Bakery Owner Frosted Over Loss of Parking from Lincoln Project
Rose Sanca will not be putting out a welcoming mat any time soon for a new visitor’s center and public plaza being constructed in front of the Lincoln Depot Museum on South Water Street.
Sanca, who has owned popular Homestyles Desserts for the last 30 years, asserted last week she had been disrespected and “bullied” by the city to make room for improvements outside her door that she claims is hurting her business and creating a safety hazard for employees and customers.
“I’m being blocked in like a sardine. I feel like you want me to leave,” a passionate Sanca told the Peekskill Common Council. “I feel like a criminal. If someone is going to block me off with a fence I would think someone would tell me.”
Sanca appeared before the council the same day a gas leak caused by a construction mishap on the site led to the evacuation of her business, with 350 pies in the oven, and other businesses in the area. No injuries were reported, but Sanca fears it’s just a matter of time before someone is hurt by the elimination of parking spaces that make it impossible for customers to safely enter and exit the premises.
“Parking is crucial. This is embarrassing to me and my store. Sometimes I just want to cry,” she said. “I can’t be here will an alley way and a building being obstructed so you won’t even be able to see Homestyles. I feel lucky to be alive today.”
A few years ago, Sanca obtained 5,562 signatures on petitions opposing the city’s plans for a then multi-story visitor’s center that would have taken away at least a dozen spaces where the front door to the bakery is located and force her to “flip” the entrance to the other side where a city-owned, metered municipal lot exists.
Those plans remained dormant until this spring when a reworked one-story visitor’s center surfaced and a contract was awarded for work to begin so Peekskill didn’t risk losing funding provided by the state.
Mike Welti, director of planning and development for the city, said city officials met with Sanca to discuss the project in August, although City Manager Anthony Ruggiero conceded she was not notified of the actual starting date.
“Nobody wants businesses next door to feel uncomfortable,” Welti said. “The building isn’t located there because we want to be bad neighbors. We shrunk the building as much as we can. The location of the building are all elements of a plan that have been adopted by the council since 2011.”
Sanca had requested a 10-foot easement between the visitor’s center and her store to allow customers the ability to turn around, but she was denied by the council. “I don’t think asking for 10 feet is a lot,” she said. “That 10 feet would have made such a difference.”
Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina suggested the council simply approve an amendment to the original plans for the plaza that would restore the parking spaces customers of Homestyles Desserts had utilized, but Welti said that change could jeopardize the funding for the project.
Jeff Dain, owner of neighboring Dain’s Lumber, said the city should bend over backwards for Sanca, who he noted transferred a former printing building into a successful venture that has transformed the Riverfront Green area.
“Sometimes it’s more important to do the right thing than to be right,” he said.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
