HomeMy WebLinkAbout900 King Street R. Schlank E-Mail with Attachments 2021-9-141
Tara Gerardi
From:Alex Marshall
Sent:Tuesday, September 14, 2021 11:27 AM
To:Tara Gerardi
Subject:FW: Comments on 900 King Street
Attachments:Petition-BOT-9-14-2021.pdf; RAS Letter Westmore News 900 King Srreet.pdf
Hi Tara,
Please distribute the below email and attachments to the Planning Board.
Many thanks,
Alex
From: Rosemary Schlank <rschlank@ix.netcom.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 11:24 AM
To: Alex Marshall <AFrank@ryebrook.org>
Cc: Christopher Bradbury <CBradbury@ryebrook.org>
Subject: Comments on 900 King Street
Hi Alex,
Attached is a petition to the Mayor and Board of Trustees to vote no on 900 King Street. As of
now, 127 people have signed the petition. The attached document contains only a partial list of
signatures. I will try to update it later in the day. Could you please distribute this to the Mayor
and Board of Trustees so they have time to review it before today’s hearing?
Also attached is a copy of my letter to the editor of the Westmore News. It highlights some of
the concerns about the design of the assisted living and memory care facility. Could you please
distribute this to the Planning Board and Architectural Review Board as well as the Mayor and
Board of Trustees?
Rosemary
Vote "No" on 900 King Street
Concerned Rye Brook Residents started this petition to Rye Brook Mayor and
Board of Trustees
The owner of 900 King Street has submitted a site plan application to demolish the
existing office building and construct a massive senior housing facility. We urge you to
vote “No” to the site plan application and resolution for the following reasons.
1. The designs and floorplan layouts of the assisted living and memory care
facility follow an outdated institutional model that has been associated
with health and safety issues in volumes of research studies. A facility of
this type would not be suitable for the residents of Rye Brook and
surrounding communities.
2. The size and density of the project are too big for the location. To avoid
the zoning limits on dwelling units per acre, the site plans omit
residential features that have been shown to provide significant health,
safety, and quality-of-life benefits in extensive evidence-based research
studies.
3. There are too many open questions and concerns about community
impacts, including noise, traffic, and air quality during construction, as
well as other potential impacts after the facility is built including the
spread of infectious diseases and the effects on the community if the
facility is closed due to a business failure or regulatory action.
4. There are too many risks and uncertainties related to the financial impact
of the project, especially: (a) the amount of tax revenue that will result
from this project if the owner is allowed to make a payment in lieu of
taxes, and (b) the sustainability of the tax revenue from an adult care
facility of the type that legislators are seeking to reform.
5. Rye Brook deserves a more modern facility -- one that will be more
consistent with the character of the community and one that will provide
more adequate safeguards for the community, as well as better safety,
quality-of-life and quality-of-care outcomes for future occupants and a
more sustainable and reliable tax base for the village and school
district.
Please protect our seniors and preserve our community. Do not let this project move
forward as currently proposed.
Signatures (PARTIAL LISTING as of 11 am, Sept, 14, 2021)
Rosemary Schlank
Calvin Murray
Ramona debrenti
Judy Finkelstein
Nancy Raider
Fred Chakar
Edmond Mignogna
Tina Blank
Hemna Schlueter
Scott Menell
Felicia Knox
Laura Fasciani
James Chan
Sharon Singer
Jill ABEL
Lois Gordon
Jose Espinal
Richard Morabito
Gino Chieffallo
Charin Freundlich
Daniel Alvizo
Hector A Linares
Dihan Cheng
Wei Zhao
Li Chen
Rita Harra
anna Oshchepkova
Karyn Moore
Mary Ann Doria
Lisa Goldberg
Barrie Dinkes
Michelle Civetta
Pete Shaw
Anne Luke
Jörgen Gladh
Tara Sobolewski
Robert Lande
Lyn Follini
Kathleen Monahan -Granzen
Joshua Balsam
Michael DeMarco
Cory Nesser
Adam Kaluba
Adena Mann
Colden Prime
Caitlin Occhipinti
Drew Rosenfeld
Amy Budde
Michael Szoke
Daniel Baltag
Rebecca Zaltas
Anne Morabito
Johannes Salim
Deborah Zboyan
Anjian Wang
Alan Lu
Alan Willig
Robin Willig
Vivirina Nurmala
Barbara Bach
nora holmes
Yan Miao
Stephanie Madonia
Norma Irom
Jaron Abbott
Barbara Wellington
Phil Brock
Laura DeLuca
Bonnie Cohen
Spiros Katechis
Emily Salter
Marilyn Tokayer
Jeannette Boccini
Teresa Fleming
Steven Klein
Jessica Escott
Karen Wright
Tjhia Johannes
Linda cook
Julie Steinberg
Jaclyn Stahl
Dale Antonik
Debra Penan
Helen Castellano
Alyse Rosen
Pastor Donna
Taylor Gutierrez
Christopher Kuhn
Randi Held
Meredith Music
Stacey Magrone
Elise Kraeger
Bill Straubinger
Linda Chakar
Yelida Fishkind
Stephanie Goldstein
Andrew Castellano
Daniela Curmei
Jena Grossman
Kate Saladino
Polly Stella Turner
Nellie Barry
Jackie Orris
Mary Murray
Marilyn Acocella
Kyong-Woo Lee
Yuka Hashimoto
Victor Espinoza
Mindy Wolman
Jennifer McKay
Clara Hastings
Olga McKay
Katelyn Faustino
Danielle Cappelli
Courtney Faustino
Jodi Burack
Abbie Thompson
Valerie Bero
Melissa Milsten
Linda Straubinger
Caryn Greenspan
Robert Dweck
Additional Comments
Caryn Greenspan·
There is no plan to ease the increased traffic on and off the Hutch and up and down King Street.
