Lower King Merchants Worry About Street Overhaul

The town's planned renovation of Chappaqua's lower King Street is drawing concern from some merchants who feel that it could be too disruptive for business.

"We don't need to turn away one more consumer from this town," said owner Cindy Lupica, citing the impact that construction of the Route 120 bridge, only recently completed, has already had.

Lupica was among those who recently emailed New Castle Deputy Supervisor Elise Kessler Mottel about the plan. Mottel brought up the merchants' concerns at Tuesday's town board work session while getting input from fellow members on how to proceed. Board members decided to take a look at some conceptual renderings at their Jan. 17 work session and to have a meeting with merchants.

The plan calls for removing parking spots that face the street's northern buildings and then shifting them to face the southern part. It would also involve replacing sidewalks, pavement and creating an enhanced pocket plaza at the intersection with Allen Place.

Ironically, the plan is set to be done this year because town board members agreed last fall to consider lower King instead of a bigger project planned for South Greeley Avenue. That project, which would involve a replacement of sidewalks, water and sewer pipes, was postponed to next year in order to give merchants on that street a break. Last year, they not only face the bridge construction but also endured a major renovation of their back parking lot. The South Greeley parking overhaul, South Greeley's future improvements and the lower King work are all part of the town's broader hamlet plan for downtown Chappaqua. The plan is a bundle of infrastructural and aesthetic improvements being done in phases over several years.

Some level of disruption for businesses is certain, explained Town Administrator Penny Paderewski.

“There’s no question about it," she told the board.

One particular issue is the length of time that the project could take. Padrewski said it could range from 6-9 months, including planning, bidding and construction. The town has not gotten to the specific engineering phase yet and there is no firm timeline at this point, based on what Paderewski told the board.

Merchants interviewed acknowleged that disruption is a concern, while also expressing general interest in fixing up the street.

"We don't want anything to discourage people from visiting town," said co-owner Eve Spence. She suggested that the town should do much of it during the summer when people are vacationing.

She also said, "we are always up for beautification of the town."

owner Susan Maher said that she is sensitive to the disruption that it could have on vehicle and foot traffic. At the same time, she likes the idea of the pocket plaza being proposed, which would be close to her store.

owner Alissa Harvey said that while it's unfortunate to have businesses disrupted, she believes that the project will be beneficial.

Lupica offered some suggestions for how to help the merchants, including possibly breaking the project down into smaller parts and having businesses close down for a full day to get more work done at once instead of prolonging the disruption. She also felt that merchants could contribution some information that could help the town in looking at the project from their points of view.

Clarification: Our initial story version stated that the project could take 6-9 months but did not specify which phase this would include, which could leave an impression that the construction work could take that long. We have changed it to note that the possible length Paderewski gave includes multiple phases, after she gave feedback on the story.