After years of delays, Swan Cove project to move forward

After nearly a decade of plans, redesigns, controversy and delays, the town of Carmel is preparing to put shovels in the ground at Swan Cove. 

The Town Board voted Sept. 2 to advertise for bids for the first phase of the long-awaited downtown Mahopac improvement project, which ultimately calls for a municipal parking lot and waterfront park along Lake Mahopac. 

Councilman Rob Kearns, who is running unopposed and is set to take office as town supervisor in January, said the vote represents a significant breakthrough in an effort that has frustrated residents and town officials for years.

“This has been a very long, arduous road to get here,” Kearns said during the meeting. “But the last year, the board here has worked together to make sure that we can push this thing forward.” 

The first phase will not yet bring the parking spaces, fishing pier or kayak launch that residents have been waiting for. Instead, it will address one of the major problems that has helped stall the project—unstable soil and chronic flooding at the site. 

The town will undertake what Kearns described as a “surcharge program,” placing a substantial amount of fill on the property to compress and stabilize the underlying soil.  

“The soil integrity is not the greatest, and there are flood issues,” Kearns told Mahopac News in an interview following the meeting. Without the stabilization work, he said, pavement and other improvements could settle and buckle. 

“We’re going to be dumping a bunch of soil on top of the space,” Kearns told the Town Board. “We’re going to let it settle. We’re going to scrape it off, and then the next phase will be to actually build out the park.” 

A project years in the making 

The vote is the latest chapter in a project that dates back to 2018, when the town purchased the approximately half-acre Swan Cove property at the intersection of Routes 6 and 6N on Lake Mahopac for $1 million.

The idea was to transform the deteriorated waterfront property into a small public park while addressing another longstanding problem in downtown Mahopac—the shortage of parking. 

In 2019, the town agreed to purchase four Tompkins Bank-owned parcels totaling approximately one acre for $395,000, clearing what officials at the time described as a major hurdle for the park and parking project. 

Plans subsequently became part of a broader downtown Mahopac revitalization effort. 

A 2021 proposal envisioned improvements not only at Swan Cove but along the Route 6 and Route 6N business corridor, with the waterfront property providing additional municipal parking while giving the public greater access to Lake Mahopac. 

Over the years, plans have evolved as officials wrestled with flooding, drainage, engineering, environmental reviews, costs, and competing ideas about how much of the site should be devoted to parking and how much should remain green space. 

The town has also secured federal assistance for the project. U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler obtained more than $2 million in federal funding for clean-water infrastructure associated with the downtown redevelopment, including stormwater improvements intended to reduce runoff into Lake Mahopac. 

Despite the planning and funding, Swan Cove itself has remained unfinished.

Kearns said Swan Cove came up time and again when he first ran for the Town Board.

“All I heard about was the lack of progress,” he said. “Swan Cove has been a very polarizing project. My goal is to deliver an asset to the community and make it more appealing.”

Phase 2: Building the park and parking lot 

Once the soil stabilization work is completed, the town intends to move into the construction phase. 

Kearns said the current vision still includes the parking lot, green space, a fishing pier and a kayak launch. A pedestrian bridge connecting Swan Cove with nearby Chamber Park also remains in the plans. 

The kayak launch would be available to Carmel residents, Kearns said, with the town developing a system to verify residency, possibly through a vehicle sticker or similar permit. 

Kearns stressed, however, that costs will play a role in determining the project's final configuration. 

“I want to make sure we can stay within our budget,” he said, adding that some cost estimates circulating publicly are inaccurate. “We are not looking to spend that kind of money.” 

Kearns, whose professional background is in construction management, said he has become more directly involved in moving the project forward, meeting regularly with the engineers the town contracted to design the project. 

“We have been ready to go out to bid for a few months, but things didn't line up, so we went a different route to get this out to bid,” he said. 

Councilman Mike Lugo praised Kearns, Supervisor Mike Cazzari and town engineer Richard Franzetti during the Sept. 2 meeting for pushing the project ahead. 

“I think credit is due,” Lugo said. “Councilman Kearns and Supervisor Cazzari have been working diligently, along with Rich Franzetti, to get this going. I'm very excited that finally we're about to put this out to bid.” 

For Kearns, the significance of the vote extends beyond Swan Cove. As he prepares to take over as supervisor next year, he said completing long-delayed town projects will be a priority. 

“We drive by it every day and we want people to be able to enjoy the view and attract more attention to the business district,” he said. “I want to chip away at 10 years' worth of unfinished projects. I am sick and tired of people talking about Swan Cove and sewers. It is time we delivered.”