Echo Bay Discussion Tuesday Moves New Rochelle Closer to Agreement

The fate of Echo Bay and the New Rochelle Public Works department will be discussed at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The city has proposed entering into an agreement with Forest City Residential that would allow the developer to begin an environmental review of a proposed development on the 11-acre site located on the waterfront.

City Manager Charles Strome III said the council will discuss a restated memorandum of understanding between the city and Forest City, but will likely not take any action on it until its April 17 meeting.

Under the proposed agreement, the city will deal exclusively with Forest City in connection with developing the site for a period of time not to exceed 18 months.

If the agreement is approved, both the city and the developer will be under time constraints.

For example, the city has one month after the agreement has been executed to draw up a request for proposals for the Armony. The city must also approve an outline—or scope—for the developer to follow in its environmental review in two months. A design for the relocated City Yard would have to be completed within four months after the MOU is executed and financing arranged two months after that.

After the scope is approved, Forest City would have six months to come up with a draft environmental impact statement, and then two months after that to enter into an agreement with the city to purchase the affected parcels.

The environmental study will be paid for by Forest City. The developer will also be required to set up an escrow account initially at $75,000 to cover any of the citys third-party costs.

Forest City has proposed building 200-300 residential units and 25,000-50,000 square feet of retail at what is now City Yard on East Main Street.