North Castle Approves Mariani Permit; Site Plan Review Next

The North Castle Town Board approved a special permit for Mariani Gardens last Wednesday, allowing the applicant’s proposed 43-unit residential development to advance to site plan approval.

The 4-1 vote came after the board closed the public hearing. Much of the acrimony that has marked the public discussions of the project was absent from last week’s final session of the hearing. In a contentious atmosphere in June, the board voted 3-2 to rezone the four-acre property from Nursery Business to the Residential-Multifamily-Downtown Armonk Zoning District.

Plans call for luxury rentals that include four four-bedroom units in two structures closest to Bedford Road, a 16-unit structure on the side near where the empty greenhouse currently stands and a 23-unit building in the back of the property that will contain the five affordable apartments.

In addition to the four-bedroom units, the project would contain 24 one-bedroom apartments, nine two-bedroom units and six three-bedroom residences.

“It’s been a long process, it’s been a good process,” said attorney Mark Miller, representing applicant 45 Bedford Road LLC. “I think the project, I think we can all agree, is much better than when we started and we’re on to the Planning Board.”

Miller said he expects a roughly six-month site plan review. His client will be unable to obtain a building permit to begin construction should site plan approval be granted until there is capacity for the project in the town’s Sewer District #2 and sufficient water in Water District #4.

That could delay issuance of a building permit for a few months or for a much longer period of time.

The project is expected to have average daily sewage flows of 4,322 gallons and use 8,360 gallons of water a day, plus another 5,500 gallons for irrigation.

Before last week’s vote, Councilwoman Barbara DiGiacinto convinced her board colleagues to agree on a recommendation to the Planning Board calling for the applicant to consider building a rainwater cistern, if feasible. The system would collect rainwater to be recycled for irrigation purposes to cut down on water use.

The applicant must also reach an agreement with the owner of 40 Bedford Rd. to satisfy the condition of building a sidewalk across the street that connects to the Armonk Square entrance on Bedford Road.

In the final resolution, board members were able to have the applicant commit to funding the right-hand turn lane from Bedford Road onto Maple Avenue in hopes of mitigating a traffic increase. The town’s traffic consultant had concluded the project would not have a negative impact on the operation of the intersection of Bedford and Maple.

After the meeting, Supervisor Michael Schiliro said the town is exploring multiple options regarding the sewer district. Currently, there isn’t sewer capacity for the project but officials are considering ways to improve efficiencies in the system that could avoid an imminent expansion, he said.

The town has been considering expanding its sewage plant from a 500,000-gallon daily capacity to as much as 700,000 gallons a day.

“Everything’s on the table,” Schiliro said. “We’re looking at everything and the fact that maybe we don’t need to go above 500,000 (gallons).”

The applicant had already agreed to pay about $1.25 million into a Community Benefits Agreement that would help toward potential expansion of the water and sewer districts.

Despite the outcry from a contingent of residents who have feared that the project would be too large and out of character with the Bedford Road Historic District, the board moved ahead with approval. Schiliro, who called the proposal “a positive project for the town,” said he and his colleagues grappled with the issue but ultimately believed that a residential development would be more manageable at the site than having commercial uses.

“This did happen shortly after we updated the Comprehensive Plan and I made comments to the applicant that were not received well, basically where were you (during) the process of the Comprehensive Plan?” Schiliro said. “I think I will also say the world has changed significantly with respect to development and commercial development and the economy.”

Although DiGiacinto voted against the rezone because of concerns about density and building size, she said the applicant’s willingness to make improvements to the design of the buildings, pay for the right-hand turn lane and explore the rainwater cistern led her to believe the project could work despite her concerns.

“I don’t want to just be a negative,” DiGiacinto said. “If I can take something that I’m not madly in love with – I also don’t think it’s horrible – and make it better, than I think I’ve accomplished one of my goals as a Town Board member.”

The dissenting vote was from Councilman Jose Berra who said the density at the site is “objectionable to me and I think it’s objectionable to a lot of other people.”

“I wouldn’t be as opposed to the height if it were smaller buildings like we have now,” Berra said. “But it’s the combination of factors – height and size.”

Before the close of the hearing there were four speakers, including former Architectural Review Board Chairman Alex Bacon. He said the proposed buildings are likely to blend in with the historic district and that if Mark Mariani were proposing the greenhouse that is there now, the objections would be overwhelming.

“We have an opportunity to do something better on this property, more sympathetic to the historic district,” Bacon said.