‘When Is It Enough?’: Residents Slam Pleasantville Development Plan
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Plans for Former Chase Bank Site Spark Concerns Over Traffic and Village Character
By Abby Luby
Pleasantville residents strongly objected to the proposed development of the former Chase Bank building at Wednesday night’s public hearing held by the Pleasantville Planning Commission.
About a dozen people came in person while some 30 people attended via Zoom.
Most of the complaints objected to the village being overdeveloped, changing the “small village” feel already impacted with newer residential buildings at 70 Memorial Plaza and the Atwood on Vanderbilt Ave.
“My personal opinion is with over 200 apartments in town I can’t see why we need another apartment building,” resident Tom Rooney told the commission.
Melisa Russo, a Pleasantville resident since 2018, also rejected more development.
“When is it enough? There are so many apartments in this village and we’re at capacity. We have enough rentals. When do we stop saying yes to development?” Russo asked.
Some referred to the mixed-use, three-story building at 70 Memorial Plaza that opened in 2023 and how 13 of the 82 available apartments were not occupied.
“We are totally overwhelmed,” Christine Iovino said. “We already have this huge building that’s not full at all. We’re ruining the historical nature of the village.”
The former bank project, known as The Landmark, was proposed by the developer 444 Associates LLC more than two years ago. The plan includes renovating the existing five-story former bank to create 3,000 square feet of retail space on the first two floors with new apartments in the three floors above.
Adjacent to the former bank will be newly built apartment buildings. A total of 36 apartments will include 18 one-bedroom units and 18 two-bedroom apartments, four of which would be designated affordable housing.
Owner of 444 Bedford Rd. Michael Beldotti was at the meeting with his lawyer Jeffrey Gasbarro who offered a brief formal presentation of the proposed development.
Many residents were worried about the expected increase in traffic at the already congested intersection of Wheeler Ave. and Bedford Rd.
“For us to get into town, the traffic along Manville Rd. and Bedford at the start of school or when school lets out, you can sit there for hours,” said Judy Gordon. “And there is the Burns Film Center at matinee times when the need for parking is constant.”
The plan to merge the adjacent two lots which now serve as parking lots could also limit parking for churchgoers attending Holy Innocents Church on Sundays.
“Where are they going to park?” asked Iovino. “There’s so much congestion with people trying to cross.”
Although the board told of the extensive traffic studies done in the last two years, many residents remained skeptical.
The developer presented a new traffic study in Sept. 2024 at the request of the commission. Board members explained that the study closely examined the Bedford and Wheeler intersection on various days and during key peak periods — including school drop-off and pick-up times, weekday mornings and afternoons, and high-traffic weekend hours such as during the Saturday Farmers Market.
“They looked at the intersection based on the number of people who would move into the building based on the statistics of similar locations throughout the country in villages this size,” commission member Henry Leyva explained.
“They did a traffic study locally to see how that compares to the national average. It was based on the number of cars that are expected to be added with the development and how that might affect the number of vehicles going through an intersection peak morning, peak afternoons,” Leyva added.
The study concluded that the additional residential apartments would not create a significant concern in the downtown district.
During the meeting renderings of the development were shown on poster boards and on a large screen. Objections were raised about the exterior materials used for the new buildings.
“We live in this beautiful village and I don’t think this building reflects the historical character of the village,” Tierney Latella told the board. “This is a very generic design. Can we work together to find a design that respects the charm of our village and one that we can be proud of? I don’t see that in these renderings.”
Board members acknowledged that they had requested several different design plans in the past two years asking for different exterior materials to better fit in with the village aesthetic.
At the end of the almost two hour meeting, Commission Chair Russell Klein said the public hearing would remain open for additional public comments.
“Your comments are very valuable for us and we will do the best that we can to address them,” Klein said.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to meet again on May 28, when the board may introduce a resolution to approve the proposal, with a vote expected in June. If approved, construction is projected to take approximately 24 months.
The 444 Bedford Rd. traffic study can be viewed here:
The 444 Bedford Rd. proposed development can be viewed here:
https://pleasantville.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=5491&MeetingID=714
Abby is a local journalist who has reported on breaking news for more than 20 years. She currently covers community issues in The Examiner as a full-time reporter and has written for the paper since its inception in 2007. Read more from Abby’s editor-author bio here. Read Abbys’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/ab-lub2019/