Thank you to Scenic Hudson’s members in Sleepy Hollow for a strong turnout at last week's Village Board meeting. Many passionately expressed concerns about traffic, the need for a smaller development, and a buffer sufficient to accommodate restoring the Pocantico's original course along Kingsland Point Park.

The Village Board of Trustees by a 5-to-2 vote approved Lighthouse Landing’s Findings Statement. While not perfect, the Findings Statement represents a culmination of seven years of Scenic Hudson advocacy and negotiation between the village, developer and other interested parties.

Public Process Yields Much-Improved Plan
Over these past years, Mayor Zegarelli and the Village Board have conducted an open process with nearly 50 public meetings in order to balance many competing interests – clearly a monumental undertaking. They deserve much credit. As a result of this process and your participation, the proposed development, while not perfect, clearly has been greatly improved.

Here are 12 ways that the project has been improved:

• The former GM site, contaminated and abandoned since 1996, will be cleaned up and placed back on the tax rolls;
• Donald Trump, originally the leading candidate to develop the site, was not selected by General Motors;
• A new development with retail shops, a grocery store, theater, restaurants, hotel, and apartments will be constructed on the site;
• Senior and “workforce” apartments will be provided;
• Portions of the development will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for energy efficiency;
• Building heights along the Hudson River and Kingsland Point Park have been reduced to three and four stories;
• Design guidelines will ensure architecture that fits a Hudson River village;
• A 10.6-acre riverfront park, featuring soccer fields and other recreational features, will be created along nearly 0.5 miles of riverfront;
• A fishing pier, viewing platforms, floating dock and interpretive center will be provided;
• An additional 4-acre linear park will be created along the historic course of the Pocantico to retain the possibility of creating of second branch of the river;
• The number of townhomes and apartments has been reduced from 1,562 to 1,173, with a possible additional future reduction to 1,042; and
• Commercial development has been reduced from 180,000 square feet to 132,000 square feet.

With the Village Board’s adoption of the Findings, this phase of the approval process is complete. Now the Planning Board will conduct the site plan review to establish more specific design and layout details. Over the coming months you will have an opportunity to help the Planning Board fine tune the project.

Scenic Hudson, involved in this project since 1999, will work with the Planning Board to ensure that as project design evolves, it continues to improve.