Staples site developers fine tune plans in response to Mount Kisco Planning Board concerns

The Staples store at 350 North Bedford Road, Mount Kisco. THANE GRAUEL PHOTO

By MARTIN WILBUR

The development firm looking to convert the Mount Kisco Staples into multi-specialty medical offices has fine-tuned its plans to improve the site’s appearance and function as meetings with the village’s Planning Board continued last week.

Simone Development, which is looking to repurpose the 18,000-square-foot building at 330-350 North Bedford Road, has updated its drawings to include a sidewalk from across North Bedford Road to help pedestrians reach the site safely as well as submited a landscaping and lighting plan for the property. Those issues had been previously requested by the board.

Keith Werner, a senior project manager at Langan Engineering, said a series of revisions has been agreed to and worked into the plans in response to the board’s recommendations, including modification of the parking area to allow for fire department access to the property, replacement of an island with plantings, the sidewalk connection and replacement of the curbing and adding sidewalks within the 2-acre site.

The applicant has also been working with Westchester County to accommodate improvements to a Bee-Line bus stop near the parcel, Werner said. The county will install a pad and a bench at the existing bus stop location, he said.

On Tuesday evening, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved variances that would allow the garbage enclosure and the generator and a generator pad to be closer to the property line than the building. Simone Development has already received its approvals from the Architectural Review Board.

Attorney Diana Kolev, representing Simone Development, said she and her client have received comments on aspects of the site plan and traffic from the Mount Kisco Building Department and the Westchester County Planning Board and have responded to those issues.

“I think we’ve done a lot to improve the site,” Kolev said. “We’ve added sidewalks around the building, we’ve added a pedestrian ramp from the roadway, added trees. So we’re working within the limitations of the existing site.”

Board members and village consultants last week spent time on improving the property’s appearance, particularly the area that fronts North Bedford Road. Planning consultant Jan Johannessen said the front of the property needs more work along with improvements to the north end of the parking lot and fixing up the existing sidewalk, which is a bit sporadic.

Kolev stated that the site plan for Staples, which was approved in 1995, is not what appears there now, particularly with respect to the landscaping.

The issue of traffic counts and circulation appeared to be largely resolved. Village traffic consultant Elaine Du said the office’s traffic counts during the peak hours would average 35 in the morning and 54 in the afternoon, down from previous estimates of 51 and 62, respectively. The traffic counts were conducted since the closure of the Preston Way bridge, she said.

For Staples, the parking lot has an 86-vehicle capacity. A reconfiguration is expected to increase that total to 91 spaces. 

“I’m happy that we are able to at least get past all the traffic and circulation issues, so I think that was good progress,” Kolev said. 

The applicant bought the property last December; however, the Staples lease does not expire until June 30, 2027.

A public hearing will be held once additional meetings between the applicant’s team and the village’s staff and consultants are completed.