Mt. Kisco ShopRite Opening Hinges on DOT Traffic Signal This Week

The Mount Kisco Planning Board is set to vote on a resolution next week that could grant ShopRite a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) to allow the store to open as long as a new traffic light is functional.

Board members indicated the supermarket could open to the public by Nov. 3 after Diamond Properties owner Jim Diamond, whose company owns the complex at 333 N. Bedford Rd. where the nearly-completed store is located, explained that most of the project’s outstanding items were on the verge of completion.

Diamond said state Department of Transportation (DOT) representatives are scheduled to make a visit to the Diamond Properties complex’s northern entrance this Wednesday or Thursday to determine whether the light is ready to become operational. He said he is hopeful that there will be an working traffic light outside the northern entrance within days of that DOT visit.

“The big thing is really the traffic light,” Diamond said at the Oct. 8 Planning Board meeting. “The poles are now up, we got news that the installer will be hanging the lights tomorrow and the balance of this week. We’re scheduled with the DOT for an inspection Oct. 16, possibly the 17^th if it gets pushed, so we are cautiously optimistic that we’ll actually have traffic lights turned on shortly thereafter.”

He and representatives on behalf of ShopRite have appealed to the Planning Board for a temporary or conditional Certificate of Occupancy to expedite the store’s opening. Additional time is needed to prepare the supermarket compared to other businesses because tens of thousands of items must be placed on the shelves and product must be delivered to the roughly 85,000-square-foot supermarket.

Last month, ShopRite was targeting an Oct. 26 opening, but if the Planning Board were to grant the TCO at its next meeting on Oct. 22, the debut would likely be on Nov. 3.

“What we’re really asking is for the board to provide a mechanism for the Building Department to issue a TCO as soon as they’re confident that there’s no life-safety issues” that still need to be completed, Diamond said.

The only other items that are considered life-safety issues that must still be done are the installation of exit signs, emergency lighting and fire extinguishers. All of those tasks will be easily completed by the store’s opening, he said.

The board, which at its previous meeting appeared to demand that all conditions must be fully satisfied before any type of Certificate of Occupancy is issued, indicated last week they would relent as long as the safety issues were resolved. The most notable piece of the project that will have to wait is the applicant’s construction of a fieldhouse near the athletic field, which is only about 50 to 60 percent finished, according to Diamond. There are also two islands with landscaping that must be finished.

“I really hope that Oct. 16 inspection goes well because that light is a real issue,” said board Co-chair Crystal Pickard. “I think we all know that.”

A contingency plan to open by the target date was not endorsed by the board. It proposed that southbound traffic on North Bedford Road headed to the site would use a new connection through the Kohl’s department store lot while northbound traffic would use Ice House Road into the site. The backup plan would also include the opening of the slip lane that would be available for drivers coming from the north to make a right turn into the site.

Pickard added that the Ice House Road access would likely not fare well without the northern entrance being entirely open and functioning with the traffic light.

The village’s traffic consultant, Georges Jacquesmart, said he read a recent report from JMC, the site development consultants for the applicant, and concurred that without the working traffic light and a fully-functioning intersection, Saturday afternoons would present a problem. The JMC report concluded that the intersection at Ice House Road would have a service level of F as well as the area near the Kohl’s connection during that peak period.

Jacquesmart said that could be mitigated with police officers directing traffic and signage to inform motorists of where to turn.

However, board members were hesitant to give the go-ahead without the traffic light. Co-chair Michael McGuirk said he would expect an initial surge of interest in the new supermarket, which would likely drive more traffic to the site in the opening days and weeks.

Another board member, Michael Bonforte, said last week he would be unable to make a decision until he hears what the DOT determines this week.

“I just don’t know right now. I’m not trying to be difficult, but I just don’t know until Oct. 17 when the DOT hopefully does their job, does their work and reports back, then I’ll have a better idea,” Bonforte said. “But right now I couldn’t make a decision based upon the information we have.”

Pickard said that she would have no problem approving a TCO as long as the traffic light is functional, but the contingency plan would present a problem.

“I don’t think we’re comfortable with that.” Pickard said. “I think it’s just too much of a hardship on the village.”

ShopRite is under time constraints because the current store farther north on North Bedford Road in Bedford Hills is slated to close by the end of the year and supermarket representatives want the new store operational in advance of the start of the holiday season.