Crossroads at Baldwin Place Receives Town Board Approvals
Over the objections of a local resident representing six homeowners, the Somers Town Board voted unanimously for a series of resolutions requested by the developer of the proposed Crossroads at Baldwin Place on Aug. 4.
The development would be located on the site of the National Golfworx driving range on Route 6.
Ken Kearney, founder and president of the Mahopac-based The Kearney Realty & Development Group, has proposed a roughly 24,000 square foot commercial office building, which would include offices for his company, with 12,000 square feet on each floor. He is also seeking to construct three residential buildings, totaling about 60,000 square feet. The first building would consist of 24, one-bedroom units of senior housing; the second building would contain 24 one-bedroom units of senior housing; and the third building would consist of 12 two- and three-bedroom units, with eight of the units to be set aside for affordable housing, which Kearny said previously could become part of the county’s housing settlement with HUD or for the town to use toward its requirements under the Angle Fly Preserve agreement.
The senior housing is intended for those 55 and older.
Kearney also proposed a series of infrastructure improvements to the Baldwin Place area, including construction of about 2,000 feet of sidewalks along Route 6 to connect the northern and southern portions of the road, two pedestrian crosswalks on the road, and the extension of the current Westchester County sewer line in area to Mahopac Avenue. The infrastructure improvements would be helpful to not only his development, but would encourage future commercial development in Baldwin Place.
The county Board of Legislators would need to provide its approval to include the development and other neighboring properties in the county’s sewer district.
Because the development is proposed in a neighborhood shopping district the town board would need to make a zoning text change to allow the commercial building to not be required to have housing on the second floor.
The proposal will also be forwarded to Westchester County and the Town of Carmel because a half-acre of the property is located in the Town of Carmel.
Last week the town board held a public hearing on its resolution to ask the county to allow not only the properties that would be included in the mixed used development into its sewer district, but 12 other adjacent properties located in the Route 6 corridor, including two residential properties.
Rich Williams from Insite Engineering said the developer is seeking to extend the sewer district from Mahopac Avenue to the county line.
Several commercial property owners who would be included in the expanded county sewer district said sewers would allow them to increase business development on their lands. Ralph Hurd said including his property in the county district would increase the values of this and adjacent properties, which now have limitations because they are on septics.
Another property owner, Paul Iacuone, agreed with Hurd, saying, “This issue is critical to
us.”
The one resident who opposed the proposal to expand the sewer district was Mahopac Avenue homeowner Dennis Persico, who said he and other residents in his neighborhood also opposed the zoning text change being sought by the developer. Persico said if 30 additional housing units were constructed property values would be reduced in his neighborhood. However, Persico and his fellow homeowners would be willing to not oppose the development if their six homes were included in the county sewer district. Having sewers for their homes would be an “offset” to the negative impacts of the proposed development, Persico said.
But Kearney and town Supervisor Rick Morrissey opposed including the six homes into the petition requesting the expansion of the sewer district because they believed the county would not approve the request if it included the current homes.
After learning that the town board and the developer were not interested in asking the county to expand the sewer district to include the six homes in his neighborhood, Persico said he and his fellow homeowners would consider filing an Article 78 law suit against the town if it okayed the zoning text amendments sought by the developer.
Despite the criticisms voiced by Persico, the town board voted unanimously to extend Somers Sewer District #1 to include the land that would be part of the proposed development and to petition Westchester County to expand its sewer district, which would need to be approved by the board of legislators.
The town board also voted unanimously to modify the parameters of the Neighborhood Shopping District, which included the approval of the community benefits package of infrastructure improvements proposed by the developer.
