https://sleepyhollow.localarchives.org/files/original/d19498d2f696f286cb98ab37cc3fbc93.pdf 7d853c11da054857b6c433b499f2b93d PDF Text Text The Trustees Work Session of the Village of Sleepy Hollow held a Public Hearing Meeting on Tuesday, June 7, 2011, Village Hall, 28 Beekman Avenue, Sleepy Hollow, New York. Present: Mayor Kenneth G. Wray Deputy Mayor Thomas Capossela David Schroedel Barbara Carr Bruce Campbell Karin Wompa (8:15 p.m.) Evelyn Stupel, Trustees Also Present: Anthony P. Giaccio, Village Administrator Paula A. McCarthy, Village Clerk Janet Gandolfo, Village Counsel Richard Gross, Village General Foreman Gregory Camp, Police Chief Sean McCarthy, Village Inspector (7:55 p.m.) At 7:06 p.m. the Mayor called the meeting to order. The Village Clerk read aloud the Public Hearing announcement. Mayor opened the Public Hearing to the public and evoked the 5 minute rule: Katherine Zaiantis, represents the Village of Tarrytown and shared a letter on their behalf from Adier Consulting, regarding the Review of the Proposed Lighthouse Landing Development, urging the Board to consider the traffic impacts in the Village. Jeffrey Anzevino, Director of Land Use Advocacy from Scenic Hudson Inc, a 48 year old nonprofit environmental organization, addressed the Mayor and the Board and submitted a written statement. See attached. Philip Musegaas of the River Keeper addressed the Mayor and the Board and said he would follow up with written comments. He is concerned about pollution and sited Section, 9, page 29, Section 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the special permit. David Bedell of Sleepy Hollow and Chair of the Village's Environmental Advisory Council, addressed the Mayor and the Board and commented on the East parcel stating that this is a large complicated operation that the Village Board is taking. He suggested that the Village should develop more green standards. He suggested that the Village demand all the monies upfront. He stated that at it is imperative that the village have a planned structured, and urged that experts develop this plan. Mr. Bedell commented on the West parcel and asked that the language be reviewed to make sure that native plans, and other village laws will be applied. He stated that he is pleased to see that the green building standards are being considered. �Mario Belanich of North Washington Street addressed the Mayor and the Board and stated that when General Motors was operating there were over 500 employees and the traffic jann was took 20 to 30 minutes per day and the Villages survived. He stated that he worked for GM for 40 years and has never been sick. He stated that he is shocked and surprised that the Village of Tarrytown is suing the Village over a traffic matter. He said the GM plant stopped operating 15 years ago and it's time to move on, the Village, the schools and the county need the tax revenue. There were no further comments from the public at this time; Mayor asked the Board for comments. Deputy Mayor Caposseia stated that the Village of Tarrytown's Lawsuit is frivolous and it will cost our Village a lot of money. Trustee Campbell agreed with Deputy Mayor Caposseia and stated that the Village of Tarrytown should have asked for a discussion about this development instead of a lawsuit. Mayor stated that when he noticed this hearing he announced that he intended to open and close it on the same day, absent any extraordinary events. He stated that the comments from the public received tonight were substantially the same as those received in prior oral and/or written presentations. The Special Permit has been on the Village Web site and available to the public for several weeks. On a motion by Deputy Mayor Caposseia, Seconded by Trustee Stupel the public hearing was closed. It was unanimous. Mayor called for a special session and stated that the comments from the public this evening have been considered and it is appropriate to go forward starting with the Consistency Findings resolution which will be read aloud for the record. Trustee Schroedel stated he is comfortable moving forward. See attached resolutions. On a motion by Trustee Campbell, seconded by Trustee Carr, the Consistency Findings Lighthouse Landing Resolution passed. It was unanimous. On a motion by Trustee Campbell, seconded by Trustee Stupel, the Granting Special Permit and Approving the Riverfront Development Concept Plan for the Lighthouse Landing Riverfront Development Resolution passed. It was unanimous. Trustee Carr said that all the members of this Board have made a significant difference and made a good safeguard decision for the village. Trustee Stupel thanked the committee that put this together. �On a motion by Deputy Mayor Capossela, seconded by Trustee Carr the Accepting Guidelines for Lighthouse Landing Riverfront Development Resolution passed. It was unanimous. Mayor Wray congratulated General Motors and stated its time to find a developer. Trustee Wompa thanked David Smith, Joel Sacks, Andrew Tung, Janet Gandolfo, and everyone else for putting this project together. At 9:45pm on a motion by Trustee Schroedel, seconded by Trustee