Hackley School in Tarrytown is seeking approval from the village to tear down an existing arts building and gymnasium that it said have become functionally obsolete and replace them with a 54,000-square-foot Center for Creative Arts and Technology.
In a submission to the village”™s Planning Board, attorney Janet Giris of the White Plains-based law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP said that the private school is seeking amended site development plan approval and a tree removal permit. It also is asking for steep slope and compatible use permits.
The school’s campus at 293 Benedict Ave. covers about 285 acres, 258 of which are in the town of Greenburgh and 27 are in Tarrytown. The proposed development would take place on approximately 3.6 acres in Tarrytown.
Giris described Hackley School as “an independent college preparatory, nonsectarian day and boarding school for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. It was founded in 1899 and has been coeducational since 1970.” It is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools.
The new center would be at the western end of the campus”™ central outdoor gathering space known as Akin Common. It would include a 550-seat multipurpose auditorium, 100-seat experimental black box theater, rehearsal spaces, dressing rooms, a scenic shop, control rooms, a technology hub with workspaces, an art gallery and visual arts studios.
An outdoor amphitheater is proposed for future development at the eastern end of the area to be developed adjacent to Akin Common.
Hackley is proposing to remove a total of 69 trees in connection with the project. A landscaping plan indicates that new trees would be planted to compensate for the ones that would be removed.
Giris noted that Hackley has an approved long-term master plan from 2003 for its property and a Generic Environmental Impact Statement was completed at the time. Environmental assessment information has been submitted for the new application.
On March 1 of this year, Tarrytown”™s Village Engineer and Building Inspector Donato R. Pennella denied a building permit application that had been submitted for the project and advised that the application needed to go before the village”™s planning board, board of trustees and zoning board.
