Traffic Examined as Mt. Kisco ShopRite Hearing Gets Underway

By Ed Perratore

Details of ShopRite’s traffic plan related to its proposed 85,000-square-foot supermarket at the Diamond Properties complex in Mount Kisco were scrutinized last week as nearby residents remained apprehensive about the often-snarled North Bedford Road corridor.

The Planning Board opened the public hearing last Thursday with representatives for the applicant updating the board on the project, including sharing the results of a traffic study conducted by Armonk-based JMC Site Development Consultants.

“A combination of things have come to fruition that allow for a substantial investment into both the property and the intersections where the property accesses (North) Bedford Road,” said project architect Michael Gallin.

The plan is for ShopRite to move from the Bedford Green Shopping Center in Bedford Hills to the complex known as The Park at 333 N. Bedford Rd. ShopRite would take up 85,652 square feet in the building’s northeast corner.

While Diamond Properties must still obtain various permits and variances, Gallin said a significant benefit to the project is that the property’s two openings to North Bedford Road would be realigned to ease traffic, with fewer – and better timed – traffic signals.

The property’s southern exit currently meets North Bedford Road immediately south of the entrance to the Brookside Village condominium development. Diamond Properties, which has purchased 309 N. Bedford Rd., is proposing to demolish a portion of that property’s structures to allow The Park’s lower driveway to curve north from where it is now, aligning with Brookside’s entrance and resulting in a four-way intersection with a single traffic light.

The Park’s northern exit currently accesses North Bedford Road near the opening of the Foxwood condos and the northern entrance to the Mount Kisco Square shopping center. Diamond Properties has signed a long-term agreement with the property owners of 383 N. Bedford Rd. for demolition rights and the option to construct a new, smaller building set back farther away from the street.

The current two-lane driveway to and from 333 N. Bedford Rd. would also be curved south, passing in front of the new building, to align directly with Foxwood’s driveway across an intersection with a single light.

Another proposed change includes dedicated left-turn lanes at the approaches to both driveways. The plan would also offer easier pedestrian access to the supermarket, with crosswalks and traffic lights for anyone crossing North Bedford on foot.

Marc Pedroro, a senior project manager for JMC, summarized the traffic report that his firm submitted. The report analyzed 11 intersections between Barker Street in Mount Kisco and Bedford Hills’ Adams Street where it meets Bedford Road. Vehicle traffic was counted during two peak times, 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.

Perdroro said JMC actually counted ShopRite’s traffic twice – anticipating ShopRite’s arrival at 333. N. Bedford Rd. in Mount Kisco and at its current Bedford Hills location because of the possibility of another supermarket moving into the latter space.

Foxwood residents who attended the meeting voiced concern about the project and whether the proposed changes would be effective.

“Right now, trying to get out of Foxwood is difficult, and I’ve had some conversations with the police who say they really couldn’t do much,” said Louise Gantress, who has lived there for five years.

“Did you visit Foxwood, Brookside and Sutton Place, the senior-citizen (condo development)?” asked Judith Sage, a 12-year Foxwood resident. “This is a very high-density residential area, not just a commercial area, and I wonder, the way the traffic is now, whether the ambulances and the fire trucks are getting around the way they used to.”

Sage further questioned the times of day used in the traffic study, insisting that the busiest time is actually lunch hour, between 12 and 1 p.m.

“I’m just going by when I can’t turn out of my driveway,” she said.

Pedroro responded that the peak periods in the study were not selected arbitrarily.

“We had a camera across the road for a period of one week, and the traffic times, the peaks, were when we did our counts,” he said.

The village’s traffic consultant, plus another representing the Town of Bedford, also signed off on the study, Pedroro said.

A concern for the residents was whether ShopRite, at its proposed new home, might open before any proposed improvements to North Bedford Road and the property’s driveways are made. Gallin said that would not happen.

“The intersections would be aligned and completed prior to ShopRite moving in,” he said.

It was mentioned that construction of the new supermarket could begin as soon as next spring.

However, Planning Board Chairman Douglas Hertz said the applicant must satisfy the Planning Board, the village’s Zoning Board, the Town of Bedford’s Planning Board, the state Department of Transportation and other agencies before any work commences.

“There are quite a number of permits the applicant is going to need to be able to construct,” Hertz said. “Until all those approvals have been received, they won’t be starting construction.”

Residents also voiced displeasure that Westchester County had sent notices to the properties within 300 feet of the planned construction zone, but many residents at Foxwood and Brookside Village didn’t learn of the hearing. At condo developments only the management offices, not individual residents, receive notices.

The hearing is scheduled to resume at the Planning Board’s Nov. 12 meeting.