New Castle: Chap Crossing, Water & Sewers on Agenda

The New Castle Town Board has a busy agenda tonight, when its regular meeting starts at 8:45 p.m., at town hall in Chappaqua. To access the full agenda, along with its packet, click here.

Here's a look at some of its major items:

Chappaqua Crossing Housing Law Vote

The board will hold a public hearing, and then a law, to allow for more extension requests for the Multifamily Planned Development zoning district (MFPD), which is the zone that part of Chappaqua Crossing falls under. After a site gets an MFPD approved by the town board, the town code currently only allows for up to two, 6-month extensions to be granted to an applicant to keep the zone while it seeks planning board approval. The change in the law would allow for Chappaqua Crossing owner Summit/Greenfield, or any applicant with an MFPD zone, to seek an unlimited number of 6-month extensions.

The Chappaqua Crossing MFPD is good for up to 111 housing units, including a mix of condos and townhouses. The developer proposed more housing during the 2000s, with 199 units being its most recent iteration; the town board, in April 2011, only rezoned the property to allow for 111. From February 2011 to December 2012, the developer and town were in federal and state courts over how the rezoning review was handled. Those cases were suspended in December as part of a settlement, where the town will give requisite approvals needed for a rezone of another part of the site, which would allow for building retail and a grocery store.

Water District Votes

A public hearing, and district creation vote, will be held for establishing the Croton Avenue-High Ridge Road Water District. The new entity is being created as part of the plan to provide a group of northern town residents with New Castle water. Currently, the residents receive Mount Kisco water, and pay a non-resident rate for it that is double of what village residents pay.

There will also be votes for the financing of the project and for choosing a contractor. To learn more, click here for our story.

Sewer District Votes

The town board will hold a public hearing, and an approval vote, for creating sewer districts for the Riverwoods condo complex and the Yeshiva Farm Settlement, both of which receive authorization from Westchester County in late 2011. The neighborhoods are part of a sewer diversion project, in which their sewage would be transported through an extended sewager trunk line to a treatment plant in Yonkers. The communities have either relied on septic or an on-site treatment plant, which has been an issue for New York City's Department of Environmental Project because the neighborhoods are close to the New Croton Reservior, which is part of the city's water supply. 

Another neighborhood that's part of the diversion process, Random Farms, already has a district set up.