Village officials in Irvington plan to create a waterfront district of mixed commercial and residential uses and prohibit heavy industry in an area where one private owner already has significantly redeveloped a former manufacturing complex for office, retail and restaurant tenants.
The proposed district, which would replace the village”™s industrial zone, lies west of the Metro-North Railroad tracks and Main Street station. The village board of trustees will hear comments on the plan at a Feb. 27 public hearing.
The sole private property owner in the district on the Hudson River is Bridge Street Properties L.L.C., the village”™s largest real property taxpayer, which in 1995 paid $5.75 million to acquire the former Lord & Burnham Greenhouses campus on nine acres. Current tenants include the corporate headquarters and LAB store of Eileen Fisher, the women”™s clothing retailer, Xtreme Velocity Motor Sports and Orthocon, a developer and maker of implantable products to stop bone bleeding.
Partners in Bridge Street Properties in 2007 petitioned the village board to create a mixed-use district on the waterfront to allow the owner to develop 19 townhouses and retail space between West Main Street and the Irvington Boat Club. The developer, though, withdrew the zoning petition in early 2009.
Irvington Village Administrator Lawrence S. Schopfer said Bridge Street Properties has not revived its previous development proposal. He said the village board”™s main goal in creating the waterfront district was to “write out uses” for the property before they exist. “The current industrial zoning is very open-ended,” he said.
“They”™re trying to make that industrial area be more similar to our business district” on Main Street east of the railroad tracks, Schopfer said.
The waterfront zone includes Scenic Hudson Park, which borders Bridge Street Properties to the south and extends north to the village”™s Matthiessen Park.
The waterfront district would allow retail stores not exceeding 5,000 square feet of floor area and a wide range of commercial uses, including business and professional offices, banks, theaters, restaurants, hotels, fitness clubs and indoor recreation centers, nursery schools and day care centers, boat clubs and marinas.
Residential units, including units built above commercial space, would require a special-use permit, as would retail stores larger than 5,000 square feet and research and development facilities. The gross floor area for all residential space will not exceed 10 percent of the total gross floor area of all construction within the district.
Fast-foot restaurants and curb or drive-through food service businesses would be prohibited. Also banned are any uses that emit noxious or offensive odors, dust, noise, smoke, gas, fumes, vibrations or radiation.
New buildings in the waterfront district may not exceed 35 feet in height.
“The mayor (Brian Smith) has stated that the goal here is to eliminate industrial uses,” Schopfer said. “They were looking to change the zoning around to be more in line with the traditional zoning and the zoning in other districts.”
A partner at Bridge Street Properties declined to comment on the village zoning plan.
