Mount Kisco Says No to Reworked Kirby Commons Development Plan
A majority of the Mount Kisco Village Board that rejected a mixed-use proposal near the train station in April was disinterested last week in entertaining a revised plan from the developer.
Deputy Anthony Markus and trustees Karen Schleimer and David Squirrell, the same three board members who voted down the Kirby Commons proposal in the spring, cited a variety of reasons against meeting with Gotham Organization, Inc. of Manhattan and Charter Realty & Development of Greenwich, Conn. to discuss a reworked plan.
The rejected proposal more than three months ago called for the village and the developers to enter a 99-year lease to build a combined 229 apartments and 34,000 square feet of retail space on the South Moger and North Moger parking lots.
Although the modifications outlined in letters from the developers to the village on June 14 and July 7 addressed some of the concerns raised by board members, it was not enough for any to be swayed to reopen negotiations.
“Personally, I think the financial proposal is so deficient and the traffic issues are so significant, and the commuter parking issues are so significant that I am not willing to go ahead,” said Schleimer, who has been the board’s leading critic of the proposal since the start.
In the two letters sent to the village, representatives for Gotham and Charter stated they would be willing to reduce the height of the South Moger Avenue building from four to three stories; include a pocket park near the entrance of the South Moger Avenue building that includes lawn space, shrubs and several benches; make no changes to the North Moger lot’s overlay zoning that would cap building coverage at 80 percent and development coverage at 90 percent; and reserve at least 32 spaces for commuters in the South Moger parking structure.
In exchange, the developers would seek a reduction in the initial PILOT program payments from $200,000 to $160,000 a year for the first 10 years of the 30-year agreement, which would be divided proportionately between the village, Bedford School District and county; reduce the annual parking maintenance fee from $100,000 to $60,000; and provide 13 affordable units instead of 15 to reflect the corresponding percentage of two-bedroom unit reduction with the elimination of the South Moger building’s fourth floor.
Additionally, the developers later proposed reducing the roughly 900 parking spaces by about 47 percent.
Squirrell said the reworked plan represented such a significant change that he believed that the Request for Proposal (RFP) process should be reopened, and other bids sought.
Village Attorney Whitney Singleton advised that municipal laws governing villages, as opposed to towns and cities, doesn’t require the board to restart the RFP process. It is the Village Board’s discretion if it wants to pursue other contractors in search of a more advantageous agreement, he said.
However, the changes are significant enough that Gotham and Charter would need to revisit the county’s Industrial Development Agency for approval, Singleton said. That process would take at least several months, likely coinciding with the guaranteed arrival of two new board members on Dec. 1, Schleimer said.
The county did communicate that it did not look favorably on the affordable unit reduction, although Mount Kisco does not have an affordable housing ordinance in place because of its demographics.
Trustee Peter Grunthal said he would be willing to sit down again with the developers in hopes of reaching a palatable agreement. The additions address points that were previously requested by the board, he said.
The one troubling aspect of the plan, Grunthal acknowledged, was the additional request in the July 7 letter for the sharp reduction in parking.
“I think to start over again, quite frankly, is a huge waste of time,” Grunthal said. “We have a good proposal in front of us, at least in my view we do, and the changes that are being suggested are very much responding to what we want to do.”
Mayor Gina Picinich said despite rejection of the project in April, Gotham and Charter returned because the village remains an attractive market for them.
“They still want to work with us because they will believe that an investment in Mount Kisco is a good investment,” Picinich said. “So my hope tonight was to be able to get a meeting between our board and Gotham and Charter.”
However, Markus agreed with Schleimer that the county IDA approval and changes that would need to be made would causes delays that would run into the new board members taking office.
“To continue the dialogue doesn’t make sense,” 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/
