Nearly five years and hundreds of pages of engineering, environmental impact and legal documents later, it appears the proposed Costco Wholesale Club and on-site gas station near the intersection of Crompond Road and the Taconic State Parkway in Yorktown has entered the home stretch of its planning phase.
Yet a pending legal challenge by Yorktown business owners and residents could be a roadblock to the $60 million project by a Long Island developer.
The town”™s Planning Board met June 15 with Hawthorne-based TRC Engineers Inc. ”“ the company hired by the developer, Retail Store Construction Co. of Garden City, to complete the project”™s environmental impact statement ”“ to discuss the site plan for a 151,000-square-foot retail store on a nearly 19-acre parcel at 3200 Crompond Road.
TRC Engineers project manager Tom Holmes said he hoped the site plan could make headway in the review process during the summer months. “It”™s in review and it”™s still got some way to go,” Holmes said. “Maybe we can get acceptance in the fall.”
The town approved TRC”™s draft environmental impact statement in September 2012 and has since completed its State Environmental Quality Review Act requirements.
“The SEQR process is finished and closed,” said John A. Tegeder, Yorktown director of planning. He said he could not estimate a timeframe for construction should the site plan be approved. The town board already has approved the gas station proposed for the site.
The Costco store would include a four-bay loading dock and tire center as well as the sales floor. The store would also include 610 on-site parking spaces and a 12-pump, members-only gas station with three pump islands. The Costco gas station has been strongly opposed by independent gas station owners in Yorktown.
In April, three parties – Yorktown Smart Growth, a citizens development watchdog group, Yorktown Gas Mart Inc., and Quick Stop Central Ave. Inc. – filed a lawsuit against town officials and Breslin Realty Development Corp., the long Island developer”™s parent company, citing concerns over the potential arrival of the big-box competition that could peddle gas at cheaper prices.
Also named in the lawsuit was BJ”™s Wholesale Club, which operates a store at 3303 Crompond Road. In December, the Yorktown Town Board approved special-use gas station permits for the proposed Costco location and the BJ”™s site.
According to the lawsuit, there are 16 gas stations within a 5-mile radius of the proposed Costco location, including a Mobil station directly across the street owned by Reyad Mussa, president of Yorktown Gas Mart. Costco”™s selling of 10 million gallons of gas per year is not only a threat to local stations but also a potential traffic nightmare, the lawsuit alleges. The developer has estimated the site would generate an additional 758 vehicles per hour in an area adjacent to highway entry and exit ramps.
The plaintiffs”™ New Paltz attorney, James Bacon, could not be reached for comment.
Yorktown Town Supervisor Michael Grace said that despite the hurdles that have been encountered along the way, he remains optimistic that the warehouse store could have a positive impact on the town of 36,000 residents.
“We think it”™s going to be a great change in direction for the town,” he said. “It”™s much needed. It”™s going to bring public infrastructure.”
“Most issues have been ironed out during the environmental review,” he added. “I feel like it”™s on the quick track from here on out.”
The Yorktown location would be Costco”™s fourth store in Westchester County; the others are in Yonkers, New Rochelle and Port Chester. Only the New Rochelle warehouse store also includes an on-site gas station.
Costco, based in Issaquah, Wash., is the largest membership warehouse club in the U.S. with nearly 500 stores in the country.
