A proposal for a new ShopRite supermarket at 333 N. Bedford Road (Route 117) in Mount Kisco is scheduled for additional review by the village”™s Planning Board at its Nov. 12 meeting with the continuation of a public hearing from the board”™s Oct. 10 meeting.
DP 21 LLC, Diamond Properties, owner of the property, is seeking approval for an 85,652-square-foot supermarket in what has been warehouse/office space within the existing building on North Bedford Road. The supermarket would be in the northeast section of the approximately 575,000-square-foot building. The ShopRite operating nearby in the Bedford Green Shopping Center, just across the border from Mount Kisco in Bedford, would close.
The proposed supermarket is an allowable use within the existing zone but needs a special use permit from the village. The site at 333 N. Bedford Road covers 37.52 acres, 6.52 acres of which are in Bedford.
The site previously had been the location of a warehouse distribution center for the Grand Union supermarket chain. The facility is home to Grand Prix New York Racing & Entertainment, which features go-kart racing and other game and entertainment features in approximately 121,000 square feet of space. It also houses the bowling alley Spins Bowl. The fitness center Saw Mill Club East, which has two swimming pools, also is at the site.
The plan under review incorporates property line realignment involving portions of 309 and 383 N. Bedford Road to permit modifications to roadway intersection and the site”™s driveways. The applicant also proposes revising the parking layout and adding sidewalks and crosswalks to improve pedestrian access. It proposes demolition of an existing building and the construction of another for future retail use on the 383 N. Bedford Road portion of the site.
Architect Michael Gallin of Gallin Beeler Design Studio in Pleasantville told the board that after Grand Union left, “The building had been abandoned and was literally falling apart. The property subsequently has been updated and made much more public and part of this application is to make it even more integrated into the community in Mount Kisco with the food store and improving the intersections.”
Traffic congestion on North Bedford Road has long been an issue for the village and local residents. “Two of the problems or challenges of this site have been that the main intersections into the property are not perfectly aligned with the intersections across the street and the traffic lights are not as efficient as they could be,” Gallin said. The intersection improvements should help make it easier for residents to access North Bedford Road from their streets, he said.
The developer”™s traffic consultant, Mark Petroro of JMC Site Development Consultants in Armonk, said that the traffic study examined 11 intersections along North Bedford Road and vehicle counts assumed that another supermarket or similar retailer would open in the Bedford Green Shopping Center space to be vacated by ShopRite.
Judith Sage, a resident of the Foxwood condominiums near the site, asked, “Did you visit Foxwood, Brookside and Sutton Manor, which has a senior citizen place? These are very high-density residential areas and I”™m believing the way the traffic is now, I”™m wondering if the ambulances are making it to the hospital the way they used to or if the fire trucks are making it around the way they used to.”
Planning Board Chairman Douglas Hertz said, ”The heart of this application is: Will traffic move properly? Not just move properly. Can we improve because it doesn”™t move properly today and can we improve the situation while allowing this kind of activity to go on? That”™s fundamentally the most difficult question that we”™re answering in this application.”
