SOMERS, N.Y. — With several housing developments already in place and two more awaiting approval, Baldwin Place is approaching the breaking point in traffic congestion, some residents of the Somers hamlet fear.
Several of them spoke up at the Town Board’s Thursday, Jan. 22, meeting.
Paul Harold of Cornelius Lane broached the topic by asking why the town had agreed to change the zoning from R-40 and R-80 to MFR-BP (Multi-Family Residence-Baldwin Place) for North Edge Realty’s proposed townhouse project, which will be located near the intersection of Route 6 and Mahopac Avenue.
“Why?” responded Supervisor Robert Scorrano. “Because we feel the project has merit in the town of Somers.”
“There’s a bunch of people who disagree. I happen to be one, but that’s okay,” countered Harold, pointing out that North Edge, developer Gus Boniello’s project, will have 74 units and Trailside Estates, as proposed by developer Ken Kearney off Route 118, 81.
The Mews 1 and 2, also built by Kearney, have a combined 147 units.
Avalon Somers, an apartment complex in Baldwin Place, has 45 units and Hidden Meadows, which is a bit south on Route 6, has 45, according to Harold.
All are within “four football fields” of each other and will be contributing cars to the already heavily trafficked Route 6, Harold said.
“Right now, it’s bumper to bumper. What are you going to do with there’s an accident and police have to get there,” he asked. “There are only two lanes and no way to get around it. How about a house fire, or someone who’s had a heart attack. How you going to get there?”
Folks trying to avoid getting stuck at the lights are cutting through The Muse to get to Somers Commons, driving behind the shopping center, or using residential streets to turn around, often at “very high speeds,” according to Harold.
“Someone’s going to get killed,” he warned.
Single folks aren’t going to be the ones buying up these two or three-bedroom units; it’s going to be families with children, Harold said.
“You add it all up, you’re talking about 1,000 people,” Harold asked, worried about the increased traffic.
Lounsbury Drive resident Roland Ciafrone told the board that he hoped it would be “looking out for the interests of citizens, we the people.”
He was “disappointed” that the town changed the zoning of the North Edge site.
At 18 acres, under the previous iteration, it could have accommodated 15 houses. Now, if approved, there will be 74, with the potential for about 100 more cars on the road, he said.
“What you’re doing is unleashing the hammers of hell of traffic on us on any given day,” which, Ciofrone claimed, frequently “backs up to Navajo Street” even during non-rush hour times and up to Miller Road in Mahopac.
He also questioned the “community benefits” that the town and North Edge had negotiated with regards to the project.
According to Scorrano, Boniello promised to remove five long-abandoned condominium buildings at the Angle Fly Preserve off Route 138 (Primrose Street) and return the land to its original condition.
If the town had to pay for that itself, it could cost about $2 million, he said.
(In Trailside Estate’s case, the “community benefit” involves the creation of a community center and dog park and the setting aside of 20 acres for conservation purposes. The Town Board Thursday also voted to authorize Scorrano to sign that agreement, which will be contingent on a number of factors.)
Councilman William Faulkner noted that the crumbling structures at Angle Fly are “dangerous,” a lure to teens, and possibly contain asbestos.
In Ciofrone’s opinion, that’s apples and oranges as far as the beleaguered folks who have to drive around Baldwin Place are concerned.
“Baldwin Place is full. How many more of these subdivisions are you going to stuff in there?” he asked.
Scorrano, pointing out that the North Edge discussion has been going on for years, assured him that there’s “no more developable land up there.”
Ciofrone didn’t disagree that the massive condo development on land that eventually became the 600-acre Angle Fly Preserve had to be “shot down.”
However, to him, it seemed that whenever somebody didn’t want to see something where they lived, it got shuffled off to Baldwin Place.
“That’s our perception and it’s very disheartening to see yet more multi-family residences instead of “one house on one acre,” Ciofrone said.
Kim Grillo, a resident of Putney Road in Baldwin Place, recalled meetings that had taken place 18 years ago during former Supervisor MaryBeth Murphy’s tenure about the need for a town pool.
Finding a spot for the facility was a hurdle that apparently couldn’t be overcome.
When subject of overbuilding was brought up, Murphy assured everyone that the town was “almost done” and that future development would be “capped,” she claimed.
“Clearly that wasn’t the limit,” said Grillo, insisting that the amount of building that’s gone on in Baldwin Place since has been “off the charts.”
She didn’t think that scenario had been truly “anticipated” by longtime residents.
“There’s no more land left to build on. Am I wrong?” she pointedly asked Scorrano.
“You’re not wrong,” he replied.
It seems like Baldwin Place has gotten “the brunt of it,” Grillo asserted.
Cornelius Lane resident Lisa Vanga wanted to know if there were any traffic studies that worried residents could peruse.
Town Attorney Michael Towey told her that both the Trailside and North Edge projects are presently before the town’s Planning Board.
Traffic impacts are part of the approval process, he said.
The Planning Board held a public hearing on Trailside’s application for site plan and preliminary subdivision approval at its Jan. 14 meeting. That was carried it over to its February meeting.
At the same meeting, North Edge made a presentation on its request for preliminary subdivision, site plan, steep slope, and stormwater/erosion control approvals.
Harold had no beef with the developers themselves.
Noting that the Boniellos had also created Somers Crossing, a 66-unit high-end townhouse development on Route 100, he thought they did “beautiful work.”
“It has nothing to do with their workmanship or anything like that, but there are plenty of other places where you could spread these out,” he said of multi-family developments.
While not begrudging anyone’s right to make money, Harold thought it unfair that Baldwin Place residents had to suffer.
“It’s kind of a hard hit,” he said.
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