Chamber of Commerce and Siegel to Work on Yorktown Revitalization Plan

Yorktown has had a bad reputation of not being "business friendly" for many years and now town officials and business leaders say they want to change that 'perception.' 

Supervisor Susan Siegel met with local business leaders last week to discuss a new business revitalization initiative the town will launch. It is aimed at finding new tenants or owners for many of Yorktown’s vacant commercial buildings.

The multi-phase plan, which will be implemented in partnership with the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce, will include:

• marketing the town of Yorktown and the town’s vacant commercial spaces,
• continuing to work on the town’s procedures in order to expedite the approval of both new commercial buildings and the renovation of existing ones, and
• meeting with local business owners to familiarize them with the town’s permit procedures.

"The business community plays a vital role in Yorktown," Siegel said. "In addition to the convenience of providing local goods and services to our residents, our businesses provide jobs and tax dollars, and greatly contribute to making Yorktown a desirable place to live and shop."

Siegel said there has been a discussion that , but Chris Sciarra, long-time Yorktown resident and businessman, said he's contacted the store chain numerous times, only to get a "Not Yorktown" response. 

One of the problems, he said, is that Yorktown has been concerned about "open space" and being "green" for a long time, as opposed to creating more business opportunities.

Aaron Bock, former town supervisor, called Siegel's plan "wonderful" and urged her to formalize it with a town resolution, so that everyone knows what the town process is.

Chamber of Commerce president Joseph Visconti said one of the important issues is that too often applicants get "bounced around" from one department to the next. Instead, he said, the applicant should come to the Chamber of Commerce first, then meet with all town department heads to find out what they'll need to do before proceeding.

Sciarra said the town's current procedure doesn't work and he was tired of it. For a long time, he worked on getting 's special use permit application, which . The winery is still not open for business officially due to other issues. 

Tony Grasso, former town councilman, said the town needs to have a checklist of what an applicant must do in order to open a business in town. He said that when a Kia dealership was interested in filling an empty lot by another car dealership, someone from the town had told the applicant it would take 18 months before they could open. 

"We can't have the current road blocks," Visconti said. 

Grasso said according to records, 76.85 percent of taxpayers of Yorktown are residents, 10.70 percent of taxes come from commercial owners, 5.76 percent from condos/co-ops, 4.14 percent from public utilities; 1.54 percent from agricultural/vacant and 1 percent from other commercial taxpayers. 

The homeowner, he said, "brings in the big bucks," but the interested in coming to town Costco, would "bring tax relief."

The cornerstone of the Revitalization Plan is the creation, by the town’s Planning Department, of a central database identifying the vacant properties including the size of the parcel, uses allowed based on the current zoning, number of existing parking spaces, whether the parcel is available for sale or lease, and information on how to contact either the owner or leasing agent.

A companion database will include demographic information about Yorktown and
the surrounding area, as well as population, age, income, education and other demographic information.

The town's Planning Department has already begun building the database, Siegel said. 

"Once completed, our plan is to post the database online and link it to other business development sites such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, and disseminate it to commercial brokers," she said. "The key is getting the information into the right hands."

Another key component of the Revitalization Plan would be expediting the approval process based on the type of development, both for new construction and the renovation of existing structures. 

"The entire Town Board is committed to working with the business community to expedite the approval process," Siegel said. "The approval process should not be an adversarial one. We want to adopt a new culture of cooperation in Yorktown."

She said the town acknowledges there is an issue and officials are "committed" to solving the problem.

One message, Bock said he wanted people to get after their meeting, is that Yorktown is different from what it used to be because business leaders and town officials are working on changing the procedures. 

"Yorktown is a very desirable place to do business, but we need to change things," Visconti said.