Pleasantville Eyes June 23 for Assisted Living Facility Rezone Vote
Following a three-month postponement, the Pleasantville Village Board is prepared to vote on the proposed zoning change for the Benchmark Senior Living project on Monday, June 23.
The decision whether to create a floating zone to accommodate the 87-unit project near the United Methodist Church was initially scheduled for March 31. However, it was delayed after a letter arrived from the state Department of Transportation (DOT) shortly before that night’s meeting, which raised several issues, including ownership of a retaining wall and whether the wall would need to be moved back onto the property.
In April, the DOT revealed the wall could stay put, but Benchmark still had to comply with a variety of requests from the agency. Following the submission of a various documents to the DOT, village trustees had their first opportunity to review the submissions at Monday night’s meeting.
“It is the view of all of us, including our planning consultant…that Benchmark has satisfactorily addressed the comments of the Department of Transportation, which for the most part, were clarification of facts that were already on the table,” said Mayor Peter Scherer.
Among the changes made was increasing the size of the cut planned for the retaining wall for the site’s entrance by 15 feet on either side. Benchmark representative Richard Pearson explained that due to the curvature of the planned driveway, the larger opening will not have a major visual impact.
The size of the opening was increased at the request of the DOT in order to create greater sight distance for drivers, many of whom would be elderly, entering or leaving the property.
The larger opening will also accommodate more snow storage during the winter months. In addition, the site will now include a guardrail on one side to mitigate potential head on collisions.
Benchmark will be responsible for the retaining wall, which Scherer said is better for the community. That way the wall will not become a liability for taxpayers, he said. Village trustees noted that the stability of the wall once cut is a concern, but it has recently been deemed stable following a review by engineers.
Neighboring residents have opposed the Benchmark project, with many believing that the structure would not fit in with the residential neighborhood. Also, many local residents would be able to afford to live there.
Most recently, many residents objected to the implementation of a floating zone to accommodate the project, accusing village officials of engaging in spot zoning and fearing the use of the zone will allow for the construction of more commercial buildings in other residential areas.
In an effort to gather public support, Benchmark Senior Living sent a mailing out to all village residents, which contained a letter and a fact sheet explaining issues such as the floating zone and the facility’s benefits.
Bill Stoller, one of the residents who received the literature, noted that much of the information rehashed old arguments already discussed at multiple public meetings and accused Benchmark of making false arguments. He noted that the flyer states that Benchmark reduced the height of the proposed building from four stories to three, but pointed out that this was only done after the village would not allow the four-story building. Despite the reduced height, the facility will still house the same number of people, Stoller said.
He also said that while letter touts how the facility would generate $400,000 in property taxes, residents have stated that that sum is largely insignificant compared to the size of the village and Pleasantville School District budgets. Therefore, tax rates will hardly be affected.
Stoller questioned why Benchmark chose to send this information out now, as opposed to March, considering that the public record on the matter closed a week before the original vote was set to take place.
“I personally think it’s a little telling that now they send this,” Stoller said. “We were going to vote March 31 and they didn’t do this. Now why didn’t they do this then but they’re doing it now? Did they think in March that they had it in the bag, and they think in June maybe not?”
David J. Cooper, an attorney with Zarin & Steinmetz, the firm representing Benchmark Senior Living, stated that the information was recently sent to residents because the company felt many were still misinformed about the project. They wanted to ease residents’ concerns about the floating zone, and assure them it would not result in mass development of commercial buildings.
“In between [March] and now, there was a lot of misinformation that was floating around the village, and we felt that it was appropriate to correct that misinformation…I think if people understand the facts they will get behind the project, so we certainly want the facts out there,” Cooper said. “There is a lot of good, not only for the village, but for the community itself.”
Scherer said that it is the “preliminary intention” of the board to vote on the Benchmark resolution at the next regular board meeting on June 23. The meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m.
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