Hearing Resumes March 24 on Controversial Eldercare, Floating Zone

Benchmark Senior Living's quest for permission to build 87 units of eldercare housing in Pleasantville slogs on next week when the Village Board continues its public hearing March 24.

The controversial Benchmark housing would rise on 3½ wooded acres owned by the United Methodist Church, across the street from Foxwood’s condominiums. The church land, zoned now for residential and professional-office uses, would have to be reclassified by the village board to accommodate an assisted-living complex.

Some nearby residents, including Foxwood dwellers, have expressed opposition to the plan. 

A United Homeowners of Pleasantville online petition against the plan—and the "floating zone" land-use tool that would make it possible—has garnered 231 signatures to date.

The UHP has asked the Board to hold the hearing open for two months so that everyone in the village has an opportunity to understand the issues around the facility, first proposed in 2012.

Benchmark has asked the board to create a new Eldercare Community District in the village zoning code. Envisioned as a “floating zone,” it would be a kind of portable zoning classification, capable of being overlaid on the zoning of qualifying sites in other parts of Pleasantville. 

To qualify, as an Eldercare Community District, a site would need to have at least three acres of land (United Methodist is selling 3½ acres) and adjoin a state or county road (Bedford Road is Route 117, a county thoroughfare).

The complex for elderly residents would include a dining room, recreational amenities such as a beauty parlor and memory care facilities.

Opponents consider it an over-large, "commercial" development that would generate traffic 24 hours a day.

"Is Benchmark here to fill a need for our community? Can you, your parents, or family members afford to move into an assisted living facility that charges a base cost of $6,000.00-$8,000 per individual per month?" UHP asks on its website.

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