No. Castle Holds Off on Accepting FEIS for Proposed 175-Unit Development

The North Castle Town Board delayed accepting the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for a proposed 175-unit residential complex until it is satisfied with the language in the document regarding several key issues.

No action was taken by the board last week during resumption of the public hearing regarding the Airport Campus application at the site of the old MBIA property at 113 King St. The applicant is seeking to build 125 fee simple townhouses and convert one of the existing office buildings into 50 age-restricted apartments.

A zoning change is being requested of the Town Board to switch the 39-acre parcel from the Designed Business Office District to two residential multifamily zones, one for the townhouses and the other with a senior citizen designation for the age-restricted units.

Some of the nearly 90 minutes of discussion at the board’s July 12 meeting included the status of an agreement that is being negotiated between the developer and two environmental groups, Riverkeeper and the National Resources Defense Council, to protect the nearby Kensico Reservoir, and how to ensure that the townhomes’ dens and flexible spaces aren’t converted into additional bedrooms.

Other issues, such as water and sewer infrastructure that the town’s consulting engineers at Kellard Sessions outlined in a memo that was sent to the board the day before the meeting, deal primarily with site plan review matters that are mostly expected to be addressed before the Planning Board.

Town Board members raised different issues they felt needed to be addressed before they accept the FEIS as complete and ultimately approve the zoning change. Councilwoman Barbara DiGiacinto said she would like the board to see any conservation agreement that is reached between the developer and the environmental groups. She also has ongoing concerns about density and believes the fire department needs to weigh in on the plan.

“I think at this time I feel rather strongly that I would like to see the resolution for the agreement with Riverkeeper,” DiGiacinto said. “To me, that’s very important to have that as part of the FEIS. I am concerned about the density and it doesn’t seem like there’s any negotiation.”

In April, a representative from each of those groups appeared on the matter and they and the applicant to work toward an amicable solution to protect the reservoir.

Councilmen Matt Milim and Jose Berra also expressed their desire to learn what would be in an agreement between the parties.

“It was always presented to us that the conservation easements are not an issue, and I think that came about as a result of what I always interpreted as an honest miscommunication” between you and your group, Milim said.

Christopher Fisher, one of the attorneys representing Airport Campus, said last week they have given the environmental groups two weeks to reach a final settlement regarding any changes made to the plans to help protect the water quality and increase buffer area. However, he said any agreement does not need the town’s approval, and doesn’t affect the state Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process, zoning or unit count, only site plan layout.

“It’s a private matter between us, frankly, and Westchester Land Trust,” Fisher said. “If there was ever a dispute about that, you’re not a party to that. In fact, the Town Board has no jurisdiction at all.”

The other attorney for the applicant, Anthony Veneziano disputed DiGiacinto’s claim that there hasn’t been negotiation about density. He said that Toll Brothers, which will develop the townhouses, agreed to forgo condo taxation.

“Toll Brothers decided to go fee simple for the taxation, and we used your suggestion to split the zone,” Veneziano said, referring to the two separate multifamily designations. “That’s when the deal was cut.”

Another major point of contention last week for Berra was finding a way to prevent townhouse unit owners from turning the proposed dens and flexible space areas in the units into additional bedrooms that could house significant numbers of schoolchildren.

“We’ve been calculating this as a certain number of bedrooms and what we’re seeing is that conceivably you could have more bedrooms,” Berra said. “It came up at Eagle Ridge, but that could happen here.”

Veneziano said Toll Brothers has agreed to a covenant ensuring that there are only going to be three-bedroom units. Also, the design of the units, intended to be with first-floor master bedrooms, makes it a natural for older active adults who use the extra space for when their children or grandchildren visit and/or to use as office space.

A similar product at the 68-townhouse Enclave at Pleasantville yielded seven school-age children, representatives for the applicant pointed out. This is not the type of unit where buyers are moving in with three or four children, Veneziano said.

“This is not an independent developer whose got six units that’s coming in with some scam,” he said. “They do this all over, thousands of units all over, and they’ve studied stuff.”

Supervisor Michael Schiliro said he’s not as concerned about the generation of schoolchildren because the layout differs from other projects in town that have generated ample numbers of families with kids. Even if there weren’t dens and flex spaces, a family with three or four children would be able to put two children in one of two of the bedrooms.

“I think it’s important to understand what the floor plans are, but also understand the realities of what’s really realistic, of what’s going to happen here in the final user, especially if they’re building based on who they’re marketing to,” Schiliro said.

Multiple board members expressed the need for the fire department to examine the final layout and floor plans.

The hearing was adjourned until the board’s next meeting on July 26, when it  potentially could decide whether to accept the FEIS.