Grand Prix NY Landlord May Drop Zoning Change Bid for Bowling Alley

The landlord of Grand Prix New York is willing to drop a request for a zoning change as part of a proposal to add a 24-lane bowling alley to the business.

James Diamond of Diamond Properties and attorney David Steinmetz appeared before the Mount Kisco Planning Board Tuesday night for an update on the plan's status. The commercial landlord requested a zoning text amendment that would allow for the planned bowling alley not to have a membership requirement for recreational and leisure activities. This was proposed along with a special permit amendment for the site, both of which were brought up before the Village Board of Trustees in June. The trustees then agreed to refer the application to the Planning Board.

Since then, both the village and the applicant have come closer to a new consensus, in that the zoning change would be dropped, and Diamond Properties would seek a bowling alley with the membership requirement. While the move for a zoning amendment hasn't been officially dropped, according to James Diamond in an interview after the meeting, they are leaning towards it.

The debate over added activity to the property, which is located at 333 N. Bedford Rd. (Route 117), has been within the context of traffic impact.

When Diamond Properties brought the proposal up at the June Village Board meeting, Trustees Anthony Markus and Peter Grunthal raised concerned that having more leisure usage would lead to higher traffic. Deputy Mayor Peter DiChiara, in talking about the overall traffic impact of the site, raised concerns in an Aug. 18 post on his personal blog, mountkisconews.com, arguing that residents in the nearby Brookside Village complex currently face long waiting times.

Margaret Marcogliese, a resident of the Sutton Manor condominium complex - which is further south on Route 117 - expressed her grievances in a letter to The Examiner, which was also submitted for public record to the village. In it, she called for the installation of a traffic light on the stretch of the road near the complex.

A preliminary study on the traffic impact has been done by John Collins Engineers, P.C., on behalf of Diamond. The results, which looked at Monday to Friday traffic, give favorable news to the property owner, and state that the addition of a bowling alley would not add enough traffic trips to go over an hourly 450-trip limit for the complex during its peak evening hour, which is from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The study states that there are still 104 "unused" trips currently remaining - with 346 evening trips in total - for the evening peak. According to the early findings, 72 trips could be added due to the bowling alley, resulting in a total of 418 evening trips. While the brief study analyzed morning, it focused on the evening and said that Grand Prix does not generate many trips before 6 p.m. on weekdays.

More traffic information will follow. Planning Board Chairman Joseph Cosentino explained that John Collins will give them another report, and said that Frederick P. Clark Associates, which will analyze the study for the village, will come out with its findings as well.

"That's the fly in the ointment right now," Cosentino said in referring to the board not knowing more about the traffic impact.

A public hearing on the bowling alley will be heard at the board's Sept. 28 meeting, according to Cosentino.