Village board considering changes to plan for United Hospital site
November 27, 2024 at 1:33 a.m.
The owners of the former United Hospital site are moving forward with their application for an amended site plan for the property which would add 182 residential units and change the mix to focus on smaller apartments.
The owners, Boston Post Road LLC, have been monitoring the changing needs for real estate and saw the demand for smaller units, said their attorney, Anthony Gioffre of Cuddy & Feder in White Plains, at the Nov. 4 Port Chester Board of Trustees meeting.
To that end, they would like to reduce the number of two-bedroom units and increase the number of studios and one-bedrooms in the project.
Gioffre said the change would only involve reorganizing the interior of the residential buildings to incorporate the smaller units and there would be no change to the footprint or the massing of the buildings.
“The appearance of the buildings will not be changed,” said Gioffre, except for slight changes in the location of the windows.
Everything else on the site plan that was approved in October 2022 would stay the same.
Previously approved were 90 age-restricted units, 110 assisted living units, 775 market rate units, a 120-key hotel, 18,000 square feet of retail and 1,038 parking spaces.
The new plan would decrease the number of two-bedroom units by 72 and increase the total number of market rate apartments to 957. There would also be some changes to the at-grade parking.
When questioned by Trustee John Allen, who asked if the change would affect the mixture of affordable rate apartments, Gioffre explained that they are required to create the same percentage of affordable units so there would still be 10% of the studios, 10% of the one-bedrooms and 10% of the two-bedrooms that would be affordable.
“We do have an affordability issue, and not necessarily for studios and one-bedrooms,” said Allen.
The applicant’s planning consultant, David Smith, said an amended State Environmental Quality Review Act findings statement had been prepared to update the relevant impact areas. There would be a slight decrease in impervious surface, there is adequate water and sewer service, and there would be a change in the public schoolchildren generation.
“There is the potential for 15 public school age children, and the mitigation formula requires almost $600,000,” said Smith.
He said they would be doing additional excavation to put in underground parking so there would be a limited amount of additional material generated, which he called de minimis.
Smith also cited the 36-month construction schedule for the development once it gets started.
“The site was a brownfield, and the applicant has been undergoing the remediation required by the New York State DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation),” he explained.
Traffic engineer Carlito Holt updated the traffic study based on the currently approved plan. “The amended site plan will have a 50% reduction from the Starwood plan,” he said. “We found there was de minimis changes in traffic, but that is all going to be thoroughly reviewed and vetted by the village and their consultants. We reconfigured the parking and added more spaces than units. There is more than adequate parking to serve the entire project.”
“Why?” asked Trustee Joan Grangenois-Thomas about the requested changes to the site plan.
“The applicant has been examining the trends that are happening in the real estate market and has found there is more of a need for the smaller units plus they are getting greater efficiencies when they move toward construction documents,” said Gioffre. “We think it is an overall benefit for the project and the village.”
One hundred eighty-two more units is potentially 200 more cars at the crossroads of the biggest intersection in Port Chester, said Trustee Phil Dorazio. “How can you tell me there will be no increase in traffic? If there’s a sale at Kohl’s, there is an increase in traffic.”
“There will be an increase in traffic,” Holt replied. “When we originally projected, we based the estimates on a trip generation manual based on different types of land uses. They have released an updated edition of that manual which has gathered additional data post COVID which includes work from home. Although there is an increase in units, it does not include an increase in traffic.”
“That sounds like BS to me,” said Dorazio. “I get stuck in traffic there six days a week when I am working. It’s a nightmare right now. I want to know just about Boston Post Road, Highland Street and its conjunction with I-95 and 287 and the Kohl’s Shopping Center. The amount of traffic in this town is ridiculous.”
“We are not ignoring the fact that there is traffic today,” said Holt. “That is the crux of what the original plan focused on. We are doing substantial roadway improvements.”
“I don’t mean to be argumentative, and I do love the project,” Dorazio said, backing down from his previous stance.
“Mr. Holt has done an extensive analysis and AKRF (the village’s planning consultant) is also reviewing the amended plan on your part,” said Gioffre. “We are keeping the same amount of mitigation as was originally proposed even with the new information.”
“You are required to take a hard look,” said Port Chester Planning Director Greg Cutler to the Board of Trustees.
“We expect AKRF will be done with their review before the Dec. 2 public hearing,” said Gioffre.
The board declared their intent to serve as lead agency on the environmental review for the amended site plan application and referred it to the Westchester County Planning Board and Port Chester Planning Commission for review and recommendation. They also set the date of Monday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. to hear from the public on the proposed modifications.
Planning Commission gives
positive recommendation
The proposal went before the Port Chester Planning Commission on Monday, Nov. 25.
An interesting fact highlighted by Gioffre at that meeting was that the number of units would increase under the new plan, but because they are smaller and the Village of Port Chester adopted a new school-age generation tool, there would now be 15 students generated by the project compared to 113 students with the previous plan.
“That is not a typo,” Gioffre stressed.
Planning Commissioner Jessica Berkowitz commented that “there are a lot of buildings with a lot of roof space. Was solar considered?”
Also, she added, “Was there any thought given to structured parking to increase the green space on the site? It would be worthwhile to consider green space within the development.”
“We are providing access to Abendroth Park,” said Gioffre. “We are providing in excess of the open space required.”
Planning Commission Chairman Michael Scarola was in favor of the site plan change. “The primary change is the change in units,” he said.
There were originally 144 studios, 416 one-bedrooms and 215 two-bedroom units. The amended plan calls for 358 studios, 456 one-bedrooms and 143 two-bedroom units. The number of bedrooms is being reduced from 846 to 742.
“That was the intent of the comprehensive plan to have more smaller units,” said Scarola, who served on the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee.
All seven members, including Dan Alvarez and Brian Harris, who were newly appointed and attending their first meeting, voted in favor of sending a positive recommendation on the amended site plan to the Board of Trustees.
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