What’s Woodburn Avenue? You mean turn at Pizza Station?
August 29, 2008
by Christine Yeres
Finally, orange cones herald the start of an extreme makeover of the parking lot behind Citibank, the dry cleaners, Dunkin Donuts and Pizza Station.
Last week some Verizon poles were removed, but only just yesterday the troublesome entrance into Citibank was closed off. The cones will soon be replaced with construction fencing and a guard rail. The town has taken down some bushes in order to better expose the stop sign to drivers coming off the bridge. Hopefully cars rolling through it onto South Greeley Avenue will cease, making the intersection much safer for pedestrians.
Detour signs will show drivers exactly what to do: Cars will have to enter the Citibank lot by turning onto Woodburn Avenue, the street that runs from the Shell Station/Pizza Station corner to the Chappaqua train station’s Memorial Plaza.
Yes, yes, that used to be the exit. How will you get out of the lot now? At the end of the lot nearest the bridge, there is a passage way that will take cars in a circuit along the bridge wall of parked cars, through the train station parking lot, back to Woodburn and out onto South Greeley Avenue. In the photo above, you can see the new exit directly behind the row of orange cones.
According to Diane Dreier of Pouder Design Group, the architectural landscape firm awarded the contract for this renovation, the project is phased so that there will always be access to the shops and the sidewalk in the front and parking lot will remain open. “Occasionally fewer parking spots will be available, but only for a limited time,” said Dreier. In the end, the town expects a net gain of about five parking spaces.
What will be accomplished by this project?
The first part of the project will address parking and curbs, then a pocket park will be created with seating and plantings, which will include a planter up against Citibank’s north wall that will be watered by rainwater runoff from the roof.
Finally, drainage work, the part of the project that is dependent on the Department of Transportation’s schedule for the bridge replacement project. Behind the ramshackle enclosure that barely contains the garbage for the row of businesses is a standing pool of water. Part of the DOT’s plan is to send the drainage water coming off the bridge and the standing water in the Citibank pool to a trunk line that sits below the pool, then fill in the area, bringing it up to grade. Several more parking spaces will fit into this new space.
The project will take about 90 days to complete, depending on whether the DOT will be able to keep to its schedule for the bridge reconstruction project.
This map of the parking lot project is a year old, but its color makes it easier to read than the updated map, in black and white, below. The updated map shows many more trees along the parking median behind the shops, and seating in the pocket park is configured slightly differently.
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