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PROJECTS
EWEN POINT
Esopus Lake, New York, USA

Located on 350 acres along the Hudson River, Ewen Point encompasses two-thirds of the shoreline of Esopus Lake within its boundaries and also has a toehold on Mirror Lake just below it. The site lies relatively close to the existing urbanized area and is already zoned and slated for a development. The new plan for Ewen Point is built upon a 1993 permit plan for the site, which included 350 units—principally apartments and townhouses, with about 19 single-family houses. The new plan, rather than believing that every building will automatically ruin the view, contends that is possible to build a beautiful, high-quality human habitat that actually enhances the landscape. As such, Ewen Point calls for a compact, walkable village of small blocks, with a system of pedestrian passages and greens, squares, and playgrounds dispersed throughout the urban fabric. A range of development, from more urban to more rural, will be included to create a community with the diversity of a real place following the Transect. Ewen Point will be explicitly environmental. Storm water treatment shall be managed through a collection system by which the slopes are gracefully engaged, carrying water down in a rivulet to an interception pond where the water is cleansed before being released to the wetlands. The most significant environmental provision of the plan is the removal of a 9-hole golf course in the prior plan that would have required the destruction of most of the existing trees. The current plan preserves these trees, in addition to many others throughout the site.