A proposal to build a six-story apartment building on largely wooded land near the area of Yonkers where Tuckahoe Road and Central Avenue cross is being considered by the city”™s planning board and came under discussion at the board”™s Oct. 16 meeting.
The planning board is the lead agency for the project”™s environmental review and also has been conducting the site plan review. The 65-unit structure is planned for 70 Salisbury Road, which is in the vicinity of local streets Sadore Lane, Otsego Road and June Street. Running nearby are high-voltage electric power lines supported on large towers.
The applicant, Sador Tower LLC c/o Genesis Realty Group LLC, was represented before the planning board by attorney Steven A. Accinelli of the Yonkers-based law firm Veneruso, Curto, Schwartz and Curto LLP. He said some plans and studies still were being prepared, including a traffic study by White Plains-based Adler Consulting. Traffic and parking dominated the discussion.
Architect Lucio Di Leo of Studio RAI in Pound Ridge said the developer is providing for more parking spaces than are required under the city”™s codes.
“We”™re providing (parking for) 130 cars, which will take care of visitor parking and some additional parking, including 18 parking spaces as part of an easement agreement we are providing for the adjacent building,” he said.
He added that 105 parking spaces are required under the code. There would be an underground parking section to accommodate 69 cars. He said people would drive to and from the new building using Sadore Lane and Salisbury Road. He said people who live in the building would be the only ones to use the Salisbury connection. Gates that only could be opened by residents, emergency services or garbage pickup services would control access to Salisbury Road.
County Legislator Christopher Johnson pointed out that Roosevelt High School is close to the site and events there, whether football games or “a simple open house,” create traffic and parking problems. That prompted Planning Board Chairman Roman Kozicky to encourage the applicant to ”have your traffic engineer take into account traffic during a special event.”
Planning Board Member John Larkin asked, “Is the number of parking spaces based on the size of the apartments so that you get two parking spots if you have a larger apartment?” He said the reason he was asking was because sometimes couples have two cars.
“If there”™s only one spot per apartment, then where are the other people parking? Are they taking up spots on Salisbury, June and so forth?”
He said if that was the case, the development would be impacting the neighborhood.
Di Leo said the developer was following the zoning requirement.
“It”™s a formula we follow. It requires 105,” he said. “We”™re providing (parking for) 130 cars.”
Kozicky added, “You can double-check the zoning, but I believe it”™s going to be required for you to have more parking spots than that.”
Larkin pointed out that Salisbury Road is a relatively narrow two-lane local street. He questioned whether garbage trucks would be able to readily negotiate the road to get to and from the apartment building. Kozicky asked rhetorically, “Does public trash pickup take place now on Salisbury? I think it does, right, and they have trucks.”
Larkin expressed a concern that garbage trucks might have to back down the street.
“We”™re providing a complete turnaround for both the fire trucks and garbage pickup,” Di Leo responded. “We”™re providing a 100-foot diameter circle here for emergency vehicles and for garbage pickup so nobody”™s going to back out of the space.”
Larkin responded, “I guess I”™ll wait ”™til the traffic engineer”™s report and then our own traffic department to kind of look at the roadway and see because I don”™t think the roadway”™s wide enough for this type of traffic and the impact into the neighborhood is truly going to be detrimental because there”™s no way you”™re going to have all your cars parked on the site. They”™re going to be parking throughout the neighborhood, taking up the neighbors”™ spaces.”
A resident of Salisbury Road pointed out that not only is Roosevelt High School nearby, but The Northeast Jewish Center is at 11 Salisbury Road, just in from Tuckahoe Road.
