Somers Town Board Discusses Trailside Estates

SOMERS, N.Y. - Planning, zoning, and development items dominated the agenda at the Somers Town Board’s recent combined regular meeting and work session.
Here are some of the highlights from Aug. 10.

TRAILSIDE ESTATES

The board heard real estate developer Kenneth Kearney’s formal submission of plans to build Trailside Estates, a 76-unit, market-rate “townhouse community” off Route 118 in Baldwin Place.

The two- to three-bedroom units will top off at two stories. Basements – should the occupants want one -- will be located below ground level, Kearney said.

According to the plans, about 20 acres of the 56.8-acre site would be set aside as a conservation easement and a 5,827-square-foot recreation center, which would be donated to the town, and possibly a dog park – would be located on 7.5 acres.

The plans were presented on behalf of property owners Parkview B&G LLC, which is asking the town to rezone the property to MFR-BP, or Multifamily Residence - Baldwin Place.

Right now, the zoning is a mix of R-40, R-80, and Planned Hamlet. The site is located behind the Somers Commons shopping center.

According to Attorney Charles Martabano, Kearney sought out suggestions about development amenities, design, and other aspects from town stakeholders.

Based on that some of that feedback, the size of the recreation center’s second-floor conference/meeting room was increased to 555 square feet from the original 370 square feet.

That’s a 50 percent increase in the amount of “usable space,” Martabano wrote in a letter to the town.

Storage space on the center’s first floor has been modified to make it “more accessible and efficient,” he added.

There will be bathrooms, lockers, and a small conference area on the first floor and the center’s “open area” could be used for pickleball, basketball, and town meetings.

The applicants are touting the fact that not only will Trailside Estates itself be “walkable,” it will be linked to the Planned Hamlet and Crossroads at Baldwin Place, a mixed-use development on Route 6. Townhouse dwellers will have access to the North County Trail as well.

Parkview is also seeking to take advantage of a “credit mechanism” that would allow it to forego the building of affordable dwelling units, Martabano told the board.

The latter would require that the applicant and “affiliates” – in this case, mostly members of the Kearney clan – to show that they have already built enough affordable housing units in town to exceed the code requirements.

Currently, housing developers are obligated to make 15 percent of their total units “affordable.”

Martabano said Parkview had contemplated asking for a “waiver” but after Town Attorney Roland A. Baroni Jr. pointed out that the Town Board was not legally “authorized” to grant one, decided to go the “credit” route instead.

That would require a text amendment in the language relating to MFR-BP zones.

In a letter to the town, Martabano pointed out that the code currently recognizes that applicants for residential development “are entitled to density bonuses for market rate units equal to one additional market rates unit for each affordable unit in excess of the required 15 percent of the base-permitted density.”

Kearney Realty & Development Group has built 265 dwelling units in Somers and 226 – or 85 percent -- of those qualify as affordable housing, he said.

Those are contained in The Mews at Baldwin Place I and II, two contiguous affordable age-restricted housing complexes; Crossroads at Baldwin Place, a combo of offices, retail shops, and rental apartments; and Hidden Meadows, a luxury townhouse development that addresses the needs of older residents – such as first-floor master bedrooms -- but is not age-restricted.

The majority of those housing units are within walking distance of the proposed project.

Martabano wrote that the developers believe the credit option to be a very “appropriate and equitable” one.

Another matter to eventually be resolved is whether the county will eventually allow Trailside Estates into the Peekskill water/sewer district.

Everyone seemed to agree that lots of things have to fall into place just right for the project to go forward.

“It’s complicated,” noted Councilman Anthony Cirieco.

Most importantly, the town has to consider whether the project not only “fits” Somers, but  “benefits” it as well, said Councilman Rich Clinchy.

“We understand where you’re coming from,” responded Martabano. “We’re going to try to show you this is something we’re all going to be proud of.”

