View the Condo Plan and Single Family Home Plan Comparison
Hampshire Country Club occupies 106 acres in the Village of Mamaroneck. The golf course is primarily located within the Village’s residential zoning district (R-20) and could potentially be converted into over 200 homes “as of right” under current zoning. Due to financial duress experienced by the prior membership club, the Hampshire assets were put up for sale in 2009. The Village considered purchasing the property but was unsuccessful. However, at that time, the Village Board hired BFJ, a respected land use planner, to evaluate how many residences could be built on the property. BFJ concluded that somewhere between 105 and 110 units could be built on the property.
Upon acquisition in 2010, Hampshire Recreation invested significant funds to improve the golf course and amenities and then reopened the club. Hampshire also petitioned the Village Board to amend the zoning code to allow it to incorporate 121 luxury condos into the clubhouse on about 1 acre of land around existing parking lots/roads while preserving the entire golf course as recreation and open space in perpetuity.
Upon going public with this proposal (now known as the “condo plan”), a small group of well-heeled NIMBY neighbors formed a “coalition”, hired a large New York City law firm, and threatened to bring a lawsuit against the Village and Hampshire. This group was led by an immediate neighbor who owns seven homes and vacant land assessed at $11 million. The Village Board capitulated, refused to consider the condo plan, and advised Hampshire to file an “as-of-right” subdivision plan with the Planning Board instead. Accordingly, Hampshire submitted a “planned residential development” under the R-20 regulations that would subdivide the golf course into 105 residential lots, along with a 9-hole golf course and open space areas.
This plan, too, was opposed by the NIMBY group. Following years of lawsuits, ethics investigations against Village officials with close ties to the NIMBY neighborhood group, and hundreds of thousands of Village tax dollars spent on legal fees, the Village of Mamaroneck ultimately declared in 2020 that it would not allow Hampshire Recreation to bring ANY residential component to Hampshire Country Club.
Rejecting development at the behest of wealthy NIMBY neighborhood groups seems to be a pastime in the Village of Mamaroneck. Hampshire’s NIMBY saga represents the third major battle involving the Village in which it has wielded its land use authority to stop development at the behest of a few “clamorous neighbors” (as one Federal Judge put it in 2006) with the funds to hire a large NYC law firm. This includes a fight to stop the Westchester Day School from expanding, where the Village ultimately was ordered to pay the school $4.75 Million in damages in the mid-2000’s. It also includes a neighborhood fight to stop the Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club from building seasonal residences on its property in the 2010s.
Now, Hampshire’s $58 million takings claim looms over the Village and is headed to trial.
The Residences at Hampshire would:
- Create 121 high-end luxury condominiums, targeted to those 55 and older.
- Maintain over 80% of open space in perpetuity and keep Hampshire green.
- Create additional tax revenue that would benefit all residents.
- Help improve all Mamaroneck schools by adding new school funding and minimal new students.
- Preserve the unique character of Mamaroneck through contextual architecture using a tasteful mix of brick and stone with a Mansard roof, evoking a French influence that will blend in naturally with the surrounding single-family homes.
- Preserve the 18-hole golf course.
- Retain 125+/- local jobs.