Citizens for an Informed Yorktown

Planning Board, 5/7/2012

The board held a public informational meeting for the purpose of giving residents an opportunity to comment on the proposed development early in the planning process. Attorney Al Capellini and site designer Joe Riina explained existing site conditions and showed both a conventional subdivision plan and the clustered approach preferred by the Planning Board.The latter plan, which Mr. Riina called an “open space development” preserves the mansion, tower, ballfields and potential ROW for a Route 6 bypass, and also involves less incursion into the wetland buffer area. Because the houses will be smaller and closer together there will be less land disturbance and less impervious surface.

In response to a question from a Strawberry Road resident who lives across the street from the proposed development about the existing access to Lexington Ave, Mr. Riina said that that access would be discontinued.

The resident was also concerned about the access and parking for the ballfield, noting that parking was a problem when the fields were used by the school. Mr. Riina responded that access would most likely come from the abutting George Washington School as the road serving the homes would be a private road. As for the parking, he said that that would have to be worked out with the town if the town wanted to take over the fields. In response, the resident said that the access and parking issues should be worked out beforehand and not left to be dealt with at some future date.

In response to a question about the traffic impact from the 16 homes, Mr. Riina said that no studies had been done to date but more information will be made available as the application proceeds through the planning process.

In response to a question about the future bypass, Mr. Riina said that there would still be enough room for at least one field if the bypass project were to move forward.

The public hearing was closed. The next step will be for the applicant to make a formal request to the Town Board for authorization to use the Town’s flexibility standards. The Planning Board will attach a memo to that request stating that it supports the use of flexibility.

The discussion centered on whether this site should be developed using clustering or flexibility standards. Generally the goal of clustering is to preserve large tracts of open space by clustering the houses on small lots. A formula is used to determine the number of lots to be allowed. Flexibility is not necessarily for open space preservation, but rather to use the site creatively in order to preserve its best features. It does not use a formula to determine lot count.

The applicant presented a plan for 16 dwellings, consisting of 14 single family residences and 2 units within the existing mansion. The lots are arranged using flexibility standards, which allows

·   the wetlands, pond, mansion and tower to be preserved,

·   requires only a single entrance from Strawberry Rd,

·   preserves space for an athletic field and

·   takes into account a future Route 6 by-pass through the site.

The Planning Board preferred this layout to either a conventional plan or a clustered plan. Ms. Wagner recommended looking at the history of the cluster/flexibility legislation and its application to try to clarify the ambiguity of which technique to use under what circumstances. Susan Siegel, an observer, pointed out that flexibility standards would allow the applicant an additional lot over clustering, so the Planning Board should be prepared to field that criticism. However, this can be answered by showing that 16 lots would also be allowed in a conventional design.

Ms. Kutter repeated her concern about the one lot within the wetland buffer, but thought the overall suitability of the layout balanced this concern. The possibility of a physical barrier protecting the wetlands, such as a stone wall, along all the property lines was discussed. These stone walls could be incorporated into the architecture of the houses and landscaping and be continuous with the proposed steps leading to the pond.

There will be an informational hearing on May 7, 2012 before the Planning Board refers to plan to the Town Board which must approve the use of the flexibility standards.

The applicant presented a revised plan to cluster 16 units on the site. The new plan, which includesfour clusters of homes grouped aroundseparate courtyards, was developed in consultation with the Planning Departmet. In response Ms. Kutter’s concern that a portion of one of the 16 units would be in the wetland buffer, Joe Riina, the project engineer, said that he would explore options that could prevent any backyard encroachment into the wetland. As in the earlier plan, the existing mansion would be preserved but would be converted into two residential units at either end of the building, with the center portion being used as common area for the homeowners. The pool to the rear of the mansion would be preserved along with the fire tower and the existing pond.

The plan also calls for setting aside four acres that were previously used as ballfields as open space. The fields could be used by the Town for additional athletic fields. As this area is one of the possible right of ways for a future Route 6 bypass, there was some discussion of what the future designation of the four acres could be so that the site could be used as ballfields without precluding the possibility that it might be needed for the future bypass

The single access to the site would be from Strawberry Road, but the access point was shifted somewhat from the original plan. The new location would merge into the existing driveway leading to the mansion.

One issue that remains to be resolved is the lot count for the cluster subdivision. While the site can accommodate 16 lots under a conventional plan, when the cluster formula in the Town Code is applied to the site, it only permits 15.2 units. However, if the formula permitted 15.5 units, the number of permitted units could be rounded up to 16.Planning Director Tegeder suggested that the applicant look at the flexibility standards in the Town Code as that sectionwould allow for the clustering concept but was not formula based.

In response to the board’s concerns over traffic on Strawberry Road and the problem intersection of Strawberry Road and Lexington Ave, Al Capellini, the applicant’s attorney, acknowledged that traffic was definitely something that will have to be dealt with. Noting that there is a pending subdivision on the other side of Lexington Ave in the Town of Cortlandt, Mr. Kincart suggested that the Town staff and the developer monitor development plans in Cortlandt.

The board was supportive of the new cluster plan and will schedule a Public Informational Hearing before referring the application to the Town Board which must authorize the use of cluster zoning.