The board voted unanimously to accept the formal submission of the Trailside Estates plans, to declare itself the lead agency, and to distribute the project’s Environmental Assessment Form (EAF) to all “interested and involved parties,” including the town Planning Board and county Planning Department.

LINCOLNDALE UPDATED

A public hearing was held on a proposed local law that would allow the rezoning of 19 acres of land in Lincolndale from Neighborhood Shopping to R-10, R-40, R-120 Residential, and Office-Light Industrial (OLI).

The town updated its Comprehensive Plan in 2016 with the intention of strengthening the hamlet’s business “node” and increasing pedestrian connectivity, according to documents.

The proposed changes are “consistent” with the plan’s “goals and objectives,” said the town’s director of planning, David Smith.

The 15 parcels that would be affected by the change are located on Lincoln Avenue, Maple Avenue, and Route 202.

Looking at a map of the hamlet, Clinchy sought some clarification.

“When it says there are pedestrian connections and proposed zone changes, those are aspirational, these aren’t what’s promised, these are what we hope to have, correct?” he asked.

Smith responded that the town is “just focusing right now on the zoning changes.”

“The other items are recommendations that the town can still begin to move forward on,” he added.

Cirieco pointed out that Somers has been working on “modernizing” its codes, partly because that would “reduce the administrative burden on all the agencies and departments in town.”

“So this is something that would make sense,” he said.

The board, which is acting as lead agency under SEQRA, then adopted a “negative declaration” – meaning that the zoning changes won’t have a significant adverse effect on the environment. It also unanimously passed a resolution to approve the zoning map amendments.

MUNICIPAL FACILITIES

The board set a public hearing for Thursday, Sept. 14, on whether it should amend its zoning code to allow municipal facilities in residential areas.

Currently, municipal facilities are only considered “principal permitted uses” on property defined as OLI or Planned Hamlet.

Smith pointed out that Town Hall, aka The Elephant Hotel, sits in the Business-Historic Preservation (B-HP) district.

“So, technically, this is non-conforming,” he added.

According to Smith, the “issue came up because the state police are looking to relocate into an R-80 zoning district.”

The state police’s Troop K currently operates out of a 3,000-square-foot barracks on Route 100, a space that it has long outgrown.

Keeping the state police in Somers has been considered by some to be critical to the town’s fiscal well-being. Without them, it might eventually have to switch from a part-time to full-time local police force, which would be costly.

The Planning Board, which had discussed the proposed change the night before, appears to be “in general agreement” with it, Smith said.

However, there was one thing that it wanted to bring to the town’s “attention.”

Planning Board member Christopher Zaberto had wondered what would happen if the town decided to build a municipal facility such as a DPW garage in a residential neighborhood.

“Well, that’s a possibility, I guess,” Smith allowed, adding: “You have an existing DPW (in the OLI district), and I don’t imagine that’s going to be re-located at any time.”

The town could cut that type of situation off at the pass by clearly defining just what types of municipal facilities would be allowed in which residential zones, he suggested.

“I think definitions are always helpful,” Cirieco said.

Supervisor Rob Scorrano and Baroni also got behind the idea of getting more “granular” in the text language.

“We can work on that and kind of craft it a little bit,” Scorrano said.

LANDMARK WALL FIGHT

A 55-year resident of Lincolndale and a former Town Board member, Patrick DeSena used the public comment period to reiterate his and his Robert Martin Boulevard neighbors’ plea for the reconstruction of a small stone wall that the town razed because it considered it a safety hazard.

The 10-home enclave is located off Lovell Street.

A petition decrying the wall’s demise was delivered to the Town Board on July 20.

“I see our petition is not on the agenda tonight, but we are hopeful it will be on next month’s,” said DeSena, claiming that it detailed how the neighborhood “has been harmed by the sudden demolition of our vintage landmark entrance monument.”

Noting that the four-foot-high structure has “stood for over 55 years,” he said petitioners are seeking a work session with Town Board members and the town’s highway superintendent “to discuss reasonable options for replacing the wall.”

