Adams Street apartment plan not warmly greeted by Fire Department

Renderings of the four sides of the proposed building at 59 Adams St. TOM ABILLAMA ARCHITECTS

By JEFF MORRIS

A plan for an 18-unit apartment building at 59 Adams St. in the heart of downtown Bedford Hills was presented to the Zoning Board of Appeals at a public hearing Sept. 10, as the applicant sought multiple variances. 

The variances include a front yard setback of 5 feet where 10 feet is required; a rear yard setback of 10 feet where 30 feet is required; 18 parking spaces where the required number for an 18-unit, multifamily dwelling is 33; building coverage of 68% where maximum building coverage permitted is 20%; a building height of 59 feet 9 inches where maximum height is 45 feet, and 4 1/2 stories where a maximum of 3 stories is permitted. 

The applicant, Mark Fonte, who heads Bedford South Adam LLC, was also responsible for opening The Mark, a 13-unit building at 156 Bedford Road, Katonah, that was dedicated in June, though he took that project over after it was already being built. He has dubbed this project The Mark II.

According to Fonte, it is a 4 1/2-story building, the first story being parking, with three residential stories and “a rooftop amenity with a gym and an outdoor space so people can go outside.” 

There will be 18 units, 12 two-bedroom and six one-bedroom units. There would be four affordable units, complying with the 20% required under town law, mixed among the apartments. Fonte said there are 18 parking spaces on the first floor, which he thinks is sufficient, but if there is a need for more parking he is asking for public parking passes in the nearby lots.

The proposal was met with tough questions from ZBA member Meredith Black before the public hearing was even opened, and she indicated that due to the nature of the plan and the number of variances sought, there would need to be multiple hearings.

“I understand what you’re asking,” said Black, “but it’s also significantly above a wide number of our building code regulations — I mean, a lot of them.”

She said she needed to know the justification for each of the variances, “not just the explanation of what you’d like — why we should even be considering this.”

Fonte replied that the reason was economics, describing the cost of his Katonah building as “tremendous” and saying it was going to take him years to recoup the cost of that project. Black was not satisfied with this response, explaining that in the context of a variance, cost is not the criteria. “An application is measured by what the law dictates, which is that the variance has to have justification.” 

She said they always start with what the applicant wants, but the board needs more “to understand the legality of us stepping beyond what the code allows, particularly on the wide variety of variances.” Fonte repeated that economics was foremost for him.

Zachary Patierno, chief of the Bedford Hills Fire Department, was first to appear at the public hearing and expressed “serious concerns” about the proposal for what he saw as a five-story building. “While I understand and support reasonable and responsible growth in our community, this particular development in its current form presents significant life safety risk, especially from a fire protection and emergency response standpoint,” he said.

Patierno went through a long list of problems, beginning with the building height of just under 60 feet, “which far exceeds our department’s ground ladder capabilities of 35 feet. Our rigs cannot be adjusted to allow for a larger ladder, and there is only one larger ladder that the fire service makes, which is 50 feet and takes four people to raise.” 

While the department does operate an aerial ladder truck, he said, the building cannot be reached by an aerial ladder from any side of the structure; on the street side, there are overhead power lines, and the street is not wide enough. He had similar comments about inadequate space on the other three sides of the building that would not allow access to apparatus.

“In short, we cannot safely or effectively reach this building from any direction,” Patierno said. 

He also cited the potential for a fire to spread to adjacent properties.

“In my opinion, this building is not safely serviceable with the resources that the Bedford Hills Fire Department currently have,” he said, “and it would place residents, neighbors and our first responders at unacceptable risk.” He asked the board to withhold approval and that the owner be compliant with town code.

Board member Roger van Loveren challenged some of Patierno’s objections, asking whether the size of this building wouldn’t be similar to buildings that exist in White Plains or Mount Kisco. Patierno pointed out that there are underground wires in those areas, whereas the overhead wires here prevent using aerial ladders. He noted that there is a taller building at Depot Plaza but it has access at three sides.

“We have a 95-foot ladder that is able to manage a 59-foot building, but because of the limitations of the actual property, we cannot use that ladder anywhere on that building.” 

Black asked Patierno to consider what would be acceptable for adequate setback space to access the structure and bring that information back to the board. 

There were multiple additional speakers who were critical of the proposal, while board members pointed out the town’s desire to revitalize Bedford Hills and bring more people to the downtown area. Building Inspector Al Ciraco pointed out that the plan does meet fire codes, at least on paper, and suggested that Patierno and Fonte engage each other in discussion about the Fire Department’s concerns.

Chair Peter Michaelis said the public hearing would remain open, and the application was referred to the Planning Board.