embrace if it is to remain livable.

But nearly four years after a development company paid $3.9 million for the property, the town and the developer have yet to agree on a plan for what would be the largest residential development ever in Dutchess County. The town says the developer is stubbornly resisting its vision; the developer says the town board is stubbornly denying hard economic facts."