Officials Set Hearing on Rye Brook Affordable Housing Project

The Village Board of Trustees will hold a public hearing on the Bowman Ave. affordable housing project on the border of Port Chester and Rye Brook on Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m.

The board voted to set the public hearing for that date at last weeks Village Board meeting.

The project will build 16 units of affordable housing called Bowridge Commons at 80 Bowman Avenue. There will be eight one-bedrooms for leasing and eight two-bedroom units for sale. View the blueprints for the development here.

Mayor Joan Feinstein explained that Madonna first brought his proposal to the village about a year and a half ago. It has been through the planning board process and approved with a few comments sent back to the Board of Trustees. The trustees voted to set the public hearing on the project for Oct. 30 at its Sept. 24 meeting. The board will eventually vote on the project.

Madonna submitted a concurrent application to place the property in a “floating zone,” a type of zoning created last year that allows the village to waive certain zoning requirements in order to comply with the requirements of fair and affordable housing applicants, Feinstein said during the Sept. 24 meeting.

Village officials also asked about soil testing on the site. Madonna explained that he is performing more extensive soil and water testing and that he expected to have the results back in about a week.

The Village’s Emergency Services Task Force requested that the sidewalk be cut back more to allow more space for emergency vehicles, Feinstein said, asking Madonna what he can do about that.

 “It’s a big expense and it’s kind of a tight budget on this job – it’s affordable housing,” Madonna told the council. He told the Mayor that if he can get more funding from the County he’d be happy to do the cut back.

Village Administrator Chris Bradbury said there will already be new curbing and sidewalks its just a matter of adding a little asphalt on the roadway. The board asked Madonna to do anything he could to “open it up a little bit,” because “it would be incredibly tight to get a  fire apparatus through on that street,” Trustee Paul Rosenberg said.

Madonna said he understood and would talk with the Village Administrator before the public hearing.

The Village of Rye Brook has been working closely with the county to fulfill requirements of fair and affordable housing, recently mandated in a settlement between Westchester County and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over the last year. Read more on Rye Brook’s efforts to create more affordable housing here, and more on the county and HUD settlement here.  

The public hearing on 80 Bowman Avenue will be held Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Rye Brook Village Hall, 938 King Street. 

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