Chappaqua school board members gave their support for including traffic mitigation on the Horace Greeley High School campus in a key document for the Chappaqua Crossing retail plan.
The board members, at Wednesday's meeting, did not hold a formal vote, but rather came to a "consensus," which involves the district giving feedback to the Town of New Castle in its review of the project.
The document is called a findings statement, which ends the environmental review. It will follow the plan's final supplemental environmental impact statement (FSEIS), which the New Castle Town Board voted to accept (finish) earlier this month. Once the board votes on the findings statement, it can also hold votes on the rezoning and master plan changes needed for enable the proposal, which calls for creating 120,000 square feet of retail space and includes a 36,000 to 66,000-square-foot grocery store.
Concern about traffic impact from the plan has been a major item raised by opponents of the proposal, which is across the campus from Roaring Brook Road. Peak traffic at the Greeley campus, referenced at the board meeting, involves vehicle queuing during entry and dismissal on school days.
School board President Jeffrey Mester said that the mitigation was previously discussed at a facilities committee meeting and at a school board meeting, which included meeting with Town Planner Sabrina Charney Hull and a consultant to the town.
The proposed mitigations from the town include several major changes. They involve widening the main access road from Roaring Brook Road that is adjacent to the Education Center and adding a third lane; having two exit lanes and one entry; eliminating a sidewalk on the western side of the access road and replacing it with one on the eastern side of the newly widened corridor; removing a crosswalk from the senior parking lot that goes to the western sidewalk; extending a short sidewalk that currently exists in front of an athletic field and bringing it close to the gym.
Other changes include the loss of some education center parking spots in order to accommodate the wider road and eastern sidewalk. They would be replaced with new spaces created by carving out a wooded area to the south of the existing lot. Speed bumps would also be converted into speed humps.
The retail proposal calls for creating a new entrance to Chappaqua Crossing from Roaring Brook Road, which would align with the Greeley campus entrance and include a traffic light.
The changes won't result in parents being able to cruise down Roaring Brook, Mester noted, but are intended to mitigate additional traffic from the plan and lessen the existing to an extent.
Although the board opted to go along, some members were concerned that it could affect the aesthetics, specifically the impact of the roadway widening.
Board member Karen Visser posed the question of does it look like a highway instead of a residential area, and asked how far it is to the Education Center.
The widening and eastern sidewalk proposal would involve the loss of some lawn space in front of the building in addition to lost parking.
Board member Victoria Tipp felt that the entrance looks nice now but raised the prospect of the result being a "commercial look."
Colleague Alyson Kiesel took a different approach, noting that the Greeley traffic situation is the district's issue. She said that, “I look at it as 'it's our problem.'”
Kiesel also felt that having a third lane could be beneficial in an emergency, while Mester felt that Joe Gramando, who is the district's director of facilities, is supportive of lanes that are larger.
Tipp felt that the district should be able to modify the proposal. Assistant Superintendent for Business John Chow replied that was the understanding from what the town planner indicated.
Before board members reached their consensus, Mester welcomed public input regarding the changes, suggesting that it will be publicized the next time the facilities committee meets. The committee includes some board members, students, PTA members and teachers.
A map of the proposed changes to the campus can be found at this link on the district's website.
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