A plan to redevelop the former Good Counsel school campus in White Plains moved ahead March 1 as the Common Council approved a master plan for the 16.09-acre property on North Broadway.
WP Development NB LLC has proposed construction of 335 independent and assisted living apartments for seniors, 28 townhouses and a 48-unit structure adjacent to a former convent.
The council also voted to accept environmental findings and apply a new Planned Residential Development Zoning District to the site. Further reviews are underway and the council”™s action did not include approval of the actual site plan, although documents related to the environmental findings suggested that site plan approval was anticipated.
The council”™s unanimous vote was the culmination of what had been a five-year review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, better known as SEQRA.
The city”™s Historic Preservation Commission still needs to weigh-in on the proposal, although New York state”™s Office of Historic Preservation has already given its approval to the redevelopment plan.
In previous presentations to the council and the planning board, the developer stated that care would be taken to minimize the effects of the project on neighbors and efforts would be made to preserve the existing visual impacts, especially from North Broadway. Access to the development from Ross Street would be limited to emergency vehicles.
There would be 232 one-, two- and three-bedroom senior-restricted independent living apartments in a 6-story building with a parking garage at the east end of the site, linked to a 5-story building with a 103-unit assisted living and memory care facility. Another 28 2-story, three-bedroom rental townhouses would be built on the north and south sides of the site.
There would be 48 apartments in a 3-story building to be constructed as part of the preservation of the west façade of the former convent. The plan calls for more than 90% of the units in the structure to be studio and 1-bedrooms.
Affordable units would be provided to meet the city”™s affordable housing regulations.
Historic preservation also includes maintaining the Chapel of the Divine Compassion for ongoing use and preserving the historic Mapleton House. The private, all-girls high school closed in 2015.
