Pierson Lakes has homes, lakes and common areas. The Pierson Lakes Homeowners Association's common areas include a concrete dam built around 1920, private roads and a causeway that was the subject of a federal bankruptcy court decision.
What the $3.28 Million Cortina Price Sits On
Pierson Lakes is selling new construction again. The developer's availability page lists three model residences, one signature home scheduled for completion in Spring 2026, and lakefront and forested homesites where buyers can build with "our trusted builder." The Hilltop Manor page names that builder as Lidel Homes. It puts the home on Lot 28, 3.75 acres on Potake Lake, with completion slated for Spring 2026. That season has passed, and the page has not posted a new date. The Cortina model is listed at $3,276,000 and is designed so its main rooms face Cranberry Lake.
Compare that with the rest of the county. The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors' September 2026 report for Rockland County, drawn from OneKey MLS, puts the September single-family median sale price at $795,000. Homes took 42 days to sell, sellers received 99.4% of original list price, and 495 homes were for sale. At about four times that median, a Pierson Lakes buyer is paying for more than square footage. The community's site describes almost 1,000 acres planned for 74 homes.
The Covenant and Common Areas
According to the January 2022 bankruptcy court decision that reviewed the community's founding documents, the original developer, Ramapo Land Co., formed the association in the 1980s "for the purpose of owning, operating, and maintaining the common areas and improvements." The 1989 offering plan, accepted by the New York State Attorney General, lists those common areas: Cranberry Lake, the New York portion of Potake Lake, two dams, wetlands, roads, hiking trails and bridle paths.
The court's decision quotes the maintenance section of the 1989 Declaration of Covenants:
"The maintenance and repair of the Common Areas shall include, but not be limited to, the maintenance and repair of damage to roadways, the landscaped entranceway, the security gatehouse, the guardhouse, the boathouse, the fire protection system, the lakes, dams and spillways, the hiking trails, walking and bridle paths, the common storm and sanitary disposal systems and the sewer systems, as well as signs and fencing."
The next line of the declaration says the section "shall not be amended" to reduce or eliminate that obligation.
A Dam Built Around 1920 Is Now a Line Item
The offering plan's engineering description of Cranberry Lake explains what that job involves. The lake covers 103 acres with 2.5 miles of shoreline and holds 800 acre-feet of storage. It is impounded by an Ambursen-type buttressed reinforced concrete dam, 139 feet long with nine bays, alongside a 205-foot concrete spillway. The plan dates the dam and its appurtenances to "on or about 1920."
New York regulates dam owners directly. The state's dam safety rules, 6 NYCRR Part 673, assign duties by hazard class. Class A is low hazard, B intermediate, C high, and D negligible or defunct. The Department of Environmental Conservation assigns each class based on what a failure would affect downstream. For Class B and C dams, the obligations stack up:
| Requirement under Part 673 | What it involves | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection and maintenance plan | Written procedures and schedules, kept current; also triggered by size thresholds or a DEC determination | 673.6 |
| Emergency Action Plan | Submitted to DEC with annual updates, copied to the county emergency management official; Class C plans are engineer-prepared unless DEC waives it | 673.7 |
| Annual certification | Due to DEC by January 31, covering classification and compliance | 673.8 |
| Safety inspections | Performed by an engineer on the plan's schedule, with signed and sealed reports | 673.12 |
| Engineering assessment | At least every ten years, evaluating function, stability and spillway capacity | 673.13 |
DEC's own dam safety page cautions that being listed or not listed in its public inventory does not establish a dam's regulatory status.
The Causeway Case and Phase 3
Sterlington Road runs through the community and crosses Cranberry Lake on a causeway that connects Phase 1 to Phase 3. Who maintained that crossing was contested in the association's Chapter 11 case. The court captions the association as a reorganized debtor, with a plan confirmed in September 2019.
The court decision described the offering plan as providing for Phase 3 common areas to pass to the association just before the first Phase 3 lot closes. The court declared the association owner of the causeway and its road since January 20, 2014, and responsible for maintaining the causeway itself since April 2004. In that record, the parties agreed the first Phase 3 closing had not happened and "apparently is not imminent."
The plan provides for about 354 acres of common area in Phase 3, compared with about 97 acres across Phases 1 and 2. In 2021, the Rockland County Business Journal reported 25 homes built in Phase 1, 24 Phase 2 sites of five acres each, and 25 more approved lots that still needed infrastructure. The developer's current pages do not say which phase each homesite belongs to.
For more on the community itself, see our Pierson Lakes neighborhood guide and our earlier look inside Pierson Lakes. Buyers comparing private enclaves in the area may also want our post on how Tuxedo Park's Board of Architectural Review affects closing timelines.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which lakes are listed in the offering plan? The 1989 offering plan lists Cranberry Lake and the New York portion of Potake Lake among the common areas, along with two dams, roads, trails and other areas.
Does New York regulate privately owned dams? Yes. DEC's Part 673 rules apply to dam owners, with requirements that scale with hazard class, including Emergency Action Plans, an annual certification due January 31, and periodic engineering assessments.
If you are weighing one of the new homesites, The Molfetta Team can help. Book a Consultation.
