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Parking lot A proposed sale and rezoning/safety issues---Issues conveyed to the Planning Board Hearing on August 6, 2024 on the matter of parking lot A at the CROTON HARMON train station sale and rezoning to accommodate a proposed development of a six story hundred unit residence
The current parking A does not provide for stormwater management through the use of dry wells on the site or any other storage technique to abate the flow of stormwater off the property at all. In fact due to the nature of the lack of porosity of the surface area of the property, there is negligible water absorption on the site whatsoever.
The Properties water management is achieved at two drain locations on the property.
One of the two drain locations leaves the property and heads towards Metro North‘s property, the second drain heads downhill towards the other village parking lots.
The village is selling off parking lot A which is one off several parking lots that are interconnected and operated as one parking area
The purchaser/proposed developer of the 100 residential unit acquiring the site has no idea where the piped stormwater goes from the two stormwater drain locations on the proposed private property. Those two pipes which have no identified point of discharge constitute the proposed stormwater management/abatement effort for the proposed residential site, which has No dry wells or in its design changes in storm water absorption rates.
We have no idea of Metro North plans moving forward that could affect the ability to accept that water nor is the village selling any easement for what will be a private property no longer facilitating parking to the railroad that Metro North operates.
The second drain location channels, water, towards the remaining village parking lots and the authors of this proposal before you indicate they have no idea how that water is mitigated on our remaining property. The village has no commitment from the new property owner to participate in the abatement of stormwater at the 100 unit development. Once the thousands of gallons of stormwater leaves the 1.7 acre property we are selling storm water abatement becomes our problem. This proposal violates current zoning for all development within the village.
The thousands of gallons of sewage flowing daily from the hundred unit apartment complex cannot flow into our village sewage system as it normally does by gravity throughout the village. The Proposed residential development would appear to be at a point In the village’s sewage system that is highly pressurized, as it flows to Ossining for contracted processing and ultimately disposal into the river.
A small percentage of the housing in our village requires Non-gravity flow into the village sewer system. This is achieved through the use of sewage pumps. Universally there are Holding tanks on the non-gravity property’s’ that hold the sewage prior to being pumped. These tanks provide a buffer where sewage can be stored in the event of power outages or pump failures.
What’s proposed for the hundred unit structure to be built in parking lot A is a pumping system that has no safety buffer tank that could hold significant amounts of sewage generated by the site in tanks underground in the event of power, outages pump, failures, or village system issues. The only safeguard proposed is a generator that we cross our fingers and hope is maintained to be activated in the event of a electrical failure, In the event of failure , sewage water would flow into the Storm Water system on the property described above into our parking lots or I guess somewhere within the metro North facility.
I’m still confused about the height of the 6 story structure that includes the mechanical tower proposed to be built which I believe will be 65 feet in a village with a maximum building height zoning allowance of 35 feet. We also talking about a fully enclosed parking lot underneath the building which will be required to be fully sprinkler installed for fire protection. It is a fact that , all six stories of the structure will require fire protection, consistent with New York State fire code. This means that for purposes of fire protection this structure will require a far more sophisticated fire suppression system than we have ever seen utilized in our village. Evacuation and firefighting techniques for a building of this magnitude has not been undertaken before in our Village , nor has there been any hearings or public input from our volunteer fire department relative to their capability of handling this new building type
We watch on a daily basis the tragedy of death brought on by the existence of battery powered bikes and mopeds in multi unit structures New York City. We have yet to see the realization of a fire threat of battery operated vehicles nearing their end life 7 to 10 years from now.
Will this emergency fire suppression system require gravity, fed water tanks on the roof to assure us of appropriate fire suppression capabilities will the several hundred foot-long building require self closing corridor fire walls to facilitate lateral evacuation. Are we really being asked to approve a zoning change 60 or 70 feet of maximum residential height in our village, and usher in the need for professional firefighters on payroll 24 seven. Are we prepared for the costs, should those costs be calculated and included for your consideration as the planning board of our village.
John McKeon
ADDENDEUM ADDED: We learned an additional major issue at play in 100 residential unit development through the slip of a tongue last night. The 6 inch Water-main that serves the proposed building is insufficient to support the fire Suppression System required by New York State to meet fire code standards. The village is scrambling with our tax dollars to build additional infrastructure to meet the water flow requirements of the proposed building. The village has authorized through it’s zoning activities, the construction of two additional high-rise buildings across the street from the currently proposed building all this obviously without any thought of the necessary supporting infrastructure nor traffic impact.
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