Hollywood lights and cameras might have been missing, but there was action on Dec. 11 when the developer of the proposed Lionsgate Movie Studio on Wells Avenue near the Metro-North Railroad station in downtown Yonkers appeared before the city”™s planning board to set the scene for moving the project closer to approval.
Lynne M. Ward, executive vice president of Greenwich-based National Resources, spoke on behalf of the applicant, Hudson View Associates LLC and iPark.
“The status of our situation at the moment is that our application is in, our plans are in, we”™ve made amendments to our plans, we”™ve made responses to the comments that we”™ve had from the city and we have a number of meetings set up in the course of the next week,” she said.
Planning Board Chairman Roman Kozicky said his understanding was that the applicant was continuing to work with city staff on some traffic and fire department issues and Ward responded that he was correct.
Along with a site plan application for the Lionsgate movie studio there is a separate application to build a 363-car parking deck on top of the nearby Kawasaki Rail Car plant. Construction of the movie studio building would wipe out current grade-level parking and the intent is to build the new parking deck first.
John Meyer, director of development for National Resources, said that the parking deck “was something we hoped could have been moved along rather than waiting to go with the movie studio. The parking area on the roof of Kawasaki was approved by this board back in 2011, February 9th of 2011, and was extended for a two-year term,” he said, adding that the current parking deck proposal is the exact same setup as had been previously approved. “What would be put onto the roof of the Kawasaki is more spaces than what is being removed for the construction.”
Meyer said there would be no public parking permitted on the rooftop deck.
“It will be signed that way and the plan that we submitted showed no trucks. There will be a height-limiter bar on it, well in compliance with the building code of New York state so that it”™s, as the code calls it, pleasure vehicles only.”
When asked for a likely timetable for construction, Meyer said the parking deck would take six to nine months and the Lionsgate movie studio itself 12 to 18 months.
Lee Ellman, director of the city”™s planning bureau, said, “I am very excited about this project and what it can do for downtown Yonkers and if I appear to be more cautious than excited it”™s only because I really do believe that the fastest way to get a project like this done ”“ and I am very hopeful that we can align all of the staff issues for next month”™s meeting ”“ is to be careful so that we don”™t have to do it again.“ Ellman said that he hoped to have the environmental quality review requirements in terms of lead agency completed by the end of December.
Kozicky said that he had talked to some of the neighbors and they were anxious for the project to proceed.
Ward said, “We are extremely grateful, and for the attention that we”™re getting from the staff, and this is a lot of work for everybody.”
The planning board is expected to review the project again at its meeting scheduled for Jan. 15.
