New Castle to Determine if Life Time Fitness Makes Feb. 1 Opening
New Castle officials pressed representatives for Chappaqua Crossing developer Summit/Greenfield this week for information to help the town determine whether traffic from Life Time Fitness and three months of road construction is a manageable condition.
At a public hearing Tuesday night before a joint meeting of the town and planning boards, Summit/Greenfield’s traffic consultant John Collins was told to submit an updated report by the end of the business day Thursday that included projected Life Time Fitness traffic volume. Board members also asked him to gauge the impact of some weekend and extended weekday construction when there are weeklong school holidays in February and April.
Summit/Greenfield is hoping to open the roughly 40,000-square-foot health club and the 3,000-square-foot Pet Valu next Friday, Feb. 1, but both boards must first approve a revised Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO). A Fidelity Investments office would also be allowed to open under the revised TCO request but is not expected to begin operations until at least March.
The two boards approved the original TCO in mid-December; however, it permitted only the opening of Whole Foods and Chase Bank despite unfinished road construction in the vicinity of Roaring Brook Road and Route 117.
Donald Tone, of Sam Schwartz Engineering, the town’s traffic consultant, said during Tuesday’s hearing that he did not have enough information from the applicant to recommend whether Life Time Fitness should open. He hopes to receive the data in time to make a recommendation when the hearing continues on Jan. 29.
“There’s only a very short window before the construction period kicks in and we’re not prepared to give you an expectation of what the traffic conditions will be like during that period with or without that increment turned on,” Tone said.
The construction schedule calls for work to resume on or about Feb. 15 and last until May 17, said David Walsh, director of asset management for Summit Development. Work is proposed to be done on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Walsh said. A lane closure is expected during those hours on most days that crews are on site, he said.
Major tasks include the installation of a drainage structure near the Roaring Brook Road-Route 117 intersection, building a retaining wall and regrading a section of Route 117 north of Roaring Brook Road, according to Walsh.
Town officials expressed hesitancy about approving the revised TCO until the additional information can be analyzed, fearing intolerable traffic congestion near the site. They suggested Summit/Greenfield consider extending hours of construction during the weeks of Feb. 18 and Apr. 15, when Horace Greeley High School, across the street from the Chappaqua Crossing campus on Roaring Brook Road, will not be in session. They also asked the applicant to work weekends before and after those weeks as many residents leave town during those vacation periods.
While traffic flow has been surprisingly smooth near the site since Whole Foods opened Dec. 15, the town is bracing for that to end once Life Time opens and construction begins.
“No matter what it’s going to be bad,” said Councilwoman Hala Makowska. “Now what is the compounding factor of adding Life Time Fitness and Pet Valu and Fidelity?”
Collins said the information he will provide the town’s traffic consultant will help determine how congestion can be handled during the construction period.
“We have to look at the estimated traffic and knowing that at some time we’re going to have to close the roadway,” Collins said. “So we’re going to be down to one lane during construction periods and that’s the analysis that Don and Sam Schwartz have to do to give the board a certain amount of comfort.”
Mark Weingarten, the attorney representing Summit/Greenfield, reminded town officials that even if there can be an accelerated schedule for the drainage and retaining wall, the asphalt plants are not expected to open until mid-April. Therefore, the anticipated finish of the road work cannot be pushed up from its May target date, he said.
Councilman Jeremy Saland said one of the town’s objectives is to consolidate the amount of work when it is being done to minimize inconveniences, even if it will not affect final completion.
Supervisor Robert Greenstein added that the town didn’t want the applicant to cut corners but there is an advantage to having Life Time open next week.
“I also don’t want to lose sight of the fact that there is a benefit to the community of opening Life Time Fitness as well,” Greenstein said. “Not everyone may see it. There’s a lot of people excited about Life Time Fitness and excited to go there. Not everybody, not the whole community, that’s for sure. But there are many people who are excited to use the facility, see the facility.”
On Wednesday, one of the two remaining conditions under the temporary traffic plan to allow Life Time Fitness to open – removal of a utility pole near the Roaring Brook Road-Route 117 intersection – was satisfied. Weingarten said he expected the last obligation, completion of a walking path on the east side of Route 117, to also be completed by next week.
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/