NWH Parking Lot Lights Go Back for More Work

For the second time in weeks, Mount Kisco planning board members have refused to sign off on Northern Westchester Hospital’s proposed two-story parking garage, calling for further details of its lighting plans.

While a public hearing on the garage’s proposed LED illumination drew no comments from residents Tuesday, board members quickly filled the void. They asked hospital officials to furnish specifics on the expected decline of a light source’s strength and the view residents would have of the garage’s rooftop light poles.

The proposal calls for six poles on the top interior level of the garage, with 15-foot arms and a 24-foot mounting height.

Last month, board Vice Chairman Anthony Sturniolo, presiding in the absence of Chairman Joseph Cosentino, called for shorter poles. Sturniolo, who had headed a board subcommittee on lighting, reported last month, “We are looking at . . . six 15-foot poles.” On Tuesday, however, with Sturniolo absent and Cosentino back at the helm, David J. Vander Wol, the hospital’s project consultant, presented the taller poles as the sole option. At either height, still-lower lights would illuminate the roof’s corners.

The light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, will be at 12 in total, with lower maintance and adjustability of light levels among the factors cited on behalf on the hospital.

Asked by Building Inspector Austin Cassidy whether the lightbars could pose a hazard when they became ice-covered. Vander Wol likened them to tree branches and said wind would dictate where falling ice landed.

Vander Wol, a professional engineer and senior vice president in the Manhattan office of Walker Parking Consultants, showed a rendering of the light poles’ visibility at street level. Board member Douglas Hertz, who had worked with Sturniolo on the lighting issue, noted that the rendering provided a view only of the structure’s northwest corner. Saying, “I think we need to feel comfortable with the residential view,” Hertz asked Vander Wol to provide other perspectives. “This is the hardest thing to visualize,” he told the consultant. “Even if you did a photo overlay,” he suggested, it would help.

Another issue carried over from last month sough to examine the natural decline of any light source’s strength and whether the village’s lighting specifications refer to the original light level, the half-life level or end-of-life level. The planning board then asked for figures on the life expectancy of the parking garage’s LEDs. While Michael Caruso, the hospital’s director of facilities, said those numbers had been transmitted to the board, planning officials said they remain unaccounted for. “That paperwork is in the system,” Caruso said, “so we have to resend it to you.”

The open-air parking structure, first of its kind in Mount Kisco, is scheduled to occupy the former parking lot site immediately south of the hospital, off St. Marks Place. Its 462 spaces would provide parking for the hospital as well as neighboring businesses.

The board kept the public hearing open, planning to reconvene on Feb. 28.

Editor's Note: The original version of this story did not have the correct dimensions for the poles. Patch regrets the error.