The New Rochelle City Council voted Tuesday to reject a land disposition agreement with developer Forest City Residential Inc., effectively killing a long-discussed project on Echo Bay. Mayor Noam Bramson, a Democrat, was the sole dissenting voice in the 6-1 vote.
The agreement was a necessary first step that would have transferred city-owned land to Forest City, an affiliate of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises. The company was looking to build 285 luxury apartments, 25,000 square feet of retail space and a waterfront park on a 9-acre parcel that includes an unused armory building and a city public works yard.
Councilman Lou Trangucci, a Republican, took issue with expected tax breaks for the developer and the scope of the project, which was reduced significantly from the developer”™s initial proposal. Forest City won the rights to the project in a 2006 bid, originally proposing a 26-acre development with 710 residences, 150,000 square feet of retail space and two 150-room hotels.
“I just don”™t feel this is appropriate for the taxpayers, I don”™t feel it”™s appropriate for the city,” he said. “This is not a project that fits what I think what the people of New Rochelle believe should be there.”
Opposition to the project was fierce, with residents forming a group called United Citizens for a Better New Rochelle specifically to oppose the project. Hundreds of the group”™s “No Echo Bay” signs were posted throughout the city and a protest was held at City Hall on Nov. 12, just before a chaotic City Council meeting.
The mayor said he continued to support the proposal despite its reduced scope because of its revenue-generating potential and because it could provide a spark to revitalize the area. “Let us set the right balance between vision and realism,” he said, reading uncharacteristically from a written statement. “If we wait for an ideal project, chances are we will wait forever.”
The mayor said a lesson from the process should be that elected officials and the public debate more civilly so as not to scare away potential future investors in New Rochelle development. “Let”™s conduct every public debate as if our children are watching,” he said.
Bramson put the ball firmly in the court of his colleagues moving forward. He said he expects to hear their suggestions and vision for Echo Bay. The council is expected in the coming months to decide whether or not to open a new bid for development in the area.
Adam Egelberg, a founding member of the anti-Echo Bay civic group, said its members recognize the hard work begins now. “It”™s easy to say no to something, it”™s much harder to say yes,” he said. “Our goal is to work with the City Council to promote sound development in our city.”
Forest City representatives issued a written statement Tuesday, saying the project had “promised to be a new waterfront for New Rochelle.”
“We put an enormous amount of resources towards executing the city”™s vision for Echo Bay and we”™re disheartened that it won”™t come to fruition,” the statement said.
A recent analysis of the project by the National Development Council estimated that at full assessment the property would incur $1.5 million in taxes, but an anticipated payment in lieu of taxes was $859,000, or $654,000 less than what the full tax bill would have been. The report said that paying full assessment or even a larger PILOT might have meant the project would not be financially feasible for the developer.
