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YORKTOWN, N.Y. Members of the Yorktown Town Board were led on a tour of the proposed location for new commercial property in Yorktown off Route 202 Friday.
Joe Monaco, the applicant behind the site, has owned the land for quite some time, and said this is his last attempt at turning the nearly 100-acres worth of land into commercial property.
Right now were just looking for a zone change, and then if were able to change the zone to commercial were going to go out and try to get the commercial tenants, Monaco said. He said without the tenants, he wouldnt go ahead with the project.
Without having a tenant, Monaco said he isnt sure how much of the acreage would be used for the potential stores, but he estimates he would use about half for the stores and parking, and donate the other half of the parcel to the town. His hope, he explained, is to create room for one big box store, and then several other satellite smaller stores.
Its going to benefit Yorktown in several ways, the first is well bring stores in, were going to be bringing hundreds of jobs, and well also be widening Route 202, Monaco said.He also estimated the new commercial property could bring in a million dollars in sales tax.
In order to help traffic flow on Route 202 near the proposed site, Monaco said, he would add a traffic light and another right of way lane.
This is going to be a very expensive project, since were not just building the stores, he said. But if thats what we have to do, thats what well do.
Right now, the land is accessible from Route 202 across from McDonalds and Parkside Corners, and stretches up towards the Bear Mountain Extension.
The site was toured by Supervisor Susan Siegel, town board members Vishnu Patel, Terrence Murphy and Nick Bianco, and Matt Slater, chief of staff for Assembly member Steve Katz (R,I Yorktown), with John Tegeder, director of planning, Joe Riina, site architect, and Monaco.
Siegel, Patel, Murphy, and Bianco all agreed that the project would be beneficial to the town because it would help commerce and changes to the road would help traffic. However, Siegel and Bianco acknowledged that the site may have issues surrounding the storm water from two streams.
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