New Analysis For Reader's Digest Site Unveiled

Summit/Greenfield Partners has submitted its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for development plans on the Reader's Digest site, which details the company's ideal building scenario and several alternative situations.

According to Geoff Thompson of Thompson & Bender, who is a spokesman for the project, the FEIS was submitted on March 15.

The new study, conducted by Divney Tung Schwalbe, of White Plains, and includes the absence of Reader's Digest due to its post-bankruptcy plans to leave, as assumptions in each scenario given for the site, including in the "no build" alternative, with a placeholder tenant labeled as filling in 200,000-square feet of vacant space in the no build and in the preferred scenario.

The study also includes responses to the earlier Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which was done before last year's Reader's Digest bankruptcy and included retaining it as a tenant.

The firm's desired scenario, or "proposed action," as before, calls for a total of 520,000 square feet of space, down from the existing total of 700,000, due to the demolition of two commercial buildings on the site. It also calls for 278 units of housing, 244 of which are age restricted for senior citizens, and 32 of which are affordable workforce housing. Twenty-four of the senior units are affordable, too. There are 234 apartments in the proposal and 44 multifamily townhouses.

Under each plan, except for in the "no build," an assumption is made that an existing town restriction on the number of commercial tenants that can reside at the site – it's currently four – is lifted.

Summit/Greenfield has already sought to get the current tenant restriction lifted, and it has seen progress recently with comments made by New Castle Supervisor Barbara Gerrard, who acknowledged at a recent League of Women Voters discussion that renting the property out under its current restriction would be difficult.

One site alternative involves taking the proposed action and lifting the age restriction. The restriction has been a point of contention in the past, Thompson said.

Two alternatives in particular are new to the FEIS, and were added on due to inquiries from the town's Planning Board, the Town Board and public comments. One alternative both lifts the age restriction and reduces the housing units to 250 – alternative "G." This scenario envisions having more commercial space, with the number at 662,000 square, due to the preservation of a building that is slated to be torn down in other scenarios. The other new alternative, known as "F" in the study, houses the entire development within an existing sewer district. Thompson explained that this was in response to the Planning Board's request, and that the other plans have part of the development going outside of the sewer district.

Another interesting aspect of alternative G is that they would allow for 6.5 acres of space on the north side of Roaring Brook Road to be given to the Town of New Castle for municipal use. Currently, Thompson said, that land is occupied by four residential lots – one of which is vacant – and is owned by Summit/Greenfield. Thompson said that the town asked another company to do studies on possible municipal uses for the land. In the proposed action, the town only receives two acres, Thompson said. 

The FEIS also contains traffic and tax levy estimates.

Under the study, four categories are given for periods of the day: Weekday Peak AM School Hour, Weekday Peak AM Highway Hour, Weekday School Exit Hour, Weekday Peak PM Highway Hour and Saturday Peak Hour. Under the no build scenario, the respective number – measured in vehicles per hour – are: 322, 643, 305, 610 and 174. The school figures are given for times of peak traffic at nearby Horace Greeley High School.

Under the proposed action, the respective numbers would increase across the board. They would stand at: 471, 819, 403, 799 and 336. The same numbers would hold in each scenario except for alternative G, where there would be even further increases in volume in every category.

It should be noted that the no build scenario assumes less traffic than the site's current full capacity due to vacant commercial space, so it is less than is already allowed for the property.

Tax levy amounts are given for a projected build year of 2015. Under the estimate for the proposed action, the town would see about $390,000, the Chappaqua Central School District roughly $3,500,000 and Westchester County roughly $572,000. Keeping the proposed action but without the age restriction would yield about $406,000 for the town, more than $3,600,000 for the schools and about $595,000 for the county. Alternative F would see slightly lower numbers for the three entities, while Alternative G would see the highest projected amount of revenue out of each scenario. The numbers are: about $465,000 for the town, more than $4,200,000 for the school system and more than $680,000 for the county.

The FEIS has not been approved by the town yet, Thompson said, and revisions will be sent back to be done.