A score and more village issues tackled at Committee for Better Gov’t Town Hall
March 14, 2024 at 4:17 a.m.
If you want to know what’s going on in town, there’s no better way to get an encapsulated picture in a few hours than to attend the Committee for Better Government’s annual Town Hall at Mount Zion Baptist Church on Slater Street. Questions on more than 20 topics—from density, to the condition of roadways, to the former United Hospital redevelopment, to traffic—were asked and answered by village, county and state officials, elected and paid, in attendance at this year’s event on Saturday, Feb. 24.
It was the second Town Hall since the pandemic, continuing a tradition of giving people in the know—and largely the Black community—a chance to get their questions responded to by those who have the answers.
About 25 people freely peppered the panel with their concerns and got honest feedback—what’s happening, why and how negative situations might be resolved.
Density, affordable housing and city status
“I’ve been here since 1954,” began Janice Davis. “I feel that with all the building in Port Chester, it’s making this village too dense. The streets aren’t wide enough. It’s a big concern of mine. It does not feel like a village anymore. It feels like we are trying to be a city.”
“You’re 100% accurate about the density,” responded Village Manager Stuart Rabin. “We are the fifth densest in the State of New York, second in Westchester behind Mt. Vernon.” He stated that the population is 31,693, according to the 2020 census. “We have a lot of density and a lot of density that is not accounted for.”
“Only three buildings are going up right now,” said the manager. “We are looking to try and ensure all of our developers follow our form-based code with 10% affordable housing.”
When Davis asked again about the buildings now rising, then Planning Director Curt Lavalla said Tarry Lighthouse will have 10% affordable units, 21 out of 209, but the others were approved before the form-based code was adopted, so they will have none. However, the 3,500 units approved under the new code will yield about 350 affordable units.
Affordable, he said, translates into people making 60% of the Westchester County AMI (average median income).
Picking up on the city status theme, Rabin made clear that “the village has tried five different times to become a city since 1940.”
Fred Griffin (standing) asked several questions at the Committee for Better Government Town Hall.By Jananne Abel
That’s when State Senator Shelley Mayer chimed in. “The real challenge is it seems like [becoming a city] will bring in more money, but it doesn’t,” she said. “There is no more AIM (Aid and Incentives for Municipalities). The better thing is to fight for more money from the state and to fight for [an accurate accounting of the population] density. That is what we will continue to try to do.”
However, as a city a municipality can charge its own sales tax and reap the benefits of that.
“What would have helped is the census,” said Hattie Adams, an event organizer. “We need those numbers. A lot of people didn’t want to do them. If they said they lived here, they would get in trouble. It was so important we got those numbers to get more money for our village.”
“The people who were out there and collected information did a yeoman’s job,” said County Legislator Nancy Barr. “The problem was it was during the pandemic. COVID put a huge damper on that. We probably got more people than you would have thought.”
“When developers come to Port Chester, do they build because they believe they will come?” asked Fred Griffin, who is on the board of the Port Chester-Rye NAACP.
“They tell us they believe they will come,” responded Lavalla. “We can’t regulate how many are applying. Apparently they answer the call of our form-based code.”
Helena Kenyon wanted to know what your income has to be to qualify for the affordable housing. “Are they going to build anything for any people that are not going to get there [to 60% of AMI]? What about those people?”
“The last housing for regular folks was 70 Purdy and 45 Traverse Ave.,” responded Griffin.
“That is considered low-income housing,” said Adams, a member of the Port Chester Housing Authority board, “which costs 30% of your income which is a lot. There’s list, you apply. They do have a waiting list. Lawmakers really need to go back and look at the language and possibly change something. That’s why we have more homeless. It is hard today to live.”
Gregg Hamilton, acting director of the Port Chester Sustainable Alliance, said Port Chester’s AMI is more like $75,000 while Westchester County’s is $100,000. “It seems like the IDA (Industrial Development Agency) could do something and try to pressure developers to hire locally and pay prevailing wages.”
Traffic
“Density isn’t just about housing but also about traffic,” said Hamilton. “I too am very concerned if the number of units on the drawing board get approved and built there will be a 30% increase in the population and cars on the road.” He then enumerated six or seven bottlenecks in Port Chester and on Ridge Street in Rye Brook.
“The county is just about ready to reveal its final design for Westchester Avenue from Bowman down to Costco,” said Rabin. “They had a previous design with two things I didn’t like—by Danny’s Cycles and the Regent/Westchester intersection.”
He added that using a study the village board approved, the village is going to make it easier to cross Westchester Avenue at Regent Street by delaying the traffic a few seconds before the light turns green. He is hopeful the company that maintains Port Chester’s traffic signals can make the necessary signal changes.
The county will rehabilitate Westchester Avenue from Bowman Avenue to Oak Street this year. The work will include milling and resurfacing the roadway, curbing and drainage repairs, new traffic signal loops, new pavement markings and associated work. The rest of Westchester Avenue will be done later following a sewer rehabilitation project Port Chester is undertaking.
In addition, said Rabin, “we are in the middle of a traffic study. We have asked them to look at every reconfiguration of traffic and parking, especially on North Main Street. They have looked at parking only on one side.”
Village officials have attended meetings with the Town of Greenwich about altering the behavior of the traffic light on Mill Street in Greenwich to deal with the bottleneck at Abendroth Avenue and Mill and have not received any assistance to change it. “There are 240 members of Congress and we can’t get any assistance there to change the traffic light,” Rabin said with obvious frustration.
