Croton looks to boost business district
The 10-square-mile village of Croton-on-Hudson ”“ five of which are underwater ”“ is known for a busy Metro-North train station and mammoth municipal parking lot, the largest in the county.
Mayor Leo Wiegman wants to change that.
Village officials in conjunction with U.S. Rep John Hall, D-Dover Plains, have secured a $1.2 million federal Transportation Enhancement Program grant to improve roadways for pedestrians and vehicles traveling from the train station to the Harmon Business District.
New zoning laws were just applied in the Harmon Business District Overlay Zone to provide incentives for economic growth and commercial redevelopment by tenants who will now see improved access to their parcels.
While a cause for celebration for some, concerns of overdevelopment have been voiced.
“My feeling is that virtually nothing has happened in that district for 25 years,” Wiegman said. “If you take the property tax cards for those parcels and you look at the average age of assessment, it”™s 1986. Very few properties have changed in the last 10 years.”
The odds were against commercial tenants who wanted to renovate or expand.
“Most property owners had a second floor above their storefront shop,” Wiegman said. “If you did want to renovate your space, you needed to go through a special permit process. You would spend six to 18 months in engineering, legal and architectural review and the cost was anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000 just to be able to be permitted to propose a plan.”
If you survived that threshold, Wiegman said, you would begin the planning board site review.
“We have removed that hurdle (special permit) if property owners agree to make improvements that enhance landscaping, sidewalk presence in front of the shop, the glass façade and the rear setbacks so you move the developed property further away from the residential street right behind it.”
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The village phrased the streamlined approval process “green taping” or allowing mixed-use development without a special permit requirement.
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To foster communication between property owners and village staff, a green tape team of economic development committee members and village officials will be formed.
“Successful business districts increase the dollars that stay in the local economy,” said village Trustee Rick Olver, in a prepared statement. “Our quality of life depends on revitalizing our commercial sector and creating attractive and vibrant commercial areas that people want to visit, so that we can shift more of our tax burden off the homeowner.”
The Harmon Business District now stands at 7.7 acres with 36 parcels.
The largest cluster is a lot containing the former Croton Dodge dealership comprised of two abutting parcels that together are a combined 24,000 square feet, Wiegman said.
Through feasibility studies, village officials found that first-floor commercial spaces with residential or office space located above had the lowest vacancy rates.
A high concentration of small or home office owners would potentially benefit from relocating to the business district and combining 200-square-foot to 500-square-foot spaces for a shared office setup, Wiegman said.
Through the demographic study, unmet demand for living space centered on the young professional and older adult turned empty nester.
“You need the housing that”™s 800 to 1,000 square feet,” Wiegman said. “We think it”™s a rational decision for a property owner to target these two demographics. I often joke that because of our river access, every residential unit will come with a kayak rack. Hundreds of people a week take advantage of it.”
Part of marketing Croton as more than just a pit stop along the Hudson line is to promote the appeal of the natural landscape.
“I live in Harmon just a block away from the business district and on Saturday mornings, you see groups of people coming up from the train station with backpacks,” Wiegman said. “At 4 p.m. in the afternoon, they come straggling back. We know people come up here from Manhattan for a weekend hike. We want to continue to offer amenities for that purpose by way of saying, ”˜Stop for lunch here.”™”