Already given a new name by city officials, a densely industrial and environmentally polluted corner of Mount Vernon soon will get a new and more searching look from planners eyeing potential sites for cleanup and commercial redevelopment.
The city of Mount Vernon recently was awarded a $435,160 grant from the state”™s Brownfield Opportunity Areas program to study Canal Village, a 231-acre area in the city”™s southeastern section with 20 likely contaminated or brownfield sites. The grant award was among the largest approved this spring for 21 municipalities by the state Department of State.
Mount Vernon Planning and Community Development Commissioner Jeffrey Williams said the study area is bounded by Sandford Boulevard on the north, South Third Avenue on the west, Eastchester Creek and Canal on the east and the Bronx city line to the south. Though its name, Canal Village, has no historical basis, it reflects planners”™ focus on redeveloping the Eastchester canal for both increased regional freight transport by barge and public boating and recreational access, said Williams.
Mount Vernon last year joined in a New York Metropolitan Transportation Council study to explore the feasibility of developing “freight villages” in the metropolitan area to reduce truck traffic on highways and increase alternative and more cost-effective modes of freight delivery. Commercial villages that include banks, restaurants and worker facilities would be built around freight transfer facilities with ready access to major highways, rail lines and waterways.
The NYMTC study identified 300 land parcels in a 180-acre Canal Village area, most of which are privately owned and occupied by manufacturing, electronics, construction and engineering businesses. Consultants from the Rutgers University Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation said the site has “excellent potential” to be developed as a “hybrid” freight village whose industrial activities could be integrated with the adjacent residential neighborhood.
Mount Vernon officials in their brownfield grant proposal extended the study area to include retail and commercial properties on Sandford Boulevard.
Williams said city staff and outside consultants over the next 2 1/12 years will identify jobs-creating redevelopment opportunities and potential land assemblages from vacant and underutilized properties and target specific sites for environmental cleanups in an area that includes oil tank storage facilities, construction materials plants and bus and truck yards. The city will consider needed infrastructure upgrades and zoning changes to support and retain existing businesses and allow additional development. Williams said planners also will assess the financial costs of build-outs and available build-out sites.
Mount Vernon Mayor Clinton I. Young Jr. said the state funding “will assist the city in understanding how to enhance the coexistence of area businesses and natural resources as we improve the area”™s infrastructure and identify future land uses to foster sustainable development that will mutually benefit property and business owners, the city and its residents.”
The state currently provides more than $32 million in funding for approximately 100 Brownfield Opportunity Area projects. The program is administered by the Department of State in partnership with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
