Affordable Housing Reps Seek Reduced Rec Fee in Somers
The Somers Town Board is considering a request from representatives of a soon-to-be-constructed senior affordable housing project for a reduced recreation fee and a payment in lieu of taxes arrangement.
Representatives of the 75-unit Mews II at Baldwin Place, which is scheduled to begin being constructed in June, attended the February 7 town board work session to seek to pay a $400,000 recreation fee and have a PILOT similar to the one in place for the Mews I, the 72-unit affordable senior housing complex on Route 6 for adults 62 and older. The PILOT plan includes a three percent annual payment increase.
The Mews II will be limited to those 55 and older. The project, which was approved by the Somers Planning Board in late January, is slated to be completed in 2014, according to Kevin Kearney, head of the Kearney Realty and Development Group. Kearney said to “make it economically viable,” the project needed the lower recreation fee requirement from the town. Without a change, the cost of the recreation fee for the Mews II would be $463,450.
Rosemarie Noonan, executive director of the Tarrytown-based Housing Action Council, told the town board 75 homes in the Mews II would be counted by the federal government as affordable units that would go towards the 750 homes that were required as part of the agreement between Westchester County and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“The Housing Action Council is a regional not-for-profit organization dedicated to expanding housing opportunities for low and moderate income households throughout Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and New York counties and other parts of the Hudson Region.,” the Council’s web site states.
Noonan said the Mews II is being funded through county funds and state tax credits. Town Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy said seniors who live in the Mews I use a variety of town programs for their age group, including the Meals on Wheels program.
The town board did not make a decision on the proposals related to the Mews II last week. Murphy explained the board wanted to first hear from residents on the issues during a public hearing, which would be held on March 14.
Murphy said she was open to consider the proposed PILOT arrangement for the Mews II because it is similar to the PILOT currently in place for the Mews I.
