Hearing Scheduled for New Rochelle Development

New Rochelle residents will have their chance to weigh in on the proposed Echo Bay development project at a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. March 12.

Forest City Residential completed its draft environmental impact study and the city accepted it as complete at a recent council meeting.

The proposed project would have 200-300 residential units and about 25, 000 square feet of retail on what is now the Department of Public Works City Yard on East Main Street. The City Yard will be moved to a location on Beechwood Avenue.

The DEIS, required under the state Environmental Quality Review Act, describes potential impacts including land use and zoning, traffic, utilities, ecological factors and noise and air quality.

Under the socioeconomic and fiscal factors section, prepared by Connecticut-based Milone & MacBroom, the DEIS examines the effect of a 20-year negotiated tax payment—or PILOT—that would generate enough revenue to cover projected education costs of additional students living in the development.

The anticipated growth in residents is expected to be 524, 22 of which are estimated to be public school children.

Included in the DEIS is the Good Profit proposal for the adaptive reuse of the Armory.

The nonprofit organization was issued a letter of agreement from the city, but has neither signed and returned it nor delivered an escrow check.

City Manager Charles Strome III said Development Commissioner Luiz Aragon was in touch with the organization and was told it would be sending in the agreement and check. 

The city has given Good Profit until Thursday to comply.

The draft enviromental impact statement can be accessed on the city's Web site. Hard copies of the document are available for review in the City Clerk's office, New Rochelle City Hall, 515 North Ave., and the New Rochelle Public Library, 1 Library Plaza.