ABSTRACT: Invitations to Villas de Carmelo Open House at the Carmel Women’s Club on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, hosted by The Widewaters Group, were sent to individuals recently; the Widewaters Group, the developer, and The Warner Group, the architect, will be present at the open house. The letter, dated June 1, 2009, is reproduced in its entirety.
WIDEWATERS
June 1, 2009
Dear [[First Name]] [[Last Name]],
The Widewaters Group would like to invite you to join us for a Villas de Carmelo open house to be held Wednesday, June 17th at the Carmel Women’s Club located at 9th Avenue & San Carlos Street in Carmel. We will be holding two sessions, 12:00 – 3:00 and 6:00 – 9:00, to enable you flexibility in attending.
The Widewaters Group, the developer, and The Warner Group, the architect, will be present and available to answer questions regarding the Villas de Carmelo development proposed for the historic Carmel Hospital site. The open house will also host a video and additional information on the project as well as visuals that address a number of neighborhood concerns.
If you are unable to attend or would like further information on the proposed project, please visit www.villasdecarmelo.com or call 831-372-2259 to schedule a meeting with us.
Thank you for your time and interest. We hope to see you on June 17th.
Sincerely,
Kevin Kane
Development Manager
The Widewaters Group
Ed Shagen
Director of Development
The Widewates Group
5796 Wildwaters Parkway, P.O. Box 3 DeWitt, New York 13214-0003 Phone: 315/445-2424 Fax: 315/445-8570
www.widewaters.com
5 comments:
I thought this community show know how the Widewaters group does business back in their home state of New York. They have recently been "slapped with the largest stormwater penalty in the history of New York state".
Included are a few summary sections from the article on the NBC New York web site:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/green/Syracuse_Developer_to_Pay_NY_s_Biggest_Stormwater_Fine_All__National_.html
" The Widewaters Greenport Co. LLC has agreed to pay a $100,000 settlement to resolve numerous stormwater violations at the development and must also temporarily stop work on the site until state officials approve the company's stormwater prevention plan."
"Widewaters exhibited a blatant disregard for the stormwater regulations of the state and created the potential for a significant water-quality violation," Kelly said.
"Luckily, we had a long stretch of dry weather which averted any significant turbid discharges to the nearby Claverack Creek," he said. "The magnitude of this penalty, which is the largest stormwater penalty in the state's history, reflects the seriousness with which DEC views violations of this sort."
To open a pardora's box of unanswered questions about Widewaters and the Leidigs, I have some questions of my own about this unexplained, mysterious relationship on this carmel hospital site project.
1. The son of Bob Leidig, Curtis, is or was, an employee of Widewaters. What is Curtis's relationship with the company now?
2. Known for their big developments, it seems strange Widewaters would pull out of the huge Salinas downtown development project and do this condo project on 3 acres. What is really going on here?
3. Obviously, Widewaters is not telling us all there is to know about the company. What else besides this $100,000 settlement do we not know about their contruction practices?
Questions, questions and more questions remain.
One supposed advantage of having the Leidig family develop this carmel property was they were local and prided themselves with being a local family for many generations. Now, in an abrupt U-turn, with Widewaters, headquartered in NY, and most active in the east, we no longer have a local connection. May this fact not be lost on the County and our elected Supervisors.
Additional coverage on Stormwater Regulations Violations by Widewater Company, as follows:
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
For Release: Monday, May 5, 2008
$100,000 Penalty Levied Against Widewater Company
Developer Violated Numerous Stormwater Regulations at Columbia County Retail Project
http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/43793.html
STORM WATER SOLUTIONS
Developer to Pay New York State's Largest Storm Water Fine
Violator to pay $100,000 for failing to implement adequate erosion and sediment controls
May 13, 2008
http://www.estormwater.com/Developer-to-Pay-New-York-States-Largest-Storm-Water-Fine-newsPiece15878
DEC orders halt to retail plaza work
Lack of measures to control erosion also nets $100,000 fine
By ALAN WECHSLER, Business writer
First published in print: Tuesday, May 6, 2008
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=686361&category=BUSINESS&newsdate=5/6/2008
A couple of follow-ups to Anonymous comments:
1. I believe the Widewaters group was fired by the Salinas City Council for continuously not meeting project deadlines or agreed upon commmitments with the city. Aftering firing Widewaters I believe Salinas then put the project out for bid again and Widewaters did not participate in the re-bid.
2. The fact that the Widewaters group doesn't meet deadlines and appears to care less for the environment and the community appears to be consistent with how they do business on their other projects in the East
3. I think there is alot of bad news about this company on the internet. I did a 'Google' search this morning' and came up with over 15 different incidents where they have been sued and lost, fined, their employees arrested etc.
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