Village Launches Study of the Redevelopment of the Freightway Site

Scarsdale Village is moving forward with a study on the potential impacts of development of the Freightway site. The garage structure is beyond its useful life and requires millions of dollars of repairs to remain in use. Trustees believe the development of the site could offer many benefits to the Village and are therefore re-opening the discussion on if and how the site should be developed.

Urban Planners from AKRF were on hand at Village Hall for a public work session on Tuesday night June 16, 2026 to explain the process and the timeline.

Village Planner Kellan Cantrell explained that the Village had declared itself lead agency for the SQRA process and is conducting an environmental review to examine impacts on a variety of factors including land use, the schools, community services, traffic, parking, utilities, the environment, finances, construction and more. The study will examine a broad range of "what if" scenarios and evaluate how different approaches could affect Scarsdale to allow the community to evaluate a range of choices and see what fits best. If the redevelopment process does not meet the needs of the community there will be no obligation to move forward.

Peter Feroe, an Urban Planner with White Plains firm AKRF took the group through an explanation of how the firm will assess the potential number of students that might be added to the school system as as result of a transit-oriented development. Past attempts to develop the site met opposition from parents who feared crowding in the schools.

Feroe explained a wide range of methods the firm will use to estimate the increase in the school population and the district’s capacity to accommodate theses students.

They have already reached out to the Scarsdale School district to request relevant data.

They are analyzing past enrollment trends and projections from the district’s most recent enrollment study which shows that enrollment in the Scarsdale Schools has declined about 2% overall in the past ten years but is projected to go up by 58-110 students in the next five years.
They will work with the schools to assess their capacity to accommodate additional enrollment.

They are examining census data.

They are tapping into New York State data to see how new construction affected school populations.

They are examining the number of students who have historically lived in Scarsdale’s four existing apartment complexes:

-Chateaus Circle
-0-7 Garth Road
-2-34 East Parkway
-45-50 Popham Road

They are examining the impact of similar transit-oriented development projects in comparable school districts to see how many students might live in a similar building in Scarsdale. These comparable districts are:

Chappaqua
Mamaroneck
Bronxville
Harrison
Pelham
Roslyn
Great Neck
Half Hollow Hills
Ridgewood NJ
Summit NJ
Darien CT

Feroe explained that this will be a dynamic process, with many opportunities for public input along the way.Susan Levine provided feedback to the planners.

The audience was then invited to offer feedback on a variety of factors including Village character, public spaces, parking, accessibility and more by posting comments on a series of boards posted around Rutherford Hall.

Feroe asked the group to share “What are the important things that we should be looking at? There's a question on schools, there's a question on parking, there's a question on traffic, there's a question on architecture. There's lots of different questions, and this is your opportunity to start the process of providing us this information. This is not the end. We're going to take this information, we're going to review it, we're going to incorporate it into the scope … where we lay out what we're going to study in the GEIS (generic environmental impact statement). We're going to refine it again, and we're going to go out and study, and it's going to be an iterative process.”

He invited everyone to follow the process on a new dedicated website, thefreightwayscarsdale.com, and to attend the next work session on July 14, 2026.