Ossining and Developer Agree on Scaled Down Waterfront Plan

OSSINING, NY-The Ossining Village Board and Valhalla-based development firm Cappelli Enterprises have concluded several months of negotiations that resulting in some significant changes to the village’s Harbor Square waterfront redevelopment plan.

Village officials report that the new plan increases the amount of open space by 30% while incorporating a 20% reduction in the number of housing units. The number of housing units to be built at the 4.5-acre site that formerly housed industrial buildings has been slashed from 225 to 180, with 10% of the apartments designated as affordable.

“We have spent a great deal of time and effort to achieve the significant revisions to this project,” said Mayor Thomas Cambariere. “We believe that the new plan addresses the legitimate concerns expressed by many of our village residents–such as increasing the amount of open space on the site and preserving views of the river. At the same time, it provides a new residential community that is aesthetically attractive and that is financially viable not only for the village, but for the developer.”

“This has been a long and at times difficult negotiation,” comments Louis R. Cappelli, president of Cappelli Enterprises. “However, we believe that we now have a plan that is workable for us and that meets the Village Board’s goals. Harbor Square can be the best new riverfront project anywhere in the Hudson Valley. The design of the buildings and the way they are sighted works very well and preserves 60% of the site as open space. It’s a very exciting plan, one that holds great potential for our company and the Ossining community, and we are very hopeful that we can now move forward to make this dream a reality.”

The plan calls for the creation of a public restaurant and several small retail shops in approximately 14,000 sf located on the first level of the two new buildings. It also provides for new public recreational amenities on the riverfront including a boardwalk, fishing pier and a beach, Cappelli officials relate.

The next step in the process, which began three years ago when Cappelli Enterprises was selected as designated developer for the project, will be hearings on the Final Environmental Impact Statement. The Village Board says it expects to hold a public hearing on the FEIS in mid-to late January 2002.

Cappelli officials hope to break ground on the Harbor Square project by the spring of next year.