Massive safety issue with traffic backing up onto the Parkway. It’s adding unacceptable pollution
and noise levels directly next door to the MS/HS.
Polly Stella Turner·
While I understand this site may need to be developed, this is far from what makes sense. I
hope for all of us this gets voted against. Nightmare in the making.
Debra Penan·
I don’t want added traffic or pollution in rye Brook.
Jaclyn Stahl·
This will lead to too much congestion on an already busy street
Marilyn Tokayer·
I do not want congestion on King St.
Yan Miao·
Absolutely no!!!
Deborah Zboyan·
I am a homeowner at the Arbors. This project will disrupt life in the community. The construction
alone includes blasting for underground garage which could cause massive damage to
buildings, homes and the school. Also traffic would be also impacted, considering the nearby
firehouse, what is they cannot get down King Street to an emergency.
Laura Fasciani·
My son attends school on King Street, we live nearby and the traffic and noise is intense during
the day already. A new building is not sustainable.
Letter: R.B. Village Board should vote no
on 900 King St. development plan
Thursday, September 9, 2021 6:48 AM
The Village of Rye Brook’s Board of Trustees is expected to consider a site plan application
next week for a proposed assisted living and memory care facility at 900 King St.
Has anyone besides me tried to review the plans? It can be a very time-consuming task
because there are reams of paper, and some of the most critical information is buried in the
drawings. The architectural drawings can be very helpful to anyone who is trying to plan
ahead and decide if this facility might be appropriate someday for their parents or
themselves.
The details in the drawings
For starters, the drawings show the facility will be located in the corner of the site that is
closest to the Village’s firehouse and police headquarters, where the sound of sirens can be
audible. This might not be appropriate for certain individuals, especially those with memory
impairment or Alzheimer’s, who are easily distracted by crowds and noises.
The floor plans reflect what most would consider a high level of density as the developer
managed to fit 94 beds into a 3- to 4-story building with limited square footage. As we all
learned the hard way during the pandemic, crowded conditions of this type are not
conducive to preventing the spread of infectious diseases.
The floor plans also feature dead-end hallways and double-loaded corridors that can make it
difficult for mobility-impaired residents to get around on their own.
There are few residential details. Instead, residents must find their way up and down as
many as four stories to go outside or get to the centralized kitchen and dining room in a
separate building. Conditions like these can lead to increased wandering, anxiety, agitation,
and depression.
These are some of the trade-offs that are buried in the drawings. The plans use the
institutional model, which is designed for operational efficiency rather than quality of life. In
the delicate balance between profits and people, the scale in the institutional model is
inherently tilted toward profits. This is the very essence of the model that legislators are
seeking to reform today. But adult care facilities do not need to follow this model anymore.
There is a better alternative.
A better alternative
Leading-edge architectural firms like Perkins-Eastman have developed modern architectural
design standards that use a residential model instead of the outdated institutional model.
The residential model uses a smaller-scale, small-house model that divides the buildings
into separate households of 10 to 14 occupants. Each household has its own kitchen, dining
room, and secure outdoor space. There are few hallways. Residents walk from room to
room, just like in a normal residence.
The health and safety benefits of the residential model are enormous. During the recent
pandemic, the spread of disease was found to be significantly lower in smaller group
settings.
There are also everyday health and quality-of-life benefits that range from better mobility
and higher cognition scores to reductions in stress, anxiety, depression, blood pressure
and muscle tension, as well as a lower incidence of declines in daily living activities (DLAs).
The benefits are also reflected in better orientation success and improved social awareness
and communications skills. All these factors can decrease the use of physical restraints
and/or psychotropic drugs.
Other benefits for a suburban village like Rye Brook include better fits with the character of
the community, the village’s comprehensive plan, and the legislative initiatives that are
underway now at both the state and federal levels to address the shortcomings of
institutional facilities.
A call for compassion
The architect for the 900 King St. facility is Perkins-Eastman. The employees of this firm
have the knowledge and the power to transform the lives of vulnerable senior citizens.
Perkins-Eastman literally wrote the book on the modern residential model of adult care
facilities.
Apparently, the obstacles to progress for this particular project came down to the size of the
project and the restrictions set by local zoning laws. The developer wants the project to be
big enough to be economically viable. The Village wants the project to be small enough to fit
within the zoning limits on the number of dwelling units per acre. As a compromise, the site
plan excludes the residential features that would qualify the care facility as a dwelling unit.
In effect, the design came down to a choice between profits and people, and the developer
chose profits. But there is still time for compassion. The village board and the owner of the
property should take the initiative and insist that the plans be revised to accommodate a
more residential model. The existing plans can be used in a more urban setting where the
size and density of the project will be more compatible with the character of the community
and the need for supportive housing. But Rye Brook residents deserve a first-rate state-of-
the-art facility.
Please join me in urging the village board to do the right thing for Rye Brook and vote “no”
on the site plan application.
Rosemary Schlank
Rye Brook