Catching real estate offices in first-floor prohibition net . . .
. . . town board seeks to amend law, impose moratorium
Houlihan Lawrence’s 75 South Greeley Avenue space
June 27, 2008
by Christine Yeres
To encourage more retail businesses in the downtown hamlet, a year and a half ago the town board changed New Castle’s downtown zoning laws to prohibit any new financial institutions, professional offices and business offices from taking first-floor rental space. A few months ago, when real estate agency Houlihan Lawrence applied to the building department to move from its offices at 75 South Greeley Avenue to the newly rebuilt two story space on the same street just north of Greeley Home & Hardware, the building inspector said “No,” declaring that real estate offices fell within the “business offices” category of the new law and were, therefore, a prohibited use of first-floor space.
Newly renovated space at left; Greeley Home & Hardware, right
The town board never meant to include real estate in prohibition
A review of town board minutes shows, said town administrator Jerry Faiella, that the board had no intention of catching real estate offices in its prohibitions net. So in its July 8 regular meeting, the town board will hold a public hearing on an amendment that would bring the 18-month old law into line with the board’s legislative intent by removing real estate offices from the list of prohibited first floor uses.
Instead of relegating all three uses—new financial institutions, professional offices and business offices—to second floor space, the amendment will propose that only financial institutions and professional offices be excluded from first-floor space, exempting business offices. Depending on community response that evening, the board might complete its hearing and pass the amendment then and there; if residents wish to discuss or dispute it, the hearing might be carried over, to be discussed further at a subsequent town board meeting or meetings.
Refining “business office” definition
About 18 months ago this same law worked to prevent Chase Bank, clearly a financial institution, from inhabiting first-floor space at the corner of Greeley and King streets (see NewCastleNOW.org “Chasing first-floor uses,” 5/21/08 ). “Professional office” was easy to define as doctor-lawyer-accountant type entities, but the “business office” category was harder to put a finger on and is an integral part of many retail uses. For example, an eyeglass store, a hardware store or even a restaurant might have dedicated business office areas in their shops, but, as primarily retail operations, they are all welcome uses of first floor space. Some people view real estate offices as a kind of retail operation for very large big-ticket items; others see them as stealing space from potential retail rental stock, and maintain that it is “retail” that is key to the health of a downtown.
Time in which to reexamine by means of a moratorium
In its ongoing attempt to diagnose and define the commercial health of downtown Chappaqua, on July 22 the town board will set a date for a public hearing on whether to declare a six-month moratorium that would put a freeze on certain first floor uses. “During that time,” said Faiella, “a retail business such as a jewelry store, an ice cream parlor, a restaurant can come in. Retail uses are what we do want.” The purpose of the freeze, he continued, “is to study the impacts of the uses we presently have and also to study some uses we haven’t included at the moment. The goal is to develop more of a vibrant downtown and to encourage those uses people have said are important to them.”
Bowling alleys need not apply
Although the amendment under discussion on July 8 may soon redefine whether real estate qualifies as “business and professional offices,” that pair are first on the board’s list of uses that may not rent first floor space during the term of the moratorium. Others are “telephone exchange building, hospital or clinic for small animals, barber, hair dresser, tailor, dressmaker, shoe repair or other personal services, financial institutions, fast food restaurant, multi-family dwellings, hand laundry, dry cleaning and dyeing, gasoline filling station, shops for repair and upholstering of furniture, shops for electricians, plumbers, silversmiths, bowling alley, billiard and pool room, and wholesale trade.
The space between
Not knowing whether the amendment to release real estate offices from the prohibition will be approved leaves much unresolved. Asked what real estate offices might do between the time of an amendment as early as July 8 to allow them back into the approved first-floor uses category, and the time the town board gets around to actually imposing a moratorium freezing such uses, Faiella answered, “Good question,” but insists that during the moratorium the town board will, in considering what’s best for the commercial health of the town, look at everything, adding that, by the end of it, real estate might find itself on or off the list of allowable first floor uses. And as to whether, if banned again from first floor use, a real estate office already in first floor space would be free to “swap” its first-floor space for other first floor-space, Faiella answered that the board had not yet addressed such a contingency.
A licensed real estate agent with Houlihan Lawrence, town board member John Buckley has not officially recused himself from consideration of this matter, but will likely do so by the time of the July 8 public hearing.
Click here for a printable view of this article.
Click here to read more Business & Real Estate articles.Click here to read more Government articles.
Click here to read more Town articles.
Click here to send a copy of this article via email.
We're interested in your opinion. Click here to submit a comment on this article, or any other.
