Residents Voice Strong Opposition To Crestwood Condo Development

It was a full house at Tuckahoe Village Hall on Monday night as residents from Eastchester and Tuckahoe gathered to continue the discussion on the potential rezoning of an area of Crestwood from business to residence.

About fifty residents sat in on the meeting, while thirty or so stood, lining the back walls. For two hours they voiced their concerns to the Mayor and Trustee Board. Roughly twenty citizens approached the podium to speak, while the rest listened, cheered, jeered, and clapped.

The potential rezoning from business to residence would turn 300-308 Columbus Ave, currently the Crestwood Getty Service Center, to a condominium complex, affecting Columbus and Lincoln Avenue. Crestwood Station Plaza, LLC owns the Getty and is the applicant pursuing the rezoning.

Among the top concerns of residents: Car accidents, environmental factors, and overcrowding in schools.

Christine Valente, President of Leewood Park Community Association in Eastchester, spoke collectively for her 460 neighbors, pointing out that she wished they all knew about this proposal sooner, because they border the development.

"We don't think there's near enough information for residents to make valid decisions on this," she said.

Mayor Fitzpatrick said the meeting was for that very purpose. "We want to discuss it. We're not moving along. We've been keeping it open for four to five months and will continue to do so."

Valente expressed her concern over car accidents in the area, telling the Board and residents about her son, who was hit by a car outside the preschool off Lincoln Ave., towards route 22, and how three other children were hit by cars in that same location during that same year. 

"We don't see an end in sight. Our residents feel that this is the perfect opportunity for our Board to say 'Enough. Enough is enough,'" she said.

So that the applicant for the rezoning could gather more information for the public, neither the applicant nor Frank Fish, of the Tuckahoe Planning Board, were at the meeting.

Trustee Luigi Marcoccia believes that senior housing is the answer.

"There is no doubt a significant need for senior housing. The senior population would receive easy access to transportation and they can enjoy the village they helped to build," he said. This would also reduce the size of the building, and address traffic and density concerns.

In closing, he said, "I hope the Board and developer strongly considers this," to which enthusiastic clapping ensued.

Trustee Clare Gorman responded by saying that senior housing takes the problem of school overcrowding out of the equation.

Lou of Oakland Avenue in Tuckahoe was very concerned about the Village's safety. Citing the death of a leashed dog and multiple crashes, his worry was about what even more traffic would do to already highly trafficked roads.

"The traffic is only getting worse, the speeding is ridiculous. I'd like the Chief of Police to make up a survey of accidents from 120 feet away from the owner of 300-308 Columbus," he requested.

Jim Pape of Dale Road in Tuckahoe explained that it was his neighbor whose dog was killed and also responded  to the issue of safety and car accidents. 

"If my wife wasn't already an amputee, she would be," he said, "A car came too close, going too fast, while she was on the sidewalk, and rammed the sleeve of her elbow." 

Both Mr. Pape and his wife Kelly were also concerned about the environmental issues of building on a former gas station.

After the public had their say, Mayor Fitzpatrick assured residents, explaining that the public hearing will remain open. The applicant will be present at the next meeting, he said.

The next Board of Trustees meeting in scheduled for July 12 at 8 p.m.