Ossining scraps ’50s-era zoning

As the village of Ossining works on updating its comprehensive plan for the first time in nearly five decades, a consensus of how residents want to see the village grow is beginning to emerge.
Ossining recently sent out a questionnaire via mail seeking resident input on the zoning plan and received “a very large number” of responses, according to Mayor William Hanauer.
“The general response we get is that people are glad we”™re doing it,” he said of updating the plan. “In many ways the zoning is obsolete. The old zoning encourages industrial use east of the train tracks by the waterfront. Our new zoning would be for residential and retail use, for bringing the waterfront back into use for the people in the village.”
The current plan was written in 1959, said village Planner Valerie Monastra.
Because it”™s so old, she said this comprehensive plan will be more of a completely new document rather than an update of the previous one.
“(The current plan) is so old and outdated that, basically, we will be beginning from scratch,” she said.
The village has already hosted public comment hearings in June, and more are scheduled for September after a draft plan is completed.
Hanauer said some of the issues residents have brought up when discussing the plan are concerns that viewsheds will be preserved; preservation of historic buildings; control of development on steep slopes in the village; and density on the waterfront.
“These are all issues that are being addressed right now,” he said.
Hanauer said once completed, the comprehensive plan will be a “strong, resident-centered document.”
Some dormant buildings in Ossining”™s downtown are slated to be redeveloped, too. A long-vacant bank building on Main Street will soon change hands to an investor from outside the village. Developer John Has is constructing some 20 apartments and street-level retail space there.
Also, the village is looking to move forward with a plan to turn a defunct power station next to Sing-Sing prison into a museum of the storied lockup”™s history and place in American culture.
“The (comprehensive) plan is encouraging it as a good way for economic development and to provide jobs,” the mayor said.
Hanauer said the village is looking at the museum as a tourist destination on par with the West Point Military Academy and the Dia:Beacon art museum.
He said the village is in the process of seeking funding for the museum and hopes to have construction begin in 2009.

One Harbor Square

In other Ossining development news, the $78 million, 150-unit One Harbor Square condominium project on the Hudson riverfront being built by Valhalla developers Martin Ginsburg and Louis R. Cappelli is moving forward, said Hanauer.
The developers were forced to halt construction after they discovered more oil on the property than they anticipated when they broke ground last year. The project was also the target of two lawsuits, alleging it would have an adverse environmental impact on the site.
Joseph V. Apicella, executive vice president of Cappelli Enterprises Inc., said the cleanup of the oil product is nearly complete and lawsuits against the project have been dismissed.
“(The project) was found as having no environmental impact on the site,” he said. “We”™re waiting for the approval for the remedial investigation (of the site) under the state”™s brownfield program; the public comment on that plan is complete. We expect to sign off by the end of the month on that plan, and then begin the final phase of the environmental cleanup.”
He said that would take about eight weeks, and then the developers would start laying foundations at the site.
In addition to the 150 dwelling units, One Harbor Square will feature a restaurant, and will create a public park space and kayak launch, said Apicella.
He said construction for the entire project would take about 18 months.
Units at One Harbor Square will range from around $400,000 to $1.1 million, Apicella said.
Hanauer said there is still “a lot of work that needs to be done at the site,” but once completed will be a big part of the village”™s revitalization.