Pressure mounts for moratorium on new downtown construction

As City officials tout New Rochelle’s decade-long downtown redevelopment as an example to follow, scores of residents spoke out at the March 25 Planning Board meeting opposing the construction of a new 28-story  apartment building at 570 Main Street, on the corner of Centre Ave.

Under the slogan, “Enough is Enough,” speaker after speaker voiced concerns about traffic, parking, loss of character, lack of green space, empty storefronts, and more, at the public hearing, which lasted more than two hours.

Addressing the Board, Enough is Enough organizer Shaun Wayawatzki, said, “Oversaturation and overdevelopment” are the reasons why so many people showed up to speak out. Referring to the 2015 and 2021 rezoning of the downtown to allow for development, he said, “If you want to know why this is happening, it’s a case of as-of-right form based zoning run amok. As-of-right form based zoning is about the ‘can’, not about the ‘should’. It takes away your discretion and it takes away our voice. Enough is Enough! Please vote ‘no’ on this proposal.”

Asked by the Board of Davenport Lofts at 25 Leroy Place to look at the available data and give an opinion on the impact of the proposed development in the surrounding area, traffic and parking consultant Michael Maris said, “We couldn’t. Frankly, the data is not there… It appears the project is dependent on generic traffic studies done by the City of New Rochelle, the latest in 2021. … That study determined that out of the 29 intersections [studied], if the development goes through, 21 will fail. That’s 72% of the intersections analyzed are going to be congested.” He continued, “Based on what has been submitted, you and I do not know what the potential impact of this project is. The generic study is done by the city. It recognizes their limitations and they make several references that more site-specific traffic impact studies must be done to identify impacts and mitigations. … You need more studies. …  You don’t have enough data on traffic and parking” to make a decision on the project. 

Regarding parking, he said, “Based on the city’s requirements, the proposed parking is going to be approximately 100 parking spaces short,” adding, “A parking study is needed to explain why they can build with fewer parking spaces.”

Supporters of Enough Is Enough campaign demonstrate outside 570 Main Street on March 24

One person spoke up for Allstate Ventures, the developer of the proposed project.  The speaker was a resident of the Arc, one of Allstate’s three existing New Rochelle buildings, located at 64 Centre Avenue.  Allstate’s other two properties are on Huguenot St. and Westchester Place.

In the end, Planning Board Chair Sarah Dodds-Brown  thanked everyone for their comments, saying, “I want to be very clear that our purview as a Planning Board is in respect to this application. But I don’t want you to feel that your comments and the sentiments that have been expressed here have not been heard by us and by members of city staff.”

Dodds-Brown asked the developer to provide additional information before a vote could be taken, telling Allstate to come back next month.

Enough is Enough is starting a “Moratorium Now” campaign to get the City to pause new downtown building approvals, conduct a full review, assessing the past 10 years of development and comparing it to what was promised, before approving any more new development in the downtown.