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The alterations involve changing the project's Preliminary Development Concept Plan (PDCP), which is itself is a draft iteration of where the buildings will be laid out.
According to Divney Tung Schwalbe, the owner's planning firm that submitted the new PDCP, the changes include a reduction in the size of a bank space from 4,000 square feet to 3,200; replacing a proposed 25,000-square-foot gym space and adjacent 7,500-square-foot retail building on the site's southeastern corner with a pair of 16,400-square-foot retail structures; and removal of three single-family homes on adjacent lots that Summit/Greenfield owns, which would be to create a visual buffer space.
Removal of the three homes is one of several mitigation measures that Summit/Greenfield has offered to accompany the project. Information on the other measures can be read here.
The Town Board, which approved retail rezoning for the project in December by a 4-1 vote, would need to approve the PDCP in order to advance the project. The Town Board has also taken up legislation that would map the retail zone to the southern portion of the former Reader's Digest campus. If the Town Board approves both items, then Summit/Greenfield will need the Planning Board to approve a site plan, which would replace the PDCP and serve as the project's final building layout.
Other PDCP changes include the reintroduction of a 10,000-square-foot garden for anchor tenant Whole Foods. Andrew Tung, who is with the planning firm, explained at a New Castle Town Board meeting on Tuesday that the garden would be for education and community outreach programs. Summit/Greenfield's previous garden proposal, according to Tung, would have been for growing produce for sale. A new restaurant space is also proposed for the southeastern section of the site, near the entrance from Route 117.
Tung cited conversations that his client has had with prospective tenants as reasons for tweaking the proposal.
Additionally, Summit/Greenfield has submitted new renderings for the project; Tung cautioned that the designs are still preliminary. The drawings, which are from The Monroe Partnership, have buildings that draw on the Georgian architecture of the property's existing cupola building, according to Tung. He also noted that the buildings' materials are brick.
At their Tuesday meeting, Town Board members pushed Tung for more information regarding the buildings' looks. Councilman Adam Brodsky, for example, requested physical examples of building material being provided and called for higher-quality material to be used.
The Town Board voted to schedule a March 10 public hearing for the revised PDCP, as well as for the retail-rezoning mapping legislation. It will be preceded by a March 3 joint meeting of the Town Board, Planning Board and Architectural Review Board.
Images of the revised PDCP, along with the new renderings, are available here for download.
The PDCP has been revised several times since Summit/Greenfield submitted its initial application for retail development to the town in October 2012.
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