Manor Mess Settled

The Town of Kent reached a settlement in its decades-long dispute with Kent Acres, the property development company that hoped to build hundreds of new homes in Putnam, before it became entangled in legal problems.

The settlement avoids an impending trial, where Kent Acres sought up to $16,000,000 in damages from the Town of Kent. Instead the parties agreed that Kent Acres will receive $1.5 million. The great bulk of that sum, $1.25 million, will be paid by the Town’s insurance carrier, while the balance is paid by Kent.

The Town issued a statement, “Although the Town Board disagreed with the Appellate Court’s rulings, which held the town liable for the delays encountered by the project, they agreed to resolve the litigation on terms considered favorable to the Town.”

Of course, the terms of the settlement are also favorable to the Kent Acres project if it should be resurrected. Kent Acres is being given a tax abatement for up to 16 years if it remains undeveloped. If, after the housing crisis ends, the project moves forward again, new residents of a Kent Acres project will have lower taxes for six years.

In effect, residents of a Kent Acres development will have their property assessed as vacant land for up to six years, after they purchase—a major selling point for new homeowners.

The Kent Acres project, often referred to as Kent Manor was approved in 1987, and again in 2005. The settlement effectively and immediately reduces the assessed value of the land at Kent Acres from nearly $8 million to $1.1 million. Kent Acres had originally sought an eight figure settlement, one that would have crippled town finances for years to come.

Kent likely faces the prospect of higher taxes, not only to meet the terms of this settlement, but to reimburse Putnam County the sum of $605, 845, and potentially another $1.7 million to the Carmel Central school district.

The two figures represent the taxes paid by the county to the Town of Kent and the Carmel Central school district while the Town of Kent was engaged in a tax-assessment dispute with Kent Acres. New York State law requires counties to make up the difference in unpaid taxes in cases where taxpayers refuse to pay out.

The Town’s statement concluded: “Both parties acknowledge that it was in the best interests of everyone to have the matter brought to conclusion an give finality to both the Town and to the applicant so both can proceed. The applicant is still pursuing some of its approvals before the local state agency and anticipates developing the project depending upon market conditions in the future.”