Carr, the special session was adjourned. pectfully submitted. // Paula A. McCarthy Village Clerk �Adler Consulting, 235 Main Street White Plains, NY 10601-2401 Transportation Planning & Traffic Engineering, PLLC Tel # (914) 997-8510 Fax #(914) 997-7140 June 7, 2011 Honorable Kenneth G. Wray, Mayor Members of the Board of Trustees Village of Sleepy Hollow 28 Beekman Avenue Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 Re: Review of Proposed Lighthouse Landing Development Village of Sleepy Hollow, New York Dear Mayor Wray and Members of the Board: At the request of the Village of Tarrytown, Adler Consulting has reviewed the "Resolution on Environmental Determination and Findings Revised Riverfront Development Concept Plan Pursuant to Section 62-5.1 of the Sleepy Hollow Code for the Lighthouse Landing Riverfront Development" (Findings) which was approved by the Board of the Village of Sleepy Hollow and is the basis for consideration of the Special Permit. Adler Consulting previously reviewed the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared for the Lighthouse Landing and submitted comments to the Village of Tarrytown in a letter, dated, April 4, 2005. In addition, Adler Consulting also reviewed the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and provided comments to the Village of Tarrytown in a letter, dated, July 17, 2007 and prepared and submitted an Affidavit in support of the lawsuit brought by the Village of Tarrytown in October 2007. In each of these submissions, Adler Consulting identified inaccuracies and omissions in the documents submitted by the Applicant and that both the DEIS and the subsequent FEIS were incomplete. It is also noted that inaccuracies identified by Adler Consulting in the DEIS were not addressed nor corrected in the FEIS. Further, Adler Consulting reviewed the Environmental Assessment Narrative (EAN) and the accompanying plans prepared by Divney-TungSchwalbe for the Lighthouse Landing at Sleepy Hollow, dated, December 14, 2010, �Honorable Kenneth G. Wray, Mayor June 7, 2011 Page 2 and submitted that review in a letter to the Board, dated, February 9, 2011. The review noted that the information concerning the size of the proposed project and its components presented by the Applicant as part of the EAN differed from the data provided in the FEIS. Moreover, the EAN did not include any additional analysis of the transportation impacts expected to be caused by the revised proposed development which had been modified from the information previously presented in the FEIS. Therefore, sincc the EAN did not contain new analyses, the inaccuracies and omissions identified in the DEIS and FEIS remain unaddressed and uncorrected. The Findings prepared by the Village of Sleepy Hollow, dated, January 25, 2011, rely on the EAN, FEIS and DEIS, which as has been previously noted, are inaccurate and contain omissions. Since the base documents are deficient, the Village of Sleepy Hollow has not taken the requisite "hard look" at the transportation and parldng Impacts of the proposed Lighthouse Landing development, particularly as they concern the traffic operating conditions and quality of life within the Village of Tarrytown. As noted earlier, the EAN did not include any analysis that documents the potential impacts associated with the revised Lighthouse Landing development and is, therefore, deficient. Adier Consulting had previously documented the deficiencies contained in the DEIS and FEIS submitted by the Applicant. Since the Findings do not correct the previously documented deficiencies and, the Special Permit is based on the deficient Findings, therefore, the Special Permit should not be approved by the Board. Please do not hesitate to contact us if shotild you have any questions. Sincerely, AdIer Consulting, Transportation Planning & Traffic Engineering, FLLC Bernard Adler, P.E. President NY Professional Engineer No. 048373 Michael P. O'Rourke, P.E., PTOE Senior Associate NY Professional Engineer No. 061375 �Scenic Hudson, Inc. One Civic Center Pla^a, Suite 200 Pflughkeepsie, NY 12601 3157 Tel: 8-15 473 4440 Fax: 845 473 2648 email: info@scenfchudson.org www,scenichudson.org SCENIC HUDSON Statement of Jeffrey Anzevino, AICP Director of Land Use Advocacy Scenic Hudson, Inc. Village of Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees General Motors's amended application for a Riverfront Development Concept Plan and Special Permit June 7, 2011 Good evening. My name Jeffrey Anzevino; 1 am the Director of Land Use Advocacy for Scenic Hudson, a 48-year-old nonprofit environmental organization whose mission is to ensure that tomorrow's Hudson River Valley is environmentally and economically sustainable. We have been actively working in Sleepy Hollow to improve the public's connection to the Hudson River for the past 12 years. We recently celebrated with our partners, the Village of Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, Westchester County Parks, Friends of Westchester County Parks, the NYS Department of State and, of course, Mrs. Davis, the reopening of the former bath house at Kingsland Point Park as the Kathryn W. Davis