Village Considers Five Corners Development and Land Sale at Crane Road

Developer Stephen Oder and Architect Richard Behr returned to Village Hall on Monday May 16 for a review of their latest plans to build a four story residential building at 2-4 Weaver Street, incorporating a strip of Village-owned land on the east end of the property. The meeting was well attended. In addition to the entire Board of Trustees, the audience included many members of the Planning Board, Village Managers, Village Planner Liz Marrinan, and representatives from the Heathcote Five Corners Coalition who have been following the progress of this development for years.

At their last meeting on April 14, the committee had asked the developer to draw up new plans and renderings so that the committee and residents could see how the project would look if the Village sold the developer the strip of land that is now the driveway to the parking lot at ‘Massa at 2-4 Weaver.

Architects complied and brought plans that showed how the building would look with and without the Village strip.

Oder explained the benefits of including the property in the plan:

Under the new plan there would only be two curb cuts to Weaver Street and these curb cuts could be moved further away from the Five Corners. The cuts would be 235 feet away from the busy intersection to minimize their effect on Five Corners traffic.

The new plan would allow passengers to be picked up and dropped off underneath the building, freeing up the area in front of the building for green space and a sidewalk. This area is now the site of the dance studio which would be removed with the construction of the development.

In both plans, the building would still be setback 40 feet from Weaver, but in the new plan the fourth floor units would be setback another 20 feet. They would include terraces facing Weaver and the entire fourth story would therefore be behind them. This would reduce the impression of the bulk of the building.

The addition of the property would allow the architects to design a regularly shaped building instead of the angular building that would result if the development had to be shoehorned onto an odd-shaped lot.

Plans call for the inclusion of an affordable unit in the building. There would be ten regular units and one, one-bedroom affordable unit. There was considerable discussion about whether under the proposed new affordable housing code one or two affordable units would be required in a ten unit building and the Trustees agreed to get clarification.

Trustee Mark assured the audience that there would be another hearing or two before a decision was made but encouraged public reaction.

Jane Veron who chairs the Planning Board said that though this was not an official hearing of the Planning Board, the revised plan “appears to address concerns by reducing the curb cuts, reducing the bulk appearance, improving aesthetics and adding an affordable unit.”

Lena Crandall of the Friends of the Scarsdale Parks wanted to know if the two park-like areas shown on the plans would be public or for the exclusive use of the residents? She also recommended that the Village remove the Norway Maples that are now behind the lot on the Heathcote Bypass.

Martin Kaufman of the Heathcote Five Corners Coalition questioned the height of a cupola and a peaked roof shown on the drawing and Janet Bell commented that with the Village owned land the buildable area for the project would increase by 6,000 square feet, though it was noted that the revised plan only called for 2,000 square feet more of interior space. Therefore, the additional space would be used as green space and to provide for more space between the residential and tavern buildings.

Peter Gordon, also from the Coalition encouraged the Trustees to use the land sale to influence this project and bargain for the preservation of the exterior of the tavern and to cap the height of the new project.

Site plans and renderings of the two projects are available at Village Hall. If you are interested, stop by and view them.

County Proposes to Purchase/License Land from Scarsdale

In another less noted land use discussion, Westchester County has proposed to purchase or license five lots in Scarsdale to accommodate the reconstruction of the bridge at Crane Road. In addition to accommodating vehicular traffic, the bridge will provide pedestrian access over the tracks at the north end of the platform at Scarsdale station. The county offered to pay the Village $903,000 for use of the five lots and the Village has 90 days to consider the offer. At the May 12th Village Board meeting, the matter was referred to the Trustees Law and Finance Committee for review.