DeSena acknowledged that “occasionally some snowplow has clipped off some stones from that wall, but very rarely.”

The town itself had mentioned repositioning the wall in a 2021 memo, he said, calling it “a suitable, safe alternative” that could resolve “this issue.”

Shifting its orientation from horizontal to vertical and reducing its size, “all safety concerns can be ameliorated,” DeSena claimed, saying that he and others remain optimistic that “we can arrive at a result that will satisfy all parties involved.”

“I think it’s something that can be a win-win situation, for the town and the people. We were shocked by the demolition of that wall, let me not kid you. It hurt,” he said.

DeSena added that he had talked to a former town snowplow driver who told him that in his 30 years on the job there had never been a “problem” with the wall.

Clinchy asked if the wall had any “historical significance to the neighborhood,” if it was “tradition,” or “you just didn’t like it being done without anybody asking?”

“No, no, no. This is a vintage landmark that’s been on the property, as far as we know, for at least 55 years,” replied DeSena.

One of the residents, the late John A. Graziano, a WWII Navy veteran and past commander of the Moses Taylor American Legion Post 136 in Mount Kisco, “used to take great care of the wall.”

“If one of those stones came out, he would call the highway superintendent and get it fixed,” DeSena said.

The wall’s demolition “hurt, it really hurt,” he insisted, calling it “our lighthouse to our little cove of Robert Martin and Adson Way.”

“It’s very significant to the people who live there, to the people who lived there, and passersby who use it as a landmark,” DeSena added.

Councilman Tom Garrity thanked DeSena for the 16 years he spent on the Town Board, adding: “We remember them well.”

WINGS OVER WATER

The board also set a public hearing for Thursday, Sept. 14, on a request from Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. -- owners of three shopping centers in Somers: Heritage 202, Town Center, and Somers Commons -- to amend the town’s code relating to its Community Shopping (CS) districts.

Last year, Somers Commons (located at the corner of Routes 6 and 118) lost one of its anchor stores, HomeGoods, when it vacated its 30,000-square-foot space and moved to the Cortlandt Town Center. The other anchor, Stop & Shop, remains.

After a proposal to construct a 160-unit apartment building in HomeGoods’ place didn’t fly, Urstadt Biddle pivoted to Plan B.

Fortunately, Tractor Supply was willing to step into the breach. It had already been considering another site located within the Planned Hamlet.

The national retail chain sells products for home improvement, agriculture, livestock, horse, and pet care; and lawn and garden maintenance.

No official opening date had been announced as of press time, but a recent field trip found that the shelves were being stocked and finishing interior touches were underway.

Urstadt Biddle is now seeking zoning text amendments to permit veterinary services and public and/or private recreational facilities in CS districts.

Tractor Supply stores sometimes offer pet washing stations and the town has appeared open to the idea of a doggie daycare operation at the shopping center.

According to a June 2 letter sent to Scorrano by Urstadt Biddle’s CEO, Willing L. Biddle, one of its tenants, New York Sports Club, is “having financial difficulties and in order to keep the health club open to the community is on a greatly reduced rent plan.”

NYSC has a swimming pool and Urstadt Biddle owns a shopping center in Brewster where there’s a swim school called Wings Over Water that’s interested in leasing the pool and locker room.

UB is also in discussions with a smaller gym about leasing the rest of NYSC’s space.

Wings over Water was told by the town’s building inspector that he “wasn’t certain” that a swim school, or a fitness gym, were permitted principal uses in CS districts, “despite the fact that NYSC has been operating, with a pool, there for 15 years,” Biddle wrote.

Biddle said the NYSC had previously been given a building permit based “on the understanding” that a health club is considered “a personal service use,” which is permitted in the CS zone.

The building inspector would be “more comfortable” if modifications were made in the permitted principal uses in order to “approve the swim school,” he wrote.

UB is asking that the CS zone’s language be amended to specifically allow veterinary services, and private or public recreation uses, such as swimming, racquet sports, bowling, golf, skating, soccer, and similar activities.