The review process for the massive development proposed on the Akzo Chemical campus, near New York Sports Club in Dobbs Ferry, is proceeding in a timely manner. The development is slated to include over 200 residential apartments, a 100 unit hotel, a 70,000 square foot supermarket and a number of smaller retail stores.
Among other concerns the village of Dobbs Ferry will have to deal with, traffic certainly reigns at the top. Given that the Saw Mill Parkway is limited to passenger vehicles only, with no trucks allowed, there is some question as to who is going to bear the brunt of what it would seem would be a regular influx of delivery trucks, some of which will be large tractor trailers to service a 70,000 sq.ft. supermarket. Will it be the lone Dobbs Ferry residential street that services the area, Ogden Avenue, or will it be Lawrence Street in Ardsley, which would further exacerbate the Ardsley traffic woes?
Dobbs Ferry is expecting the Draft Environmental Impact Statement from the developer later this month. That document will be expected to answer this question as well as a whole host of others, such as possible negative effects on property values, mitigation measures and alternative plans. Once the DEIS is in the Board of Trustees hands, they will have 45 days to determine its thoroughness and to decide if it is ready to be released to the public for further review. The public will then have at least 30 days, with possible extensions, to weigh in on the DEIS before it is returned to the developer to address any outstanding concerns.
These are important meetings that shouldn’t be missed by interested persons. Village meeting agendas are generally posted in the police station, among a variety of other places.
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Filed under: Local News | Tagged: Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry |
Rivertowns Real Estate News 
[…] Among the myriad concerns brought to the table at the Monday, January 9 public hearing on the Dobbs Ferry Rivertowns Square proposal, two inter-related issues were raised by residents. While the developers contend that they have resolved the expected traffic concerns with a variety of roadway improvements, including a proposed traffic light at Ogden Avenue and Ashford Avenue, they seem unimpressed by Dobbs Ferry residents statements that Ogden Avenue, expected to be an access road, is already substandard to begin with and any new influx of traffic will make an already bad situation all the more untenable. Further, this new light would only be installed, after the construction of the project is complete and the traffic situation is re-monitored. This leads one to believe that a deteriorated traffic situation might exist for quite some time before being alleviated, if at all. A related and more important concern was that of property values, raised by one resident of Ogden Avenue who noted that the DEIS states that property values would actually go up, after the construction of this project. A recently published interview with the developer stated that local Realtors had been consulted in this conclusion, yet the developer was uncertain as to how many. It is highly unlikely however, that any experienced Realtor would make the assumption that an increase in the amount of traffic on the road facing a residence, of which there is no argument from any party is the expected outcome of this project, would cause a corresponding increase in that homes property values. In fact, just the reverse is true. Clearly, houses on heavily traveled roads are more difficult to sell and for less money than their identical counterparts in quieter areas of Dobbs Ferry, for all the obvious reasons. These kinds of questions can be best and more thoroughly answered by independent, licensed real estate appraisers, as opposed to Realtors, who generally are not prone to making subjective assumptions based on the party that is paying them and whose testimony, accordingly, is accepted in court. Hopefully, both the village and the FEIS will engage independent, licensed real estate appraisers to verify that property values will, at a minimum, not go down for neighbors with respect to this proposal. Several of the statutory Dobbs Ferry boards charged with looking at this proposal cannot, by village code, approve a project which will cause a reduction in property values to neighbors. This is an important issue that it would be best to attempt to resolve now, thru the FEIS, before it gets to a more subjective and contentious level. Also see: https://dobbsferry-rivertowns.com/2011/08/06/rivertown-square-development-review-moving-along/ […]
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