Planning Board issues negative declaration for townhome project

Rendering of the proposed project.  LEONARD H. BRANDES ARCHITECT

Rendering of the proposed project.  LEONARD H. BRANDES ARCHITECT

By MARTIN WILBUR

A new eight-unit townhome proposal received a negative declaration from the Mount Kisco Planning Board on Tuesday evening after it was determined that the project would not have significant adverse environmental impacts.

The board’s action will now send the applicant, Lexington Townhomes, to the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals for multiple variances before it returns for site plan review.

The project would be located at 325 Lexington Ave., near Locust Street. The applicant will also need to appear before the Architectural Review Board, reach an agreement with the Village Board for improvements in the public right of way.

Current plans call for the applicant to demolish the two existing structures that contain a total of six apartments and replace them with two new buildings with eight rental units. There would be two one- and two-bedroom apartments each and four three-bedroom residences included in the two buildings, said project architect Leonard Brandes.

Parking for the property would become nearly code compliant, falling one short of what is required. Six of the units would have a single-car garage and there would also be 11 off-street parking spaces on the 0.3-acre parcel. Two of the spaces would be handicapped accessible.

While there were no serious objections to the townhomes from board members at Tuesday’s public hearing, there were concerns about whether the new buildings would be larger or give an appearance that they would be bigger. The possibility of one of the apartments being offered as affordable was also raised. 

Board member Michael Bonforte asked what benefits the project would bring to the village. Brandes responded that most new multifamily housing fails to create many three-bedroom units suitable for a family.

“I think the most important part is the units that we’re creating, we’re going to have four units that are going to be three bedrooms with a basement and a one-vehicle garage,” Brandes said. “So that’s a big improvement to where we are.”

There will also be no additional height added, which along with the on-site parking, will help the neighborhood, he said.

Brandes was not prepared to address whether there would be an affordable unit as part of the project because the issue was still being discussed by the developer’s lawyers. Mount Kisco does not have an affordable housing ordinance because it wasn’t a party to the county’s housing settlement with the federal government and it has a diversity of housing stock.

Board Chair Michael McGuirk said the board is interested in having an affordable unit, and since the matter had been previously raised, whether or not it will exist is of concern to the board.

“Because it’s in the course of the hearing, we need to be careful that when we establish something on the record, we don’t just leave it hanging,” McGuirk said.

The issue of affordability is one that the board takes seriously, member W. Robert Phillips reminded Brandes.

“In the end, there’s going to have to be an answer,” he said.

In the Westchester County Planning Board’s comments to the village on the proposal in October, it noted that it would like to see an affordable unit, given the shortage of these units in Westchester County.

The county board also recommended reorienting one of the buildings so the rear and garages are facing inward, not toward Lexington Avenue, among other suggestions.

This is one of two townhome projects under consideration in the village along Lexington Avenue. Applicant CJ Developers LLC also received a negative declaration under the state Environmental Quality Review Act from the Planning Board in October for an attached seven-unit townhome proposal on a half-acre parcel at 461 Lexington Ave., between Mardino Restaurant and the bakery LaTulipe.