• 'A Missed Opportunity'

  • Sep 20 2024
  • Length: 4 mins
  • Podcast

'A Missed Opportunity'

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  • Summary

  • Planning Board pans Beacon project
    Members of the Beacon Planning Board were cautious last year when they began their review of a proposal to construct two 4-story buildings at the busy corner of North Avenue (Route 9D) and Beekman Street.
    A stone's throw from City Hall and the soon-to-be-completed Beacon fire station, the 45 Beekman St. site is a prominent feature of one of the entrances to the city and offers the opportunity to repair some of the damage done in the 1960s and '70s by urban renewal, the board members said.
    Earlier this month, they delivered a stinging assessment of the plan, which was created by Beacon architect Aryeh Siegel and Colliers Engineering & Design of New Windsor.
    The project would require the demolition of the three-story former Beacon Popmart building. After merging that parcel with two adjacent vacant lots, Beekman Arts Center and Bay Ridge Studios would construct two buildings with 15,000 square feet of commercial space at street level and 64 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
    During the Planning Board's Sept. 10 meeting, renderings showed brick-and-glass exteriors and, on one building, an all-glass corner tower extending to a recessed fourth floor. The second, smaller structure, called the High Street Building on renderings, would mostly front Beekman, with a first-floor walkway running along the exterior of the buildings.
    According to the drawings, the buildings would be constructed close to the sidewalk on Beekman, which project officials said is based on a recommendation for the Linkage district in the city's 2017 comprehensive plan.
    But the placement of the buildings alone won't be enough to "engage the pedestrian," the board members said. "It's Anywhere, Anytown U.S.A. mediocre architecture," said John Gunn, the chair, before the board referred the project to its architectural review committee. "To me, it's just a mishmash of forms that have no context, no relationship. My God, what a missed opportunity if this is what ends up getting built."
    Board member Kevin Byrne contrasted the covered walkway and brick exterior of the buildings. "It's like two different things are happening and they're not talking to each other," he said.
    The developer is in talks with the state Department of Transportation to purchase up to a half-acre of land that would bring the building at the corner of Beekman and Route 9D close to the Beekman sidewalk. The traffic signals at Route 9D and Beekman, as well as at 9D and Verplanck Avenue, would be timed to mitigate traffic at the intersection, where cars leaving the Metro-North station on weekday afternoons routinely back up while waiting to get to Interstate 84.
    The Planning Board will continue its review at its Oct. 8 meeting.
    19 Henry St.
    The board will continue a public hearing next month on the proposal to build four attached, two-story townhomes on a quarter-acre Henry Street parcel.
    The townhomes would each feature a one-car garage and back patio. A single-family home and accessory structures on the lot would be demolished.
    Two Catherine Steet residents spoke during the hearing on Sept. 10. One was concerned about noise and privacy while the other mentioned displacement of water from swampy areas behind Henry Street.
    The developer may use evergreen trees, rather than deciduous, to screen between the townhomes and Catherine Street, while the project engineer said that runoff from the building would be directed away from Catherine.
    14 North Cedar St.
    A proposal for a two-story, four-unit apartment building on an empty North Cedar Street lot returned to the Planning Board this month for the first time since June 2023.
    Board members advised the developer, who plans to use a modular building, to opt for a site plan that fits with the surrounding neighborhood.
    "The building isn't situated on the lot like any other residential building in the neighborhood, so it's going to stand out," Byrne said. "The old fabric in this town is something that doesn't exist in many p...
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