The New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) police department is seeking approval from Yonkers for a $18.9 million project to renovate an existing vacant office building at 750 McLean Ave. that also is known as 81 Cumberland Drive. the renovated building would be used to house a police unit that has been working at the Hillview Reservoir site in Yonkers. The building would become the Hillview Police Precinct Headquarters, which is the DEP police department’s 7th Precinct.
Presently, the NYC DEP Hillview Police Precinct occupies a trailer at the Hillview Reservoir. It provides on-site security for the Hillview Reservoir. In addition, DEP police dispatched from the Hillview location are responsible for the security of the Croton Water Filtration Plant, Jerome Park Reservoir, and other water supply aqueduct facilities south of I-287.
The existing two-story office building is on a 0.37-acre site with access to and from McLean Avenue. The plan would add a curb cut to permit vehicles to exit onto Cumberland Drive, which is a one-way street. The vehicles would have to make a left turn onto Cumberland and then travel the short distance to McLean Avenue.
The work would involve stripping the existing building down to the perimeter masonry bearing wall and steel frame structure, removing the existing parapet, adding a new standing seam roof, repairing the existing façade brick masonry and making other exterior improvements and building the interior so it meets the needs of the police. There will be an emergency generator provided on one side of the building. There would be new landscaping, lighting, parking for 25 vehicles. and right-of-way improvements. Charging stations for 16 electric vehicles would be installed. A new addition would include a new lobby, elevator, and stairs throughout the interior. There would be new entrance stairs, an ADA-compliant access ramp, and a canopy along the exterior.
Access to the parking lot from McLean Avenue would be via a card-controlled automatic sliding gate. While the current configuration allows for both entering and exiting onto McLean Avenue, that would be changed to allow vehicles to only enter from McLean Avenue. A new automatic gate and curb cut to Cumberland Drive would be installed for vehicles to use when exiting the site.
Frank Milazzo, chief of the DEP police, told the Yonkers Planning Board that the department would do whatever local residents wanted to help screen the facility from their houses. The plan suggests adding a solid fence that is six feet high to help screen the parking lot from an adjacent residence.
Milazzo said that anyone arrested by the DEP police would not be imprisoned at the McLean Avenue site. He said that the site would not be intended to be visited by the public and noted that there would not be any major signage identifying the building as a police facility.
Neighbors of the site spoke at a public hearing and expressed concerns that because Cumberland Drive does not have sidewalks a safety hazard would be created by allowing vehicles to exit the site onto Cumberland. The hearing was to be continued at the board’s next meeting.
The Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) has already approved variances for proposed parking spaces not having the required setbacks. The ZBA said that since the precinct will have no detention facilities, it qualifies as a government office, which is permitted with a special use permit.
