A plan to build a 48-unit apartment building is expected to be on The Village of Ossining’s Architectural Review and Planning Board’s Sept. 26 meeting agenda, when the board is expected to hear new public comments on the proposal.
AF Riverwalk Residences Corp., which is located in Cortlandt Manor, has proposed to develop an approximately 5.92 acre site it owns west of the intersection of Van Wyck Street and Snowden Avenue. ASF Construction & Excavation Corp. is at the same address as given for the developer. A four-story building with 48 apartments would be built on the eastern portion of the site and the western portion of the site would be preserved as public open space.
Attorney Anthony B. Gioffre III of the White Plains-based law firm Cuddy & Feder told the Planning Board that more than three acres of public open space would be preserved through a conservation easement and will include various public amenities including a trailway with access from Van Wyck Street to the Crawbuckie Nature Preserve, benches, a gazebo and landscaping. There would be four public parking spaces within the Van Wyck Street cul-de-sac.
The developer proposes to provide 97 off-street parking spaces for the apartment building, which would feature 16 one-bedroom units and 32 two-bedroom units. A total of five units, two one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units will be designated as affordable in accordance requirements of the village.
On-site amenities for residents would include a pool, fitness center, and rooftop terrace. Solar panels would be installed on the roof.
Gioffre pointed out that the developer believes the proposal is in keeping with the village’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program as amended March 16, 2011.
“The LWRP states that ‘[t]he privately owned undeveloped properties of (the) Snowden area will be fairly difficult to develop due to the steep grades; however, the land could be considered for housing located on the upper portions near Snowden Avenue and portions of land near the Edward M. Wheeler Crawbuckie Nature Preserve Area should be left in its natural state and connected through a pathway to the nature area,'” Gioffre said. “The applicant intends to honor this plan by concentrating the residential development to the area of the premises closest to Snowden Avenue while preserving the portion closest to the Crawbuckie Nature Preserve for public use and providing a connection to the trails of the Crawbuckie Nature Preserve.”
The developer is asking for a density bonus as allowed in Ossining’s Conservation Development District in order for it to build the 48 units proposed in its project. The density bonus of 15% applies when at least 10% of the units in a project will be offered as affordable for people earning less than 60% of the Westchester Area Median Income.
Gioffre said that when all calculations are done of allowable density bonuses, the developer actually would be allowed to build 49.96 units, so the 48 units proposed are fewer than what would be permitted.
“The adjacent properties include a large residential multi-family building to the south known as the Snowden House and the Ashland Pharmaceutical Plant to the north. Snowden Avenue to the west is improved with several single- and multi-family residences,” Gioffre said.
An environmental services firm conducted a study of the site and reported poor wetlands conditions, the presence of solid waste and miscellaneous debris, and contaminated soils due to surface water runoff from adjacent properties. The applicant said it would mitigate the problems and the site conditions would be significantly improved with the development. It also said that its development would significantly enhance community access to the natural resources of the area and that it is prosing “an appropriately scaled moderately low-density project while reducing overall site disturbance to the greatest extent possible.”
