The developer AVL Homes LLC, which is based in the Bronx, plans to appear before the Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals later this month to seek variances that would be required for it to proceed with plans to develop a 90-unit apartment building at 69 Spruce St., opposite Cerrato Lane, in the Nodine Hill neighborhood. The property is an approximately 0.85-acre lot.
According to Shahin Badaly of Badaly Engineering in Mount Vernon, the proposed building would be 12 stories. There would be 19 one-bedroom apartments, 35 two-bedroom units and 36 three-bedroom apartments. The development would include a total of 140 on-site parking spaces. There would be nine parking spaces located on-grade at the exterior of the building and 131 parking spaces located within the building on the lobby, first, second third floor levels. The proposed building includes bicycle parking, laundry facilities, a mail and package room and an office space for use by the tenants of the building.
Attorney Stephen Veneruso of the Yonkers-based law firm Veneruso, Curto, Schwartz & Curto LLP said that the proposed development would “provide a benefit to the community through improved aesthetics, together with providing much needed housing opportunities in the Nodine Hill neighborhood with easy access to schools, parks and public transportation.”
Veneruso pointed out that the building currently at the site is an aging five-family residence. He said that the property’s eastern-side property line abuts a large apartment building and the western property line abuts several multi-family homes and buildings.
Veneruso said that the applicant has worked with its design team to come up with a layout and design for the project that will complement the neighborhood’s existing housing supply while also increasing housing opportunities in Nodine Hill by providing a state-of-the-art structure with modem amenities constructed with ecologically friendly features throughout.
The project needs variances for not conforming to a number of aspects of city zoning. Among these are: putting up a building of 134 feet in height, which would exceed the maximum permitted height of 90 feet; providing only 140 parking spaces while 156 are required under zoning; proposing 45.5% coverage of the lot while only 40% coverage is permitted; and not meeting some setback requirements.
In a filing with the ZBA, Veneruso argued that “granting of the area variances will not create an undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood.” He said that the development “constitutes a welcome and substantial investment in and to the Nodine Hill community and therefore constitutes an improvement to the character of the area.”
Veneruso said that the variances being sought are not of the type, nature and extent that will be negatively disruptive or apparent to the general public.
“The project’s proximity to parks, businesses, thoroughfares, and public transportation makes it an ideal location for such a housing development,” Veneruso said. “Residents will benefit from the project’s location and the overall vision of the project, which seeks to meet the need for additional housing in Yonkers by offering residents a first-class structure with well thought out and apportioned living areas and modern-day amenities.”
