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Park Hill Residents' Association
2007 Annual Meeting Minutes
June 6, 2007

Place:  The Racquet Club
Time:  7:00 PM
Weather:  Fair
Attendance:  Approximately 100

Board Members Present: Maria Chiulli, President; Toby McAfee, VP; Robert Grabel, Treasurer, Mattie Bialer, Secretary, Gina Balog, Theresa Boin, Kathryn Buckley, Lidia Fuoto, Nigel Johnston, Bill Kanner, Nancy Sarmast, Shelley Weintraub

Guest Speaker: Peter Klein, representing Struever/Fidelco/Cappelli (SFC)

Refreshment Committee: PHLC - Gail Averill and Dottie Fitch

Meeting Began at 7:25 P.M.

Maria Chiulli introduced herself as the new president of the PHRA, as well as the Board Members who were present. She introduced our guest speaker, Peter Klein, and local officials: Mayor Philip Amicone, City Council President Chuck Lesnick, Council Members Dennis Robertson and Liam McLaughlin, County Legislator Jose Alvarado, and Third Police Precinct Captain Frank Intervallo.

Maria’s Points:

• Asked for volunteers to join the Board of Directors of the PHRA or the Park Hill Land Conservancy (PHLC) or just volunteer.
• Directed attention to the suggestion sheet for members to express their comments, ideas, problems, or suggestions.
• Maria’s Mission: to increase awareness in the neighborhood and to have more residents involved in the process.

Maria listed our committees and chairmen, and called on some to speak.

Bill Kanner, Editor of the PH Reporter

• Asked for a volunteer to fill the position of Traffic Manager for the PHRA Newsletter.  The position includes selling ad space, trafficking ads, billing advertisers for ad space, keeping track of advertiser payments, and coordinating ads with the editor and desktop publisher.  No prior experience is needed. Training is available.

Toby McAfee

• Asked for a volunteer to coordinate mailings. This position requires bringing the mailing to the printer, coordinating with the mailing house (where it is folded, stuffed into envelopes, and mailed), setting up time tables, and tracking it through to post office.
  

Maria Chiulli

• Described the work of our new Welcome Wagon and requested that members help us by letting us know when a new neighbor moves in.
• Spoke about the Antique Event, to be held on September 16 at the Racquet Club. The event will include antique appraisers, an antique auction, and vendors. We need donations for the auction (non-antique/flea market items are acceptable).

Lidia Fouto, Archiving

• Spoke about the Park Hill Archive room at the Riverside Library and the exhibit that was held at the library in March, 2005.
• Invited members to donate their Park Hill items (maps, notes, letters, photos) to the archives and assured them that it will be kept safe at the library.
• Informed the audience that we now have someone who will properly archive the collection, and that, in the future, we hope to get these items onto a computer data base that will be available to the public.

Theresa Boin, Local Governance

Theresa is focusing on traffic and safety issues:

• developing traffic on Rumsey Road;
• general traffic problems;
• traffic from the Ashburton development emptying onto Yonkers Ave;
• the need for stop signs and/or painted lines
• double parking and safety of students crossing at the Park Hill Ave. school
• blind corners
• creation of a public service safety program on Yonkers cable to teach young parents how to teach their children to cross the street
• better street signs

Terry Joshi, Vice Chairman of the Park Hill Land Conservancy (PHLC)

• Introduced Board members Gail Averill, Dorothy Fitch, and Loretta Miraglia.
• Described the Land Conservancy as a land trust whose main purpose is to put conservation easements on buildable lots, thereby protecting them in perpetuity from development. Homeowners are given significant tax breaks for giving up the profit they would make by selling the land for another building. 
• Encouraged volunteers to participate once a month in the Adopt-a –Highway program at the Rumsey Road and Cross County interchange. 
• Applauded Dorothy and Gail for having single handedly reclaimed Leslie Sutherland Park. Volunteers will be needed for their spring clean up.
• Spoke about the new ordinance the City Council passed to restrict the use of gas-powered leaf blowers from June 1 through September 30. 

Jill Feldman, director, The Racquet Club

• Described the current activities of the club
• Made a pitch for new members

Introduction of Peter Klein 

Peter presented a slide show and overview of the downtown development plan.

Peter’s points

• Read more about Yonkers downtown development project at sfcyonkers.com.
• The development area encompasses about 500 acres, from the waterfront, up the Saw Mill River. Completion of Phase One is expected in two to two and a half years.
• This process has been very participatory with the City Council and the Mayor’s office to create a great project that works for the community.
• SFC will submit the Draft Environmental Study (DES) to the City in two weeks.
• Project challenges include balancing open space with development, and the daylighting of the Saw Mill River.
• Tax Increment Financing (TIF), unique in New York State, will be used as a source of public funding.
• The public (through meetings) has been a source of ideas that will be incorporated in the project, (such as integrating the arts in the project, and pursuing the State University of New York to move a campus to Yonkers.)
• The developers have worked with Scenic Hudson to maximize open space on the river and provide more access points.
• A trolley loop will link both destination points and parking.
• A major goal is to make the waterfront the biggest reason to come to Yonkers.
• Yonkers has a fabulous transit center-- rail and ferry service and a bus hub.
• Chicken Island will become a mixed-use destination, a center for the downtown.
• Two 50-story buildings on the Chicken Island site will provide a hotel and residences.
• Using a stacking concept (levels), the baseball stadium will be on the roof, above the parking area.
• The Riverwalk will be a destination for people from all over the area. 
• The Cacace center will be the hub of government, including a police station and a new firehouse with six bays.
• The Yonkers Carnegie library was torn down years ago.  Pieces of its artifacts and sandstone siding have been salvaged and stored, and will be incorporated into a new building which will bear the Carnegie name.
• A bridge for cars and pedestrians will be built at the end of Nepperhan Ave.
• The developers are trying to preserve as much of the view as they can.
• The waterfront property is contaminated, and needs to be cleaned.
• Why are we doing this? People from other parts of Yonkers do not go downtown to shop. The crime rate is high, the poverty rate is 35%, and unemployment is twice that in the rest of Yonkers and four times that in the county.  We want to bring back the downtown as a place where people want to go.

