Underhill Farms Developer Proposes Park, Walking Trail to Yorktown Project
The developer of a proposed mixed-use project on the former Soundview Preparatory School site on Underhill Avenue in Yorktown is offering town residents access to a park that is planned near an existing pond.
Paul Guillaro, president of Unicorn Contracting, told the Yorktown Town Board during a work session last week he would cover the estimated annual $350,000 cost to maintain approximately three acres where the pond is located. A walking trail and benches are also envisioned in the plan.
“It’s going to be very scenic and the focal point of the development,” Guillaro said.
Underhill Farms is slated to consist of 165 units of market rate housing and 20,000 square feet on retail and office space. The project will be built in two phases, with 80 townhouses and condominiums for purchase on the western side set to be included in the first phase.
The second phase will have 85 rental apartments and 30 parking spaces set aside for a new senior center that is planned on the neighboring Beaver Ridge Apartments property.
The Underhill Farms development is one of dozens of properties throughout the town that the Planning Department has determined would be suitable to be placed in a Planned Design District Overlay Zone. The stated purpose and intent of the Planned Design District Overlay Zone, which the Town Board is currently considering, is to provide the town with “flexibility in land uses which bolster economic development by providing not only a diverse array of commercial businesses, but mixed-use residential and commercial parcels to both provide abundant job opportunities and contribute to the local tax base.”
When asked about the Overlay Zone, Guillaro said it sounded like it would be “more user friendly,” while Planning Director John Tegeder reiterated his stance that the property was suited for the Overlay Zone, stressing if the site remained residentially zoned it was “unlikely” the pond would be open to the public and the historic home would be repurposed for community use.
“The Overlay Zone makes sense for this project,” Tegeder said.
If constructed, Underhill Farms is expected to generate about $1 million annually in tax revenue. Guillaro said the 300 trees that will be cut down will be replaced.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
