Developer gives in to town board demand that 60 townhouses be taxed as “fee simple”

Latest, two-volume FEIS at town hall
October 22, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Chappaqua Crossing developer Summit Greenfield submitted an amended final environmental impact statement to the town of New Castle this Tuesday that changed the manner in which the 60 townhouses would be taxed. Rather than being taxed as condominium units, the townhouses will be taxed as single-family dwellings, or in “fee simple.” Of the remaining 139 units, 119 would be market-rate condos and 20 would be affordable units.

Town Supervisor Barbara Gerrard has insisted during this latest stage of the review process that the town board would not negotiate on this point.  By this change, Summit Greenfield projects that total tax revenues to the town will increase “by more than $600,000 in the 2008 analysis (to a total of $364,000 for the town and $3.0 million for the school district) and by more than $900,000 in the 2015 analysis (to a total of $540,000 for the town and $4.6 million for the school district),” according to the developer’s press release.

These totals do not reflect costs that would be incurred by the town and school district as a consequence of the construction of Chappaqua Crossing, nor do they subtract taxes that would be paid on the property by Summit Greenfield in the absence of the residential development. 

The revised FEIS, down to two volumes from the last four-volume version, arrived at town hall in both hard copy and disc.  The documents on the disc were conveniently redlined to make changes obvious.  The town will likely mount the FEIS on its website; in the meantime, discs can be purchased from the town clerk’s office for $5..

Excerpts from the Executive Summary of the newest FEIS

                    Total tax revenue 2008         Total tax revenue 2015

No Build               $1,530,737                     $2,259,904

Proposed Action       $3,191,583                       $4,710,509

Modified Project       $4,234,874                     $6,250,319
(with “fee simple”)

Before change to
“Fee Simple”          $3,512,499                     $5,184,154    

               

• The Modified Project would require a number of additional zoning text amendments to accommodate parking for its commercial tenants and to increase permissible height for its North Village residential buildings from 35 to 50 feet. See FEIS Section III.2.A.

• The Modified Project would have no significant environmental impacts in any of these areas, with the exception of traffic impacts, which would be the same as those of the Proposed Action.

• The Modified Project would also provide, at the Applicant’s expense, 20 units of Stipulation-compliant affordable housing in compliance with the County Stipulation.

• As discussed in Section III, the Modified Project, which is expected to generate 58 public school students, would have significant fiscal benefits to the Town and CCSD, as shown in Table Nos. III.D-5 and D-6 in Section III.

• In addition, the Modified Project would require amendments to current tenant occupancy and parking requirements for the B-RO-20 portion of the Project Site and to height limitations for the North Village buildings. With these amendments, no variance would be required for the Modified Project from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Both the Proposed Action and the Modified Project would continue to require Westchester County approval for the expansion of the Saw Mill River Sewer District to include the entire Project Site and other permits and approvals referred to in Section I of the DEIS.

• The Proposed Action, the Modified Project, and several FEIS Alternatives, would result in the exceedance of the “significant impact” criteria identified in the Scoping (11) Document at five locations (with six intersection movements) during certain peak hours. Two of the five affected intersections are associated with vehicles exiting the Project Site, which would not have any impacts on the surrounding roadway system. See Introduction to FEIS Section II.H: Traffic, Transportation and Parking.