A preliminary subdivision application for the former Windward School property in White Plains has been presented to the White Plains Planning Board. The school moved from its location on Windward Avenue to 1275 Mamaroneck Ave. in the city, which is the building formerly occupied by the March of Dimes. Developer Whitmore Estates proposes a 13-lot subdivision so that 14 single-family homes can be built on the site.
The Planning Board on Aug. 18 declared its intent to become Lead Agency for the environmental review of the proposal. It also scheduled a public hearing for Sept. 22.
While it appears that the project might qualify for exemption from certain environmental review requirements because of changes recently made to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to encourage building in New York, Attorney David Steinmetz of the White Plains-based law firm Zarin & Steinmetz told the Planning Board that the developer does not want to seek exemptions as SEQRA now seems to allow and would be providing various environmental studies covering such areas a soil, stormwater and traffic.
“We are not requesting an exemption. I don’t want to be caught up in what would be a test case in White Plains for declaring exemption,” Steinmetz said. “I don’t need to do that. I have an as-of-right zoning compliant 13-lot subdivision. We know we’ve got to give you traffic circulation, stormwater, utilities; we’ll do all that. We’ll touch the same bases that we would have.”
Steinmetz said that the property itself is 5.355 acres and has two addresses: 5 Windward and 15 Windward Ave. He said it is an environmentally sensitive site due to rock outcroppings. He said one parcel would be subdivided into 13 residential lots and the other parcel would be the 14th lot.
“The existing school, obviously, would be demolished,” Steinmetz said. “We are proposing a project that we believe requires no variances; it’s consistent with the city’s zoning. We believe this project is entirely consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan in terms of providing a different type of housing and more residential housing in general.”
Tyler Selvaggi of Larchmont-based Catizone Engineering said that the plan includes sewer main and water main extensions of approximately 800 feet. He said that nine stormwater infiltration units would be placed throughout the subdivision. He said that some retaining walls would be built and a road to be built would be designed to city standards so that it could be dedicated to the city as a public road. Selvaggi said that only the minimum amount of rock that has to be removed to build the houses would be removed.
Steinmetz said he does not envision that a homeowner association would be established for the new residential development. He said that the individual homeowners would be responsible for maintenance of the stormwater infiltration units on their property.
