Town Board Approves Scoping Document for Somers Crossing
Despite concerns from members that there was no company that had agreed to move into the proposed supermarket building, the Somers Town Board voted unanimously to accept the scoping document submitted by the developer of the Somers Crossing project.
As a result of the town board vote on October 10, the developer will go forward with the draft environmental impact statement for the project, which is before the planning board.
Boniello Land & Trust is proposing that the supermarket would be 19,000 square feet and the development would also include a 60-unit multi-family residential building that would be geared toward “active adults” 55 and older and a 75-bed memory care facility on nearly 15 acres of a nearly 27-acre site off routes 100 and 202.
Most of the property is zoned R-80, which allows one home per two acres; and a small portion on the front side of the land is zoned R-40, which allows for one home per acre. The developer is asking the town board to create a Multifamily Residence Downtown Hamlet for the project, which would need planning board approval.
Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy said the board was only deciding on whether to accept the scoping document at the meeting. “This is not to approve the zoning change,” she emphasized.
Murphy and her town board colleagues pressed representatives of the developer to assure them that the supermarket space would be occupied if the project was approved.
Richard O’Rouke, an attorney representing the developer, said the town board was deciding on how to “set the scope” of the DEIS. Questions about the proposed supermarket viable would be answered in the DEIS, he said.
Councilman Anthony Cirieco said he wanted to know what type of food store would come to the supermarket space. A Stop & Shop utilizes about 70,000 square feet, while a Trader Joe’s could occupy 19,000 square feet.
Developer Gus Boniello said he had not secured a contract with a company to move into the supermarket space.
O’Rouke said the plan was for a food store to come to the supermarket space and not another type of business. “We cannot unilaterally change the use” without town approval, he said.
In response to a request from Murphy, O’Rourke said he was not prepared to provide a letter of intent from a potential occupant of the supermarket space because it was too early in the approval process.
The only resident who addressed the project at the meeting was Somers League of Women Voters Vice President Carol Sturtz, who said the scoping document should not have been approved by the town board. “Somers must plan for the future,” she said, adding the town Master Plan has not been updated in 20 years.
One of her concerns was that a store would not come to fill the supermarket space, Sturtz said. The town must plan before the future before approving the developer’s proposal, she said.
Despite their concerns about the supermarket space, the board unanimously approved the scoping document.
