P’ville Officials Mull Options as End of Moratorium Nears
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The Pleasantville Village Board presented three options last week that will determine how the municipality approaches future development as the expiration of the six-month moratorium enacted over the winter approaches.
Last week the board held a special work session focused on actions the board could take that would impact new building in the downtown area in advance of the July 30 end to the building ban.
The board considered three options – allowing the moratorium to expire with no changes to the zoning code while it continues to explore various ideas related to development; allowing the moratorium to expire and propose changes to the zoning code based on recommendations from village consultant BFJ Planning; or extending the moratorium while considering other action.
No one on the five-member board voiced support for extending the moratorium. A new resolution would have to be approved by a majority of the board for it to continue beyond next month.
Changes to the zoning code would require the board to propose and approve amendments to the code and schedule and hold a public hearing before a vote.
The June 5 work session lasted more than three hours with only two village residents attending, including former village trustee Jonathan Cunningham. A multitude of issues were discussed from parking requirements to building height to economic impacts and senior housing.
Village trustees David Vinjamuri and Nicole Asquith expressed interest in creating more affordable housing while offering developers economic incentives to make those projects viable. Asquith said that she was receiving more comments from residents that supported additional development.
Trustee Michael Peppard proposed creating a special scenic view district. He presented visuals showing the hypothetical district around the new civic space that will be constructed at Memorial Plaza. Peppard cited other municipalities that have incorporated special scenic view zoning that limits building heights so views aren’t obstructed.
“The view from the civic space might be worth protecting,” Peppard said. “The harmony between the built environment and the landscape is beneficial. People don’t think about what would be lost if they never see the horizon.”
Discussed at length was the proposed project for the former Chase Bank building at 444 Bedford Rd. The project was met by local pushback last fall, which resulted in a well-attended town hall meeting on development where residents pressed for a moratorium.
The project for the former Chase Bank was denied an exemption from the moratorium in April. Review of the proposal is expected to resume once the moratorium ends.
The proposed mixed-use plan, which had been before the Planning Commission, would preserve the five-story bank building and add four other structures that would include 36 rental apartments –16 one-bedroom units and 20 two-bedroom apartments, four of which would be affordable. One commercial space could house a retail establishment.
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/
