New Castle to Vote on Traffic Plan; Whole Foods Could Open By Saturday

New Castle officials will decide later this week whether to approve a temporary traffic plan that could enable Chappaqua Crossing developer Summit/Greenfield to obtain a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy and open Whole Foods on Saturday.

The town and planning boards agreed Tuesday night to authorize Town Attorney Nicholas Ward-Willis to prepare resolutions for each board to vote on that would grant Summit/Greenfield temporary relief from various traffic-related conditions that are required as part of its approval. The developer needs until next June to complete the conditions but had made a commitment to Whole Foods, its anchor tenant, and other retail businesses.

Earlier Tuesday evening, both boards hashed out details of a revised Maintenance and Protection of Traffic plan (MPT) that had been worked on by town traffic consultant Lou Luglio in hopes of allowing Whole Foods to open while ensuring safety near the Chappaqua Crossing campus. Summit/Greenfield is now obligated to complete the series of at least a dozen conditions by late Thursday in the vicinity of Route 117 and Roaring Brook Road.

The Town Board will convene at 4 p.m. on Thursday to take its vote while the Planning Board will meet on Friday at 2:30 p.m. Should each board approve its resolution, then it would be up to the town’s building inspector whether to issue the Temporary Certificate of Occupancy to allow the 40,000-square-foot supermarket and a 3,000-square-foot Chase Bank to open.

“If they do everything that we ask them to do, then they open on Saturday,” said Supervisor Robert Greenstein.

The latest development came a week after officials said they were uneasy about multiple traffic and safety issues in the initial MPT plan, leading to the postponement of Whole Foods’ opening that had been scheduled for today.

During a two-and-a-half-hour work session Tuesday night, Luglio reviewed the details of the plan with town officials. He strongly recommended the removal of a temporary left turn lane from northbound Route 117 onto Roaring Brook Road because it would accommodate no more than three vehicles at a time as opposed to six or seven cars in a permanent lane.

That would also eliminate the misalignment of the southbound Route 117 lane with the left turn lane. Last week it appeared to board members that cars in those lanes could hit head on.

Other conditions require Summit/Greenfield to install temporary signal heads with push buttons to allow pedestrians to cross Route 117 at Roaring Brook Road; that no more than 50 percent of office space at the campus is filled until the permanent roadwork is completed next spring; extra lighting be added to illuminate the intersection to enhance pedestrian safety; place a barrier between the edge of the road on the northbound side of Route 117 and a pedestrian path; paint “don’t block the box” stripes at the campus’s Route 117 entrance and at Annandale Road; and to place traffic barrels around the utility pole that will remain for now at the corner of southbound Route 117 and Roaring Brook Road. There will also be no right on red for the right turn lane onto Roaring Brook.

New Castle police will provide up to three officers, at Summit/Greenfield’s expense, to direct traffic at the site from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. Officers will remain until Jan. 20.

Town officials are also requiring Whole Foods to open on a Saturday so it does not interfere with nearby Horace Greeley High School traffic and midweek commuters in an already highly congested area.

Luglio said once the plan is in place, the intersection will be safer than it is now.

“I would say this is a very safe MPT plan,” Luglio said. “The only thing I would say could make it safer is to have some type of better barrier between the road and the pedestrians.”

With the developer’s traffic consultants in possession of a temporary signal head that could be installed by the end of today and striping also scheduled to be done on Wednesday, the MPT plan is expected to be in effect by Thursday.

Police Lt. James Carroll said officers will be at the site starting today to monitor the traffic and to handle any added volume caused by people coming to the site because they hadn’t heard of the postponement. Carroll will be reporting to both boards on the road conditions during their respective meetings later this week.

Town and planning board members were hopeful the latest improvements would yield positive results.

“It’s coming, it’s happening, we have to make sure it’s done in the most appropriate way, and if that should not work out, we’ll have the opportunity to review it,” said Councilman Jeremy Saland.

But Planning Board member Sheila Crespi said that with Chappaqua Crossing being one of the biggest development projects in the town’s history, Whole Foods should wait to open until the following week when the high school begins its holiday break.

The boards also shouldn’t be rushed into reviewing whether Summit/Greenfield has completed its MPT conditions, she said.

“I think we need to have our eyes on the final plan before any approval is given,” Crespi said.

Councilwoman Lisa Katz countered that as long as Summit/Greenfield can meet its conditions, opening this week would be a better indication of road conditions through most of the year. Then if there are problems, the town can use the holiday week to correct them, she said.

If a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy is issued it would only cover Whole Foods and Chase Bank. Another approval would be needed to allow the complex’s other 40,000-square-foot tenant, Life Time Fitness, to open. Life Time has announced an opening sometime in January.