Comment and commentary on the village's decision to pause development plans at the 1 Half Moon Bay Drive property.
Mayor Pugh's surprise letter to the village yesterday made many Crotonites happy, but a lot of questions remain about the future of the "Finkelstein site."
As most readers will know by now, at 9:47 am yesterday, September 12, the village posted a letter from Mayor Brian Pugh announcing that the massive development proposed by 1 HMB Property Owner, LLC for the old Finkelstein tire site—a 5-6 story complex with 280 units—will not go forward. The letter went out to the village’s email distribution list at 10:09 am.
Supposedly key to the decision was a non-binding memo from the Westchester County Planning Board, solicited by the village as part of the SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) process of review of the developer’s proposal, that raised questions about whether the project’s six stories qualified it for consideration as a Transit-Oriented Development.
But it seems clear that the growing opposition to this and other large developments in the village (including the 100 condo units proposed for Lot A) played an important role in the decision. Thus we were surprised that it was not made by a full and formal vote of the Board of Trustees, since that body had formally voted to begin the SEQRA process back in July. Moreover, Mayor Pugh’s announcement also made clear that the developers could go back to the drawing board and come up with a new proposal:
“While the current proposal from the owners of 1 Half Moon Bay is not appropriate for our village, a substantially revised zoning text amendment and development plan would be given a fair hearing and careful review.”
We asked Mayor Pugh to tell us more about the process by which the current decision was made, and he was kind enough to respond at length:
“Over the last few weeks, I've been having conversations with residents, colleagues and representatives of the 1 Half Moon Bay owners. It became increasingly clear the original proposal faced significant hurdles and would likely need significant revision. The memo from the County Planning Board was the proverbial final straw and obstacles for the current proposal went from substantial to, in my view, insurmountable.
I shared these thoughts at the Board meeting last night as part of my response to a question submitted via e-mail by Dr. Sandra Kolk. There was no dissent from my remarks on the Board during the meeting.
With consensus publicly established, given the understandable level of interest in 1 Half Moon Bay and the knowledge that most residents do not watch the livestream, I thought it was important to communicate this information to the community at large. As I stated in my update to the community, "a substantially revised zoning text amendment and development plan would be given a fair hearing and careful review."
I hope that the owners will consider an amended plan that is more responsive to the community and will conduct the necessary public outreach to develop such a plan.”
We also asked the property owners, 1 HMB Property Owner, LLC, for a comment, and they provided the Chronicle with the following statement:
“We are appreciative for the feedback we received from the Village Board and community. We take it seriously and will make modifications to our proposal as we move through the process. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively to ensure that any proposal for One Half Moon Bay Drive brings community benefits and contributes positively to the critical need for new housing in Croton-on-Hudson.”
This statement suggests that the developers are putting a brave face on things, but also implies that they consider the SEQRA process to be continuing—and that their application for rezoning of the property at the old Finkelstein tire property is still alive.
Indeed, a number of villagers we have spoken to, while happy that the project has been stopped for now, fear that it may come roaring back in a modified form.
Since the debate over the so-called “urbanization” of Croton has now become an electoral issue with the announcement by villagers Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo that they will be write-in candidates for village trustee seats in November, we also asked them for their opinions. (Eisinger and Ravelo have called for a one year moratorium on approval of any large projects.)
They provided us with the following joint statement:
“We are pleased as community members that village leadership is pausing the 1 HMB project as it had been proposed.
As candidates, we remain concerned that a reevaluation of the TOD request by the builder may be brought back as the Westchester Planning Board has only made non-binding recommendations. Additionally, key to our campaign, the leadership's pause makes no mention on waiting for empirical data of the already approved projects’ impact on our community.”
During a recent community meeting hosted by the developers at Capriccio’s, we asked the partners whether they had sat down and calculated how much their proposal could be scaled down and still be worth it to their bottom line. They said they had not done that exercise (or at least were not prepared to talk about it if they had), although they certainly would have made such calculations when they first put together their proposal to build 280 units at the site.
The fight against what many see as over-development in Croton will no doubt continue, in numerous forms and at numerous venues. But we wonder if, in the end, it will be the developers—at 1 Half Moon Bay, Lot A, and other sites—who will make the ultimate decisions about whether to stay and build, or to walk away.
**********************************************************************************************************
To share this post, or to share The Croton Chronicle, please click on these buttons.
Comments policy: No personal attacks, please be respectful and polite.
Thank you for posting all this! I did not know about the letter. You are a gift to COH.
This is far from over. In November write in Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo for our voices to be heard in the village and taken into consideration. The board and mayor aren’t transparent and don’t care what residents and the planning board think or say. Time for change.
Thank you!