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PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - The parking lot near the abandoned Medical Laboratories Automation (MLA) building on Village Lane will be getting a much needed facelift, according to Mayor Peter Scherer.
The village Board of Trustees announced last week that it has entered into a joint agreement with the building's newest tenant Zwilling J.A. Henckels on repairing and maintaining the parking lot.
"What we have had for the last now ten years is essentially an absentee owner. So, I think things will be quite a bit better," Scherer said. "Our interests and Henckels' interests are going to be very much aligned in keeping that property in shape."
While the lot will be privately owned by Henckels, the village will use it for parking during activities at the nearby field and other recreation and parks events. It will also be used for storing snow removed from village streets.
Scherer said Henckels has 65 employees and does not envision using all the spaces.
Henckels, which makes quality cutlery, will be moving its headquarters into the building in the near future. Scherer said the agreement will be a "modest" cost to the village. Henckels will take on the cost of re-paving and re-striping the lot as part of its zoning agreement with the village.
"Village residents who take advantage of using this during field-use hours are going to end up with a much better facility largely through the generosity of Henckels, but were going to take on the responsibility that we rightly should take on," Scherer said.
Trustee Mindy Berard said the lot currently has issues with an abandoned bus, a "crater" sized pothole, and overnight parking. She recommended taking the agreement further by installing signage on the lot to deter using the nearby field when it is closed.
"When the fields are closed we have pick-up soccer games. And theyre not even residents in most cases, and theyre ripping up the fields," Berard said.
Scherer said discussions will continue about other improvements to be made, but said residents can expect a lot of the issues to dissolve now that the building will finally have an interested tenant.
"Everybody is going to have a lot less trouble with oddball uses because the owner is present ...," Scherer said.
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