Bedford Village proposal gets a face, and faces questions

BEINFIELD ARCHITECTURE GRAPHIC

Thane Grauel Photo

Top, rendering shows the proposed mixed-use building at 633-647 Old Post Road in Bedford Village to the left, and the existing Bedford Playhouse building to the right. Below, the existing Playhouse building.

By JEFF MORRIS 

The public and the Bedford Planning Board on Monday got a look at renderings for a proposed mixed-use development at 633-647 Old Post Road in Bedford Village and there were questions about the size, design and effects. The meeting was a continuation of a public hearing. 

At prior meetings, floor plans for the building, in a vacant area next door to the Bedford Playhouse, were shown. Plans call for a four-story building, with three of the floors above street level and flush with the streetscape on Old Post Road. A lower floor devoted to parking, takes advantage of the property’s steep drop from the road, with a parking lot to the rear. The street-level floor would contain retail; the upper floors would be apartments.

At this meeting, a watercolor architectural rendering of a concept for the building’s exterior was made public. Attorney P. Daniel Hollis, representing the applicants, requested that the exterior rendering be introduced before the board began a discussion of the traffic plan.

Seelan Pather, managing principal at Beinfield Architecture of South Norwalk, Conn., described the process they had used in coming up with the design. He said it was important to keep the scale of the Playhouse, with the height matching that of the existing structure. The concept essentially breaks the new building down into what appear to be three separate buildings to reduce the mass, though they are all connected behind the facades, with recessed segments in between each building front. 

The section closest to the Playhouse was inspired by the old Bedford Village firehouse, said Pather; the facade in the middle is supposed to carry over the design of the Playhouse. The portion at the left end is white-clad and slope-roofed, reflecting more historical buildings in the hamlet, and, he said, is intended to break down the scale and “drop the height as you move toward a residential neighborhood.”

Pather placed a lot of emphasis on the space between the existing and new buildings being transformed into an inviting path down to the parking lot in the back, including a trellis that would be illuminated.

After looking at the rendering, the board switched to a brief presentation by Richard D’Andrea of Colliers Engineering & Design, traffic consultant for the project, who had done a traffic impact study in June 2025 that was revised in January.

D’Andrea said their counts indicate that traffic through the area at peak times is essentially pass-through on its way to highways and schools. He said they did analyses of multiple intersections in the vicinity and are looking at developing concepts to improve pedestrian safety. He also said they have not yet completed a crash analysis, and will be presenting a revised full traffic study later on. 

John Canning, the town’s traffic engineer, said he had reviewed the Colliers materials, to make sure they address all the potential issues. Ultimately, he said, when the study is completed, he expects it will be a comprehensive study that the board can review.

There was considerable reaction from board members about the traffic study, with Chair Deirdre Courtney-Batson, Michael Tierney and Jared Antin asking about peak traffic times, seasonal differences, congestion that already exists, and levels of service that the report cites as acceptable. 

Antin pushed back on the fact that the area already contains six very complicated intersections, and wondered what the long-term effect of the project would be.

Among others who commented was Sinclair Kennedy-Nolle, a nearby resident and civil engineer, who pointed out deficiencies in the details provided in supporting documents. Things he said were missing included dimensions, specifics of wastewater treatment and stormwater collection, and statistical anomalies in the traffic study. Officials later remarked that a lot of these details will come later in the process, as the plans are currently in the preliminary stages and are still being developed, based in large part on the comments and questions raised during these hearings. 

Board member Diane Lewis questioned why there wasn’t green space at the front that would draw people in, in the same way as the garden space in front of oHHo at the old firehouse; she wondered if the plan couldn’t be turned. Antin said he did not think the design was appropriate for the location, and felt they had borrowed too much of the concept from Katonah, which he said was the wrong hamlet on which to base the design. Chair Courtney-Batson agreed with Antin on the design not being appropriate for Bedford Village. Tierney wanted more of an attempt to relate to the three small houses at the side of the building opposite the Playhouse.

Courtney-Batson suggested the Bedford Village Historic District Review Commission be brought in on an informal basis at this point, to make suggestions regarding the design. Planning Director Jesica Youngblood offered to facilitate scheduling a meeting with the commission.

Additional questions were raised about stormwater management, water use, lighting and other related aspects; these were noted by Courtney-Batson as topics that will be addressed in future meetings. She wanted the focus at this meeting to be on the building’s design and on traffic. 

Hollis acknowledged at the outset that this was just part of an anticipated series of discussions.

Near the end of the session, resident Sharon Kennedy-Nolle questioned whether the discussion hadn’t gotten too quickly into detail about facades. “I’m afraid the forest, so to speak, is lost to the trees,” she said. 

Citing Jacqueline Kennedy, who she claimed said, “To preserve is to create,” she remarked, “I would just like to see that assumption built more into these conversations. Whether it takes the form of considering alternatives for this space, perhaps it takes the form of a smaller scale for this project; this thing is built to the hilt — to the edge. And I question that.”

The public hearing was adjourned, and will remain open.