Raffle winners chosen. The addresses of residents who displayed their blue ribbons were entered for one prize.  The two remaining winners were selected by ticket numbers. Raffle prizes were generously donated by the following businesses:

The Loft Dance and Fitness
Windy Farms
Silvio's Restaurant
Greyston Bakery
Appliance Sales Depot
McLean Liquor
Allstate Paint & Wallcovering

Many thanks for their support!

Questions and Answers

Peter Klein and Mayor Phil Amicone fielded questions and responded.

Q: How much will the daylighting of the Saw Mill River cost?

PK: About $50 million. So far, we’ve raised $34 million, working with Scenic Hudson.

Q: Given the recent floods from storms, is there concern about the Saw Mill flooding?

PK:  There has been very little flooding in downtown.  Our goal is to make it interesting-- it will meander, have rapids, or stand still. We need to maintain it so it’s safe and is able to be cleaned, as well.

Q: What are the plans for the sugar refinery?

PK: We hope they’ll consolidate to fewer buildings. We’re working with them. They employ 800 people.

Q: How will the downtown be fed in addition to the Saw Mill River Parkway, Metro North, Yonkers Ave., and the Cross County?

Mayor: In two weeks, when the developers bring the impact statement to the City Council, we’ll know what needs to be done and how. Not only do we need to consider the major arteries—the Cross County, the Thruway, the Saw Mill, but we must also consider all major intersections going out like the spokes of a wheel. Every one of them will be impacted.  Significant state and federal funding for improvement of highways and roadway systems has to be invested.  Nepperhan Ave., Cross County, and Yonkers Ave. are state funded; Tuckahoe Road and Central Ave. are state and county. McLean Ave., Riverdale Ave., Warburton Ave., Broadway, and Rumsey Road will all be impacted.  This is just phase one of a much larger project in the downtown in the next five to 10 years.  The northern part of the arterial (Nepperhan Ave.) needs to be widened. 

Some of the changes are simple, like synchronizing traffic signals, or widening turning lanes.  Others are major, such as improving major interchanges. 

Q: How will you provide sufficient parking?

PK: The required number of parking spaces is a function of zoning.  The City is going to work on financing more parking support for businesses and residences.  We are creating off-street pocket parking.

Dennis Robertson: The City Council has put together a very comprehensive scoping document. We will hold several public meetings to ensure that standards have been met.

Please attend the meetings and be involved.

Mayor: The current infrastructure is inadequate, in terms of roadways and parking. Part of the project will make up for that with replacement parking.  We will need additional parking for current needs and to anticipate future parking needs.

Q: What about the need for more schools?

Mayor: The impact statement will project the number of students and their future educational needs.

Q: It is no longer possible to see the Hudson from the library. The view is blocked by the tall buildings.

Mayor: The original approved design was for a nine-story building, which would have completely blocked the view. Instead, we will have a four-story view corridor which only partially obstructs the view between a 12-story and a 14-story building. 

Q: Are there architects on the zoning/planning board? 

Mayor: No. Architects (volunteers) are precluded from doing work in Yonkers if they are on the planning or zoning board.

Q: What recreational land are you providing?

PK: We committed to create a minimum of 25 acres of new park land. The 4 ½ miles of waterfront from Riverdale to Hastings will become a continuous run of parkland. We have also proposed a series of parks that come in off the water, along the Hudson, most, if not all, on the west side of Yonkers.

Q: Will walking and bicycle paths be integrated in the plan?

Mayor: The whole esplanade park is for walking/jogging/riding. In addition, the County is putting in new trails for walking and biking.

PK: We’re making the sidewalks wider than the old ones.  The end-to-end city parks are designed to be continuous when the next development happens to our south.

Q: Palisades Point will have about 400 units, which means about 1,000 more cars going under the underpass. How much will the bridge cost?

PK: The cost of the bridge is about $3-$5 million, which is included in the $160 million for total public improvements. 

Q: Do you have permission from Metro North?

PK: We expect them to give us permission.  The public’s primary issue regarding the track is safety, whereas the railroad’s primary concern is access.  We need to balance both.

Q: In view of the catastrophic floods we’ve had, have you been rethinking the safety of the residents?

PK: The buildings’ mechanicals (plumbing, water, electrical) are on the roof, not underneath.

Q: What commitment do you have from the State for support?

PK: We have been accepted to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Brown Field Clean-Up Program, which provides credit for cleanup and credit for built environment ($125 million - $175 million).

Mayor: We have also gotten a $34 million commitment from the State of New York towards the development of the downtown and the daylighting of the Saw Mill River.

Q: There is a concern that people will be displaced.

Mayor: We are working with several foundations to put in a lot of in-fill affordable housing. We also have a program for people who have houses to refurbish their existing homes. There will be very little relocation of residents, and those who will be relocated will end up in a better situation than the one they were in.

Q: What makes you think these people can afford the merchandise, restaurants, and condominiums coming in? 

Mayor: The kinds of shops going in will not all be high end, exclusive residents and exclusive shops. The retail stores will serve every economic level, otherwise they won’t survive. We will help the small retailers acclimate to a different market. 

Q: How will you handle the traffic from the ball park?

PK: It’s a fun family event for about 3,000-5,000 people. There won’t be a mass exodus like at a Mets game.  People usually begin to leave in the 5th inning.

Respectively Submitted by: Mattie Bialer, Secretary