Public Hearing for Toll Brothers’ Mt. Pleasant Townhome Project Nears

A public hearing for Toll Brothers’ proposed 162-unit townhome development on the Legion of Christ property in Thornwood is expected to be held next month on the requested zoning changes needed for the project.

The Mount Pleasant Town Board is scheduled to set a Dec. 12 public hearing at its meeting Tuesday night for the project called Kensico Preserve, that would switch the 96-acre portion of the site where the residences would be built from OB-1 to the R-3A zone to allow for multifamily development. It is the same site where Baker Residential was approved more than five years ago for a 72-house cluster development; however, that project was never built.

In addition to the zoning change, amended zoning text is also needed to permit minimum building separation to be reduced from 75 to 25 feet in a multifamily zone. A second text change that was thought to be needed when Toll Brothers submitted the application in May to allow for two-car garages for the residences instead of one has been determined to be unnecessary by the town.

Attorney David Steinmetz, representing the applicant, said he and his client have spent the past few months before the Planning Board going over some technical issues. Most recently, the Planning Board issued a negative declaration for the project and provided encouraging feedback to the Town Board about the proposal.

“I think we feel like it’s final details of the engineering,” Steinmetz said. “I think we’re getting like a more technical level of review with the town and the staff.”

Under the plan, the residences will be three-bedroom units, most of which would measure between 2,400 and 3,000 square feet. All the bedrooms will be on the lower level.

There can be no full-time residents at Kensico Preserve who are younger than 19 years old to protect the Mount Pleasant School District from a potential significant enrollment increase.

Kevney Moses, Toll Brothers’ land entitlement manager, said up to 25 percent of the units could measure between 1,800 and 2,200 square feet to offer some area residents the opportunity to downsize at a lower price point.

Changes to the plan that were made in time for submission of the application last spring were designed to provide greater protections for the environment, including moving the structures to as close as 25 feet apart, which will preserve open space, Steinmetz said. There will also be less disturbance of wetlands and wetlands buffer.

Moses said the same 25-foot standard for building separation was used by the company at its 68-unit project The Enclave at Pleasantville.

“Within the cluster design approach, it is to diminish the overall footprint, to diminish the overall environmental impacts,” he said.

Moses said groundbreaking could happen as soon as the third quarter of 2024, although that would depend on how quickly Toll Brothers works its way through the zoning change process and then site plan review. Then it can be difficult to forecast when Westchester County Department of Health approval can be received, he said.

It could take until 2025 before construction can commence, he said.

Conveyance of about 48 acres to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection must also be completed, although that process is moving along as expected, Steinmetz added.

Councilwoman Laurie Rogers-Smalley said she was disappointed to hear that groundbreaking may not happen until late 2024.

“I think the community has been looking forward to this for a long time, and I would hope, optimistically hope, that shovels could be in the ground sooner so that we could show something to the public within the next calendar year,” Rogers-Smalley said.

Steinmetz responded that he was happy to hear the board’s enthusiasm for the project.

“Whatever you all can do to encourage town staff and the Planning Board to help us move this as quickly as we can supply the information and that it can be reviewed (promptly), that will help this,” he said.

The Town of Mount Pleasant outside of the villages has no independent age-restricted housing, which has been requested by both the Town Board and residents who hope to downsize and stay in the community.

As part of an agreement with Toll Brothers, the developer would donate 18 acres to the town pending final approval. Officials hope to enhance recreational facilities, including more municipal playing fields. Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi has also talked about exploring using a piece of the land to build an indoor swimming facility.

The public hearing would be part of the Town Board’s Dec. 12 meeting, which would take place at Town Hall at 7 p.m.