Concerns Raised Over Proposed Starr Ridge Complex

By Rob Sample

Southeast residents aired their concerns at the first of what will be several public hearings on a proposal to build an office and retail complex at the corner of Danbury Road (Route 6) and Starr Ridge Road.

Rraci Associates, a Westchester County real estate and property development firm, seeks to develop a retail complex consisting of four buildings, 130 spaces for parking, stormwater facilities, and a conceptual dog park. The parcel is 10.39 acres in size.

As proposed by Rraci, the buildings would include two one-story retail structures, a two-story building, and another one-story structure – proposed as a bank – that would include a drive-through.

Many of the concerns raised by both board members and residents who attended the hearing centered on the drive-through.

“More importantly, I think the biggest issue here that we would all talk about later with the public is the traffic,” said Planning Board Chairman Tom LaPerch. “I know it is a work in progress… but the drive-through is currently proposed as (part of) a bank. We need to be aware of that issue from a traffic generating standpoint.”

Jamie LoGiudice, senior associate with Insite Engineering, Surveying & Landscape Architecture of Carmel, said the project has undergone review by the state Department of Transportation and will necessitate ongoing review during its development. Additionally, the Town of Southeast’s highway department will need to conduct its own review of the portion of the project that abuts Starr Ridge Road.

“We are going to be proposing providing two lanes at Starr Ridge (for turning onto Route 6),” said LoGiudice, noting that this would improve safety and traffic movement. She also said the property owner has thus far not secured a specific bank to occupy the building with the drive-through – and that while zoning regulations would permit a restaurant to operate at the complex, ones with drive-throughs are prohibited.

Board member James King said that when the project was initially proposed it had been discussed as a medical complex and asked why the focus had changed.

“As we've gone through testing and realized the amount of usage for water and septic that we have permissible on the site, medical (usage) is not something that we’d be able to entertain,” explained LoGiudice.

The traffic analysis was conducted by the White Plains engineering firm Creighton Manning and took place over two weekdays and one weekend day.

“They analyzed it based on there being a bank,” said LoGiudice. “If that use were ever to change to a more intense use, they would have to come back to the Planning Board and do another traffic study.”

Victor Grossman, who lives on Seven Oaks Lane, said the traffic study data is flawed. For comparison, he conducted his own count of vehicles traveling a 1.5-mile stretch of Starr Ridge Road for an hour during morning and evening commuting times, and counted 972 cars heading south in the morning and 1,172 cars going north in the evening.

He called for the board to eliminate the drive-through from the plans to prevent the project from being reconsidered for food uses in several years. “Nobody is going to be renting a bank,” he said.

Grossman also pointed out that extensive development has taken place over the Connecticut state line, and the state has proposed widening the Interstate 84/684 junction bridge this year or next. Both will increase traffic in the area, he said.

Resident Diane Wolpert said there have been many times when it has been extremely difficult to turn out of her neighborhood and travel down Starr Ridge Road.

“I travel that road to and from work every day,” she said, noting that cars exiting from Dunkin Donuts are especially hazardous. “Dunkin Donuts was supposed to be an office… and it turned into a Dunkin Donuts.”

Wolpert said a previous proposal to build a movie theater was squashed by the board because of traffic concerns. “I would like everybody to consider the safety of our residents,” she said.

Paige Banfield, who also lives on Seven Oaks Lane, was also critical of the traffic that would result from the project. “Just from an economic development perspective, this is a tremendous undertaking with no end-users identified yet,” she said. “I would also encourage you to keep the public comment segment open.”

The board voted to keep the hearing open, and will revisit the topic at its Feb. 23 meeting.