May 10, 2013
by Christine Yeres

Last Tuesday, Planning Board members continued work on their comments to the Town Board on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Chapppaqua Crossing grocery-retail application, plus their comments on proposed changes to the zoning and Town Development Plan that could permit it.  “It’s hard to deal with these things independently,” noted Planning Board member Tom Curley.  “They’re all wrapped up together.” The deadline for comment on the EIS has been extended by a week.  The new deadline is close-of-business on Friday, May 17, 2013.

May 10, 2013

Editor’s Note: In a March 21, 2013 letter to supervisors of the 31 municipalities who are part of the “fair and affordable” housing settlement between Westchester County and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, federal monitor James E. Johnson included “proposed factual findings concerning zoning” in each of the towns—with a “Report Card” on the progress of each—and asked for input.  In a letter dated May 2, 2013, New Castle Supervisor Susan Carpenter responded to the queries in Johnson’s letter pertaining to New Castle.  His letter is included in PDF form; the text of Carpenter’s response appears in its entirety. Both follow.

May 3, 2013
by Christine Yeres

The Planning Board continued on Tuesday, in a special afternoon meeting, with its review of the most recent Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement from Summit Greenfield.  Board members questioned, among other things, the developer’s market analysis and traffic study. Their advisory comments to the Town Board will be part of the review process for the environmental impact statement (EIS) as well as for the proposed zoning and master plan changes necessary to permit grocery and retail at Chappaqua Crossing.

May 3, 2013
by Christine Yeres

I have an answer to Dawn Greenberg’s Letter to the Editor of April 8, 2013, “Where’s our charrette?”  I found it—one very much like it, anyway—in Bedford last Monday night.  There’s nothing like travel to foreign parts to make a body realize that those parts aren’t so foreign.  Overhearing Bedford residents’ encounter with a developer who has purchased a piece of property including and surrounding the Bedford Playhouse was like watching a play based on the story of proposed development in New Castle.

April 26, 2013
With 23 comments since publication Friday
by Christine Yeres

The public hearing on the environmental impact statement prepared by Summit Greenfield in support of a 120,000 square foot shopping center at Chappaqua Crossing—plus the Town Board’s proposed zoning amendments to permit it, and changes to the town master plan to agree with it—brought a crowd of around 100 to town hall last Tuesday.  The hearing continues Monday, April 29, at 1:30 p.m.

April 26, 2013
With 22 comments since publication Friday

Editor’s Note: At the start of last Tuesday’s public hearing, Town Board member Jason Chapin read the following statement on the proposal for a grocery and retail stores at Chappaqua Crossing and the board’s process of review.

Town Administrator’s Report
April 26, 2013
~ from Penelle Paderewski

The condition of Route 117 came up during the public hearing on Chappaqua Crossing.  The following report from Town Administrator Penelle Paderewski contains an update on the paving of that road.

Monday, April 29, 2013
by Christine Yeres

The 2009 Housing Settlement between HUD and Westchester County gives the county until 2016 to create 750 units of fair and affordable housing in 31 of its least racially diverse communities.  At 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1, at the Bedford Court House, several towns including New Castle will sponsor a “discussion and dialog,” facilitated by the Pace Land Use Law Center, in which participants will look at the origins of the settlement, impediments to fair housing and possible solutions.

See video of the 41-minute meeting inside.
Monday, April 22, 2013
by Christine Yeres 

Last Tuesday, nearly three months after its last appearance in a public hearing on affordable housing proposed for Hunts Place, Conifer Realty representatives re-approached Town Board members in an informal work session to feel them out on a new design with 28 units rather than 36.

April 19, 2013
by Christine Yeres

Planning Board members met last Tuesday to discuss the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) of Summit Greenfield on the proposed grocery and retail at Chappaqua Crossing.  The board is one member short and one member has recused himself.  The three remaining members talked over the DSEIS as well as the proposed amendments to zoning and to the town development plan that are part of three-in-one public hearing on Tuesday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m.

Public hearings on Chappaqua Crossing as grocery plus retail stores begin Tues. April 23 at 7:00 p.m.

April 5, 2013
With 59 comments since publication
by Christine Yeres

UPDATE: Friday 3:00 p.m. April 5, 2013—Latest DSEIS documents are now available on the town’s website.  See “Read more” for links.

In its Tuesday Work Session, the Town Board declared Summit Greenfield’s Draft Supplemental Environmental Review Statement (DSEIS)  “complete” enough for purposes of holding public hearings on the developer’s proposal for the construction of 120,000 square feet of an anchor grocery and other retail stores at Chappaqua Crossing.  Hearings will take place at Town Hall on Tuesday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m., on Monday, April 29 at 1:30 p.m., and, if needed, another session at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30.

April 19, 2013
Reprinted from November 26, 2012
by Christine Yeres

Chapter One in the saga of town’s relationship with Chappaqua Crossing concluded with the Town Board’s decision in April 2011 to allow 111 units of multi-family housing (60 market-rate fee simple and 51condos, 20 of them affordable) to be built on the former Reader’s Digest property and a lifting of restrictions on the number of tenants allowed in the 662,000 square feet of office space. Of the two lawsuits that are part of that chapter, the state suit (dismissed and appealed) and the federal case against the town have been suspended in a settlement between Summit Greenfield and the town. 

So could Chapter Two work with a grocery and retail?

April 5, 2013
by Christine Yeres

Editor’s Note: Since any change of zoning must not be inconsistent with the town’s master plan (or “Town Development Plan”) the public hearings on Chappaqua Crossing set to begin on Tuesday, April 23, will include a public hearing on changes to the town’s master plan that would permit development of an anchor grocery store and additional retail stores there.  An April 2 memo written by Town Planner Sabrina Charney, published below in its entirety) describes the rationale for the proposed changes.

April 19, 2013
With 48 comments since publication Friday
by Rob Greenstein

Based on the actions of the Town Board, the public hearings beginning on Tuesday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m. on Summit Greenfield’s proposal for the construction of a 120,000 square-foot strip mall* at Chappaqua Crossing are a sham.  The actions of the Town Board indicate that they intend to approve this project.  The developer apparently feels that it has the green light and has already started looking for tenants.

Monday, April 8, 2013
by Dawn Greenberg

As noted in Chappaqua-Mt. Kisco Patch yesterday, Bedford is holding a charrette to discuss a proposed development near their village green.  A “charrette,*” meaning a review, open discussion, polite and free-flowing with ideas—in this case led by a professor from PACE who is a land use expert, John Nolan.