RiverWalk Center. And in addition with the help of Department of State's Environmental Protection Fund we are working with Tarrytown, Westchester County and Ferry Landing LLC to create the new Scenic Hudson RiverWalk Park at Tarrytown in order to ensure a continuous riverfront connection between Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. The Village of Sleepy Hollow is nearing a critical juncture in the approval process of the most important riverfront site along the entire Hudson. We acknowledge that the developer ultimately chosen for this site may well choose a different plan. That is all the more reason to require that the groundwork is laid to ensure that the issues are addressed to ensure that any new project will move ahead on a solid foundation and will add value to the village without compromising the environment or impacting the village or its residents. With that in mind, we offer the following comments for your consideration: In-river contamination's effect on the riverfront park The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's brownfield remediation plan must adequately protect the Village and its residents against future harm. In addition, we urge the village to take a proactive leadership role with DEC and GM to ensure that the in-river investigation is initiated as soon as possible so that the riverfront park can be opened as early as possible when the site is developed. The Village should consider hiring an independent third party environmental engineer to review the plan to ensure its interests and its residents are protected. �Climate Action Plan and Sea Level Rise Given that the GM site is low-lying and built on tidally-infliienced fill, the impact of rising water under the slab and potential flooding conditions over the site must be taken into account before the Riverfront Concept Plan and Special Permit are approved. While we understand that the environmental review examined this in light of existing 100-year floodplain data, new information has come to light that renders obsolete those old assumptions about sea level rise. On November 10, 2010 Governor Patterson under Executive Order No. 24 released his draft interim climate action plan. Consistent with the Sea Level Task Force final report, the plan found that global climate change could cause sea level to rise between 12 and 55 inches by the end of the century. We urge the village to require GM or its chosen developer to review and make any modifications necessary to the site development plan to ensure that flooding and storm surges do not cause either damage to the river, to property or cause liability and costs to be incurred by the village. New Market Conditions after the Financial Crisis Likewise, the scale of development at the GM site was determined in a very different real estate market than exists today. Therefore we suggest that GM should conduct an absorption study to determine if the 1,177 units and scale of commercial development now proposed at the GM site are reasonable given the capacity of the current real estate market to absorb this scale of development over a given period of time. Cement Dust Pile Finally, upon demolition in the late 1990s of the GM manufacturing plant, portions of remaining concrete structural elements were milled into aggregate for on-site reuse. A stockpile of these concrete millings has since then blighted the appearance of the western portion of the site. In addition, we have submitted to the NYSDEC, to the village, and to GM a letter from a credible environmental scientist raising questions about the suitability of reuse of these materials due to contaminants. We believe that GM should take immediate action to address the eyesore it has left behind on the riverfront. In order to reduce the visibility and toxicity of the pile, we request that the Village require GM to completely remove or substantially lower the height of the pile. In addition, the entire site is an eyesore. Given that redevelopment of the site is likely to take several years, we urge the village to require GM to take steps to significantly improve its appearance during the interim. Conclusion Scenic Hudson hopes that all parties will work cooperatively so that Lighthouse Landing will serve as a natural extension of Sleepy Hollow and function as an integrated part of the Village. Without a doubt, this is a challenging site. The railroad has historically separated the former GM site from village neighborhoods and its central business district. However, the site also provides an outstanding opportunity to serve as a model of riverfront development for communities throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond. Thank you for providing this opportunity to present these comments tonight. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes & Resolutions-2011 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource MINS_TRUST_2011-06-07 Subject The topic of the resource Board of Trustees Minutes-2011 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Village of Sleepy Hollow All Rights Reserved. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text