Parking enforcement
Kenyon wanted to know if parking enforcement times could be changed in the Grove Street municipal lot from the current 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. so residents don’t have to run out and put money in the parking meter at 7. “It used to be 9,” she said.
“You’re absolutely right,” said Mayor Luis Marino. That is a board decision. It used to be until 6:00. I voted against it. We need people to come out.”
“I’m on the first floor at 5 Grove St.,” said Carrie Hayes. “They don’t give tickets at 7 in the morning. We pay for parking, and we cannot get our spaces. We can’t park there on the weekends or holidays. We pay to park in the decal parking spaces. Why are we paying? I know they are not out there giving tickets in the morning or night. What is the sense of changing the hours?”
“We had three of our PEOs (parking enforcement officers) all leave at the same time,” said Police Chief Chris Rosabella. “We just reassigned an officer until we can hire more. You should see a difference. Passport (the company that handles parking management) just downloaded all that information so the officers see who has a permit and who doesn’t.”
Streets are a wreck
Donna Herring of 10 Drew St. complained about the pervasive damage to streets. “It’s everywhere and something’s got to be done,” she said.
“What you are dealing with is that every utility company has realized they have quite a lot of deferred maintenance,” responded the village manager. “They are trying to make up for lost time. Here in Port Chester there is an abnormal amount of street openings. They have done everywhere else first and left us for the end. Just yesterday I posted on Elizabeth Street and all the other side streets that they will be ripped up from now until the end of May for gas lines.
“Road construction and road resurfacing arms are separate divisions [of utilities],” he explained. “I don’t have a lot of leverage. The only thing I can do is hold their permits up so they can’t do any more work until they do resurfacing.”
Rabin said he hoped all the roads that have been ripped up by utilities would be resurfaced by spring.
Post Road pedestrian safety
A senior citizen identifying herself as Donna wanted to know why there isn’t a crosswalk at Dunkin’ Donuts across the Post Road to McDonald’s.
“That’s a state road,” said Rabin. “We can ask them to, but they are probably going to say that the road is too wide. There is no relief. I am happy to talk to the state about trying to improve pedestrian safety on the Post Road. They are looking to resurface it in the next two years. We can tell them there are concerns about pedestrian safety.”
“I was able to get a crosswalk in another place because people signed a petition,” said State Senator Mayer. She said to Rabin that they should talk to the DOT together about the issue.
‘Recreation is abysmal’
Fred Griffin railed about the lack of recreation for the kids in Port Chester. “Recreation is abysmal,” he said. “We have excellent facilities. I don’t see why Port Chester’s recreation program can’t be better. I remember when Port Chester athletic programs were excellent. We had midget football leagues, basketball leagues. There are people in the community who are willing to help.”
“Before I was here in Port Chester, I was a recreation professional for another community in Westchester,” Rabin responded. “You are right. My budget message to the board last year was what do I have if I buy or rent a space in Port Chester. Port Chester’s Recreation Department has done the best it can as a one-woman show. That’s changing.”
The village board agreed to add another full-time employee, he said. Although civil service tests were taken in October, the scoring has not been released, so Port Chester has not been able to hire anyone yet.
“We are looking at expanding our recreation program, not just sports,” Rabin added.
“The village board under Mayor Marino has approved funding for the rehabilitation of the gym at our village hall,” the manager said, because space is an issue. There is no longer sharing of space at the schools and at Don Bosco Center to run programs.
Mayer said she and Assemblyman Steve Otis are working on getting funding for the gym rehabilitation project.
Griffin was still critical. “It’s a hell of a walk to Horton School,” he said.
In addition, “we are looking to upgrade our parks,” said Rabin. “We are looking at Abendroth Park for tennis, pickleball and all types of athletic activity so Columbus Park doesn’t get overused and overrun.”
Hattie Adams said Derek Vincent was hired by the Housing Authority as their community outreach person and they now have a dance group, he is working with the senior citizens at Drew Street and Terrace Avenue and he is looking to start a youth league.
Former United Hospital property
“Is there anything going on at United Hospital?” asked Hamilton.
“We do know there was some graffiti along the Post Road and one on High Street,” said Rabin. “I was not aware it was antisemitic. They immediately took care of it. It never made it to the police.
“The developer has made more significant progress than another other developer,” the manager added. “There has been significant progress with demolition.
“This is your Regeneron,” he continued. “This is your biggest property that is turning into a development.
“It is the village’s gateway. We have had a longstanding burnt out looking monstrosity sitting at your gateway. This is better, it may not be the best. It will have public access and will have access to Abendroth Park. It’s not just for the people who will eventually live there but for everybody who lives here.”
“There is market rate housing, assisted living, 10% affordable housing and a hotel,” Lavalla explained. “The site plan has been approved. They are going through the subdivision process now. It will be open to the public and there is retail.”
“Who knows what will happen?” added Rabin. “They are turning the property into a pizza pie. Marriott could come in and say they want to develop the hotel part. The retail space may include restaurants. The property will be supported by the Gateway Shopping Center across the street. There is a lot of opportunity for United Hospital to get something like Starbucks or a gastropub. It is a good opportunity for Port Chester to get some things it may not have now.”
Age-old problems
Some issues like the unyielded yield sign on Willett Avenue after the railroad bridge were raised for the second year in a row. “That’s a state road,” said Chief Rosabella. “They won’t allow a stop sign. That is an age-old problem. People do not yield. They act like the sign is not there. We do do enforcement there.”
“Is there any kind of follow-up, or do we have to wait a year?” asked Hayes.
“I will be the liaison for you guys,” Adams assured.
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