Rendering of Glenwood Hill Manor
A proposed development of a 177-unit apartment tower – -(Glenwood Hill Manor), has been halted, after significant opposition to the project from Community groups and neighborhood associations.
The proposed development called for the construction of a 14-story multifamily building with ten floors being 177 affordable residential units and four levels of parking providing 138 parking spaces of the required 271 parking spaces, at at 273 – 297 Glenwood Avenue, 146 Lake Avenue, and 164 Lake Avenue fronting on both Father Finian Sullivan Drive and Somerville Place.
The developers, Lemor Development Group LLC and Empire Development Capital Holding, LLC, had applied for 11 variances for the 15 different parcels that they were putting together for the project.
The application was on the agenda for the Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals at their July 19 meeting.
Steve Simpson, President of the Lake Avenue Community Association, gives us a good summary in an email he sent out. Both Simpson and the Lake Ave. Comm Assoc. were instrumental in getting the word out about the concerns of many other residents and community groups.
“Project Withdrawn from the Zoning Board of Appeals! Our Association and community partners, including the North Yonkers Preservation, were successful in communicating the reasons why the proposed project would be harmful to us!
“Over the past five months, we submitted hundreds of letters and signatures on petitions in opposition. We rallied and spoke a number of times before the Zoning Board of Appeals and, on July 19th, we arranged for transportation to City Hall for 14 seniors so they would have an opportunity to speak.
“Our Council Majority Leader, Tasha Diaz, attended our July 18th community meeting, expressed her support for our community, and assured us that she stands with us.
“As promised, we appeared before the ZBA on July 19th with dozens of residents, 14 of whom were seniors ready to voice their opposition to the project and respectfully communicate our Association’s concerns. At the beginning of the hearing, we were informed by Chairwoman Kimball that the Zoning Board had denied a request from the developer that the hearing be adjourned until September. Then she read a letter from the developer’s attorney received after 4 pm stating they “the Applicants will not appear tonight and hereby withdraw this ZBA application for area variances bearing Case No. 5809.” The Chairwoman then announced that the ZBA would no longer hear the case!
“I am humbled by the support received in this campaign from Association members, our partners and those living within our community. Everyone on the ground team was terrific as they knocked on doors, talked about the project with neighbors, collected letters and spoke at the ZBA hearing.
“In rejecting this project, I believe that we have sent a message to future developers of projects to involve us when planning projects in our community,” writes Simpson.
In a story on The Yonkers Ledger https://www.theyonkersledger.com/housing/community-defeats-developer-in-battle-over-zoning-changes/4139/, two documents from the ZBA meeting are helpful in learning more. The first was a letter from attorney Neil J. Alexander, Esq., on behalf of City of Yonkers, owner, and Lemor Development Group and Empire Development Capital Holdings.
“As the ZBA is aware, the Applicants have expended significant resources, time, and effort to navigate the various land use entitlement processes in the City of Yonkers since the Summer of 2020 and have received to date for the Project a SEQRA Negative Declaration in October 2022 from the Planning Board and a Rezoning Approval in February 2023 from the City Council, where both of these approvals are final, binding, and non-appealable. Nonetheless, the Applicants will not appear tonight and hereby withdraw this ZBA,” writes Alexander.
The second document is a summary of the internal ZBA meeting by an unidentified member of the Yonkers ZBA. “The Zoning Board reviewed comments from the community and members of the Board and made multiple site visits to inspect the site.
“Madam Chair, I make a motion to deny the requested variances based on facts, findings, information, and testimony presented to this Board at the public hearing, site visits by members of the Zoning Board of Appeals, or otherwise obtained. In denying these variances, the Zoning Board of Appeals has taken into consideration the hardship faced by the applicant as weighed against the detriment to the health, safety, and welfare of the neighborhood and community. Specifically, in making its determination the Board has considered the following:
“Whether the benefit sought by the applicant can be achieved by other feasible means: The benefit of affordable housing can be achieved by other feasible means. For example, the applicant notes in a letter from Cuddy+Feder dated April 6, 2023 that, “The need for the heigh parking, and other required area variances are necessary in light of…the volume needed to provide a sufficient number of parking spaces, the difficult topography of the Premises (with a steep slope); the need to build to a density that provides a reasonable return in light of the significant expected appraisal value the…development firms have agreed to spend to purchase the Premises from the City…”. The benefit of affordable housing could be achieved by the applicant at a different, less expensive, and easier to build on location that does not require as many variances. This conclusion was also reached by the Westchester County Planning Board and noted in a letter from same dated March 21, 2023,
“The extent of the variances may indicate that the site is too small and steeply sloped for this scale of development.”
“Two, whether granting the requested variances would result in an undesirable change in the neighborhood character or a detriment to nearby properties: The granting of the eleven (11) separate variances would result in an undesirable change in the neighborhood. Additionally, the Yonkers Planning Department noted in a memo to the ZBA, “The community into which this proposal is being offered is one of the oldest and most densely developed neighborhoods in the city. Both because of its age and the population that it was designed to serve most housing in the area is wholly without parking and relies upon on-street parking spaces.” Thus, it is unlikely the on-street parking on both sides of Somerville Place could be or would be controlled through city ordinance.
“Clearly, granting the requested variances would result in an undesirable change in the neighborhood character and a detriment to nearby properties because the over two-dozen homes on Somerville Place would be struggling to park their cars to accommodate garbage trucks, emergency vehicles and move-in trucks. Further, Father Finian Sullivan Drive, a congested, steep, and winding road with limited visibility, would now be the vehicular entrance and exit point into the Subject Property.”
