Letter to the Editor: Hotel Possible without Crossroads 312 Rezoning

To the Editor:

In Tracy Griffin’s letter, “Town Board Should Approve Crossroads 312,” she claims that the Crossroads project will provide a “top-notch affordable hotel,” roadway improvements, jobs, and tax relief.

Ms. Griffin doesn’t seem aware that, if the developer so chose, he could build a “top-notch affordable hotel” right now under the lot’s current Rural Commercial (RC) zoning. But because he wants to add large retail, just like he did at The Highlands Center, which includes Home Depot and Kohl’s, he is holding up the process by applying for a zoning change to Highway Commercial-1 (HC-1). (Under RC zoning, large retail is not an option.) If the Southeast Town Board approves this zoning change, there is no guarantee that the developer will move forward with a hotel of any kind, “top-notch” or otherwise. He could just as easily decide that he wants a more profitable big-box store instead, leaving Ms. Griffin’s guests high and dry without lodging once again.

Ms. Griffin is correct that the developer’s plan calls for drastic changes to Rt. 312, but “improvements” is a generous term. I suppose the additional traffic lights and lanes will be an “improvement” for those who like sitting bumper to bumper at red lights and backed-up turning lanes or trying to merge multiple lanes into one over the I-84 bridge, which will not be widened. Ms. Griffin fails to mention that the developer expects Crossroads to add 1,617 vehicles to Rt. 312 during the three daily peak hours alone.

In regard to jobs, Crossroads 312 will provide some, but all the permanent ones will be low-wage, no-benefit, dead-end retail and service work. In 2012, the median household income in Southeast was $92,220, and the median cost of a single-family home was $364,867. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual income of a retail worker in 2013 was $21,140. I ask you, how can someone earning $21,140 afford to live and raise a family in Southeast? Town residents are desperate for economic growth in industries like health care and tech, which are booming in other parts of the state and pay salaries commensurate with the cost of living. But I guess we’ll just have to keep commuting to Westchester and NYC while our commercial zones are filled with more strip malls.

Finally, Ms. Griffin speaks of tax relief. Crossroads will provide little of that to Southeast. All sales tax generated by Crossroads will go to Putnam County, and Southeast will have no control over its use. The county could spend that revenue on Mahopac or Cold Spring or on some pet project while Southeast is left to foot the bill for all the expenses of upkeep associated with Crossroads. And while Crossroads is projected to contribute $1.4 million in property taxes to the Brewster School District, that is a small fraction of the district’s $87.9 million budget. The Highlands Center currently contributes about $1.5 million to the Brewster School District, too, but residents are still waiting to see this mythical “tax relief.”

The truth is that if Crossroads 312 is rezoned to permit more big-box retail, Southeast will bear all the costs but receive none of the benefits. I would urge anyone who wants to see a family-style hotel, which can become a reality under the present RC zoning, to ask the Southeast Town Board to deny the developer’s request for HC-1 rezoning. Members of the board have stated that they want to hear from Southeast residents on this matter.

KK Dorkin