Banksville Commercial Property Rezoned After Years of Wrangling
After years of debate, North Castle officials last week rezoned about 15 acres of commercial property in Banksville to protect nearby residents from being disturbed by businesses with high intensity uses.
The town board unanimously agreed on Sept. 11 to rezone 14.7 acres along the northerly side of Banksville Avenue from General Business (GB) to Residential Commercial (RC) and to amend the town code to allow one acre at the corner of Bedford Banksville Road and Banksville Avenue to change from a GB zone to a Central Business B (CB-B) district.
Director of Planning Adam Kaufman said the key component of the revision will be to allow enterprises such as professional offices, studios, retail uses, carry out restaurants, fine arts schools and recreation centers to operate if it is an accessory use of no more than 1,500 square feet. The residential portion of a structure must be at least 900 square feet, he said.
Existing businesses are grandfathered in and not affected by the revision, Kaufman said. Any new operations would have to adhere to the terms of the rezoning.
Officials are optimistic that the rezoning will prevent large operations and industrial uses that would be incompatible with the significant number of residential properties in the area but allows owners the opportunity to utilize their properties.
“I’m very happy we’ve been able to come to an agreement between the parties and that we can finally put this to bed,” said Councilman Stephen D’Angelo. “While everybody might not be 100 percent happy with it, at least they agree that they’re willing to live with it and we can always work to make it better sometime down the road.”
Since 2008, a contingent of hamlet residents battled with commercial property owners about the future direction of a portion of the hamlet. The issue came to a head when two applications came before the town shortly afterwards, including one proposal for a commercial landscaper.
More recently, after extensive negotiations, the residents group and commercial property owners hammered out a compromise that was acceptable to both sides, said attorney Charles Banks who represented the property owners. Banks said the agreement wasn’t perfect but his clients were willing to go along.
“As far as the overall feeling of the group, this is acceptable to them, they can live with it, they’ll use their best efforts in good faith to live with it and they expect tonight that the town board will pass it in its present form,” Banks said before the vote.
Resident Steve O’Connor, who along with his wife, Denise, were two of the key people who helped forge the settlement, agreed with Banks that both sides worked hard to resolve the issue.
“I think I share the sentiment with everyone of terrific relief that I think we’re about to enjoy as a result of finally working this out,” O’Connor said.
Both sides thanked town officials for assisting them in reaching the deal.
Supervisor Howard Arden said he felt a great deal of satisfaction, although it was the two parties that did most of the work.
“This is one where I really think that we accomplished something and I’m very proud of you guys for working it out,” he said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
