Brewster officials have been preparing for downtown revitalization for more than a decade. Now the village is reviewing an urban renewal plan that will put ideas into action.
“We”™re ready,” said Peter Brewster Hansen, the village”™s clerk and treasurer. “We just need a specific plan.”
Anthony Molé, the village attorney, said the village has been considering transit-oriented development in the past couple of years. With the help of Pace Land Use Law Center, the village conducted studies to revise its comprehensive plan and held public sessions.
“We took the comments received and incorporated them as best we could into the comprehensive plan in a way that made sense for the village”™s future,” Molé said.
The town had already implemented water mains and a new water treatment plant to support a doubling of the population about a decade ago. They are currently at half capacity. The village also worked with a developer to change zoning codes in accordance with the comprehensive plan, which will make it easier on future development, Hansen said.
The revised comprehensive plan was adopted last year. From there, VHB, an engineering, surveying and landscape architecture firm with an office in White Plains, prepared an urban renewal plan for Brewster, building off the village”™s comprehensive plan. Some of its objectives include redeveloping deteriorating and underutilized properties with residential, retail, parking and open space, creating new housing and generating economic activity.
The village will host a town hall-style session about the urban renewal plan on Feb. 24, where VHB and Tecton Architects will make a presentation. The urban renewal plan is expected to be adopted in March, Molé said.
The village will most likely be developed in phases starting with the area directly in front of the train station, Hansen said. There will be a focus on transit-oriented development around the train station, which is on one end of Main Street. One idea is to transform an often cluttered road structure in front of the station into a pedestrian plaza.
Some development has already been underway. A formerly abandoned building on Main Street was completely renovated and restored with 24 apartments and two storefronts, Hansen said.
Village officials also are considering developing the vacant Garden Street Elementary School building. The village board zoned it to allow for multiple uses and a broker is in touch with developers. On another unused space annexed to the village, approximately 17 acres on Allview Avenue, the owner, B.O.S. Land Development Corp., plans to build a four-story office building with 64,000 to 80,000 square feet of space.
“There”™s already a transformation underway with what exists,” Hansen said. “With the urban renewal plan we hope to spur more, large mass change. From a real estate perspective it”™s a good opportunity to invest in the village now and be part of this process.”
Peekskill: Connecting two vital neighborhoods
Peekskill is developing its active downtown and its several-miles-long waterfront along the Hudson River and bridging the gap between the two.
The city has seen a boost in downtown activity over the past several years and a tremendous uplift in its real estate outlook in the last year, said Jean Friedman, director of Peekskill”™s department of planning and development. It has housed an artist district since the late 1990s, but more recently a few “pioneers” opened new restaurants, pubs and bars in the area, she said.
“Downtown is blossoming into an entertainment capital,” Friedman said
About half a mile away is the city”™s Metro-North train station and waterfront area, which the city is trying to better connect to the downtown. Some businesses contributed to run a trolley between downtown and the waterfront on weekends, Friedman said.
She said the city recently updated its Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan after conducting studies on zoning and transit-oriented development with help from Pace Land Use Law Center. The plan has guided development on the waterfront including resources and shoreline protection.
“We basically upgraded our waterfront plan and our plan around the train station to follow the current trends of how things are being developed,” Friedman said. “People are looking to locate around public transit.”
Friedman said now that the city changed its zoning code, it is looking to promote the waterfront area for development with the goal of creating a walkable waterfront village with more residential units and multi-use buildings. The city is considering adding a parking garage at the train station and opening the existing lot for development. The city owns or controls nearly all of the waterfront property, making development easier, she said.
Over the past 10 to 12 years, the city developed six waterfront park areas connected by a waterfront trail, she said. Riverfront Green South, opposite the train station, is in the final stages of completion but parts of it are already in use. A study on how to use the city pier for large ships for tourism excursions on the Hudson River is underway.
The waterfront already boasts the Peekskill Brewery as an attraction and a couple of new restaurants will soon open across from the train station, Friedman said. A group of developers will turn a former restaurant on Charles Point into a catering space and family entertainment venue. The restaurant is expected to open this summer and the entertainment portion in 2017, Friedman said.
“That”™s going to be our regional draw,” she said.
Friedman said private residential development is growing. In the planning stage is 1 Park Place, a 150-unit downtown rental apartment building. An artist loft with 75 units has been approved for Main Street and another 50-unit residence is in the early planning stages, she said.
Just outside downtown, Ginsburg Development Cos. has plans to develop the former St. Mary”™s Convent property at Fort Hill into a three-building residential complex with 178 rental units, an inn and spa.
“We”™re definitely coming out of the recession and people are coming out of the woodwork to develop and buy properties,” Friedman said.
This is one in a series of reports on smart growth development in the region. The series will culminate in a March 24 panel discussion on smart growth trends hosted by Westfair Communications and Pace University Land Use Law Center at Pace Law School.
